Amidst dark clouds, a precious silver lining Once again, we are battered by bad news of the possibility of widespread malpractice in another major sector, as Prime Minister Morrison has announced a royal commission into aged care, with allegations of price gouging by some pro-profits, chronic understaffing, appalling wages for staff, and poor nutrition for […]
Liveability for whom? Peter Whiting In our editorial this month, Peter Whiting contrasts the growing profile between government spending on physical infrastructure and initiatives on social infrastructure. None of this commentary is meant to suggest that, as a community, we do not need and will not benefit from the major transport infrastructure programs proposed by Federal […]
Download a .pdf of SPC News August 2018. The Thai cave rescue & the surge of common humanity. Chris Mulherin. The inspiration and lessons of this story go beyond riveting real-time TV and lives saved. In my view, what we saw during that gripping week in July was human community at its best: individuals finding […]
Download a .pdf of SPC News July 2018. Can we preserve our social values, & still have a prosperous economy? This issue of SPC News offers three views on inequality. John Menadue writes robustly that the class war is real and being waged by the rich. Rosalind Dixon responds to Richard Denniss, agreeing that there […]
Download a .pdf of SPC News June 2018 edition. Where are our statesmen and women? Peter Whiting John Maynard Keynes, reflecting in 1933 on the road to recovery after the Great Depression, wrote, “It is not an engineering problem or an agricultural problem. It is not even a business problem … nor is it a […]
What do we know for sure? Peter Whiting The fake news experience, as its name suggests, arises either from a failure properly to collect the data required for a factual report, or from an intentional muddying of the waters by false reporting. The “it’s worse than you know” experience arises from vested interests withholding […]
Download a .pdf of this month’s SPC News. Shaping a just society: a place for a Christian worldview? Peter Whiting In this April newsletter, we bring you articles on some of the key questions which should be asked by the community and its elected representatives. Peace in and between communities and countries is an essential […]
Our tax, wage, and social benefit systems are broken. Bruce Duncan notes the mounting concern about business practices which ignore social responsibilities to the community and to their own workers. This is demonstrated by the widespread malpractice in major franchises. As John Hewson wrote, our current system is inequitable and unsustainable. Two significant conferences have […]
Download a .pdf of SPC News. 2018 – a year for confronting looming threats Alarm bells about threats to human wellbeing have been ringing furiously for some decades, though many are deaf to them, or refuse to hear them. But a growing chorus of voices around the world is demanding these warnings be taken very […]
Follow the links to read these articles in full. Wiring social justice into the economy Peter Whiting What we need today, according to Professor Paul Smyth, speaking at our SPC Forum on 5 December, is a national vision which reinstates value-based aspirations for the growth of Australia. It is not that these aspirations have been […]
Follow the links to read these articles in full. Download a .pdf of SPC News. Conscience – defend it or just ignore it? Take Manus Island, for instance Peter Whiting The spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the government to end the “unfolding humanitarian emergency”, and allow the previously detained […]
