Tim Colebatch. Posted 28 November 2019. Bringing down global emissions will require a ‘laser-like focus’. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that energy policy is way off course around the world. At the Paris climate conference, governments committed to reducing emissions to try to hold the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. Four […]
Luke Michael. Posted 28 November 2019. It wasn’t meant to be this way. Newstart was meant to be, if not a panacea, then at least a new start for tackling entrenched disadvantage in Australia. The unemployment benefit (or dole) had been in effect since its introduction in 1945, when World War II and memories of […]
Peter Whiting. Posted 28 November 2019. Many readers will remember the catchy 1972 theme ‘It’s Time’, which thrust Gough Whitlam into government. It focused on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative government, and was underpinned by a raft of major policy proposals. The contributors to this month’s newsletter are each in […]
Rowan Ireland. Posted 28 November 2019. This year, several international crises in the Amazon have come to the boil, just as planning and preliminary jousting led up to the Amazon Synod of Catholic Bishops, which concluded in Rome on 27 October. The three Amazon crises: the ecological, the human, and the political. The ecological crisis, […]
Paul Barratt. Posted 28 November 2019. Where we are today is that the practice of the last twenty years has purportedly taken away the power to send Australia to war from the Governor-General, and placed it at the disposal of junior ministers in the Defence portfolio. This cannot be allowed to stand. The war powers […]
Lionel Orchard. Posted 28 November 2019. The foundations of a balanced and equitable housing system in Australia have been corroding for some time to a point at which ways forward are becoming increasingly vexed. Questions about how to respond are difficult, because of the legacy of neglect over recent times, and changing economic and social […]
Grattan Institute’s Owain Emslie & Danielle Wood The Newstart unemployment benefit is all over the news. It’s the subject of a Senate inquiry. Today, it will take evidence in Elizabeth, in what used to be Adelaide’s industrial north. Should it be increased? Should recipients be paid with a cashless card? Or drug tested? Or stripped […]
Chris Barrie Australian National University. This is part of a new series looking at the national security challenges facing Australia, how our leaders are responding to them through legislation, and how these measures are impacting society. Read the rest of the series here. It is evident from Australia’s increasingly severe droughts and record-breaking heatwaves that […]
Eddie Synot UNSW. Many will feel a sense of déjà vu when reading the minister for Indigenous Australians’ announcement of a co-design process for a ‘voice to government’. This is yet another process in the long journey of Indigenous people to set things right and for our voices to be heard. Ken Wyatt’s announcement states […]
Jeremy Smith. While local drought-affected communities are declaring a climate emergency, present proposals to mitigate the impacts of drought fail to address the real crisis. They do not recognise that this drought is not just another variation on ‘normal’ conditions, but a step towards a new climate. Radical and comprehensive planning and action are required. […]
