Tony French On Saturday afternoons, I take to my couch. Not for a siesta, but to seek. Laden with the weekend editions of the Age and Australian newspapers, I try, you see, to make some sort of sense of the week’s events, hoping to arrive at a consensus between their competing commentaries. More and more, [...]
By Geoff Lacey The need for alternative economics In recent years, I have taken part in a lot of discussions about sustainability. I have found that many people agree we must work towards a profound transformation in our culture and in its patterns of production and consumption if we are to find a way out [...]
On a cold wet Friday morning in Melbourne, over 600 people gathered on the steps of Southern Cross railway station on the corner of Spencer and Bourke Streets to draw attention to the link between poverty and insecure employment. The rally was addressed by Professor Brian Howe (Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Insecure Work [...]
By Bruce Duncan Australia has so far escaped much of the havoc caused by the global financial crisis, but it is not immune to the effects of economic ideology, particularly free-market neoliberalism, which typically calls for reduced public spending, balanced budgets, wage and tax cuts, and a reduced role for governments. We can see the [...]
Presented by Kevin O’Connor Professorial Fellow Urban Planning University of Melbourne. Wednesday 24 October 7pm. The Study Centre, Yarra Theological Union, Box Hill (best entry via 34 Bedford Street). Light refreshments afterwards. How do we really relate to the City of Melbourne? Kevin O’Connor argues that there are in fact five distinct Mebournes – the [...]
Free public lecture by Mikel Lezamiz Director of Cooperative Dissemination at the Mondragon. Monday 22 October 2012 6-7pm. Sunderland Theatre, Medical Building, Grattan Street, Carlton. To book, click HERE. Mikel Lezamiz is responsible for external education programs for the Mondragon Cooperative (MCC), the world’s largest worker cooperative, and Spain’s seventh largest company, employing more than [...]
By Anne Tuohey. Executive Officer Social Policy Connections. Social Policy Connections is particularly concerned with issues of equity and inequity. It is this focus which motivated us to participate in this enquiry into social housing. As a broad-based advocacy organisation, we have selected the questions we believe we can most appropriately answer. What is the [...]
By Anne Tuohey. Social Policy Connections has provided a response to the Victorian Government’s public consultation process to inform new directions for social housing outlined in its Pathways to a fair & sustainable social housing system, and Social housing: a discussion paper on the options to improve the supply of quality housing. The adequacy, affordability, [...]
Dr Philip Mendes. Dr Philip Mendes poke to SPC about improving social inclusion on 22 August, 2012. Those who can work should, and those who cannot should be properly supported to achieve a full life. How does Australia fare in relation to this? Philip Mendes from Monash University promotes a better way, advocating for a [...]
Anne Tuohey Co-operatives have played a major role in taming problems in capitalist economies, and can do so in the future as well, according to Dr Race Mathews, speaking at an SPC forum on 25 July. This year is the United Nations International Year of the Co-operative. Against the background of the global financial crisis, [...]
