Covid-19 presents us with an opportunity: increased equality in society, resilient to the challenges ahead, or a society ruled by power imbalances, struggling to cope with natural and man-made disasters. Pre-Covid Thirty years ago, it was demonstrated that, in an environment in which access to health care was equitable, health outcomes were determined by position […]
Few of us could have imagined that a virus invisible to the human eye could bring the world economy to its knees. Wealthy countries like Australia and New Zealand have cushioned the blow with modest support for businesses, workers, and the unemployed. But many poor countries are struggling even to keep people alive or working. […]
3 July 2020 Photo Black Lives Matter Rally Melbourne 6 June 2020. Matt Hrkac. flickr cc. Polls conducted over recent months indicate that voters are generally approving the way governments have addressed the Covid-19 pandemic. Our political leaders are enjoying, however briefly, a period of endorsement by their constituents. Another poll of a different sort, […]
Geoff Hanmer University of Adelaide Australia has done better with COVID-19 than anyone dared hope. This opens up the prospect of progressive relaxation of restrictions later this year. Organisations which could participate in an economic stimulus program will need to be in a position then to deliver “shovel-ready” projects to help revive the economy. The […]
7 May 2020. For weeks now, Covid-19 has dominated the world’s media. We’ve had endless facts, advice, and commentary on the virus itself, the number of deaths and infections, the level of testing, the dos and don’ts of hygiene and social distancing, the flattening of the curve, and much else. But, on the underlying significance […]
Peter Whiting Posted 7 April 2020 It has all happened so quickly that it’s difficult to take it all in. The changes to our lives wrought by COVID-19 are dramatic, personal, and wide-ranging. Personally, I am filled with a sense of being transplanted into some sort of parallel universe. In just a few short weeks, […]
The real story behind the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Posted 7 April 2020. In response to the suicide attacks on the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001, the US issued an ultimatum to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to hand over Osama bin Laden and the other Al Qaeda leaders or else the US would invade the […]
Tony Wood Posted 10 March 2020 Opposition leader Anthony Albanese sought to claim the climate policy high ground last week with his commitment to a net-zero emissions target by 2050. But figures on Australia’s emissions from the Department of the Environment and Energy help frame the political debate, and put the policies of both Labor […]
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 […]
