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 […]
Terry Moran. From an oration in honour of Jim Carlton AO at the University of Melbourne 25 March 2019. I want to talk about what I’m going to describe as a mission – Australia’s next long wave of reform. It is this third wave of reform which must bring us to a compact on the […]
Terry Moran. Economies such as ours are now experiencing a new debate about localism (as it is described in the UK), or a increasingly broad role for city government or regions (this being the focus of the debate in the United States). The Europeans have for some time called this subsidiarity for some time. Community […]
Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University. This is part of a major series, called Advancing Australia, in which leading academics examine the key issues facing Australia in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election and beyond. Read the other pieces in the series here. What will a Shorten government be like? It’s hazardous to predict how […]
Ian Robinson. The Prime Minister is intent on making a big fuss about James Cook. He is even promoting, at great expense, a circumnavigation of the continent by a replica of Cook’s ship Endeavour. This is an insult to Matthew Flinders, who actually did circumnavigate the continent, who made a much greater contribution to our […]
Peter Whiting. Until recently, for the last 20 years or so, I have celebrated Australia Day at my home with a group of my friends. As part of the entertainment, I would compile a short quiz on a particular Australian theme: bushrangers, prime ministers, Australian poets, prominent Australians, place names, and so on. Intentionally, I […]
John Menadue. The Australia of today is vastly different from the Australia of my childhood. With its widespread racism and sectarianism, it was socially suffocating. For those changes, I am very grateful. There is a lot of which we can be proud. No country has integrated newcomers as well as we have. But there have […]
