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 […]
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 […]
Bruce Duncan. How will the Morrison government respond to the desperate plight of some 65 women and children detained in a camp in Syria? Relatives are pleading with our government to bring their family members safely home, but it appears immobilised by fear of a political reaction. How good is that? Some 65 Australian women […]
Michael Keating. By any standard, Scott Morrison’s Government has a very threadbare policy agenda. Furthermore, the Government seems resistant to new ideas, whether from its backbench or from the public service. According to Scott Morrison, the role of the public service is limited to implementing government policy. This may help explain the thinness of his […]
As the ‘miracle’ Morrison government settles into its new term of office, Australians are expecting significant developments in public policy. As Michael Keating writes in his review of the Australian National Outlook Report for 2019 by the CSIRO and its partners, the Coalition was re-elected ‘with almost no policies’, except for inequitable tax cuts and […]
Peter Whiting. As the recent election result unfolded, Ross Gittins, economics editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote, ‘The day may come when he (Scott Morrison) decides winning the election was the easy bit’. Gittins was doubtless referring to the many immediate challenges Australia faces economically, socially, and ecologically, and observing that the government was reelected […]
Peter Whiting. Wedged appropriately into the two days between the Easter celebration of the Resurrection, with its promise of a new order, and the Anzac Day commemorations acknowledging the sacrifice of many for the basic values of life and freedom, the two-day Earth@Peace conference in Melbourne in April addressed action for a Just & Ecologically […]
Peter Whiting. With a Federal election being tipped for mid-May 2019, and an April budget to accommodate it, it is hardly surprising that the budget handed down on 2 April had a number of initiatives clearly focused on specific community groups and marginal electorates in the hope of influencing electors’ voting decisions. It just would […]
