A consistent theme of the media coverage following the rebel campaign in Libya is its disorganisation. The news footage shows gaggles of unkempt men remonstrating passionately with each other over what…
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Politics + Society – Articles, Analysis, Comment
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Violent crime represents a tragedy on many different levels. After working in prisons for a few years I was convinced, as I think most of us would be, not only about the limitations of our response to…
Foundation Essay – In 1529 the great monasteries of England and the 400 smaller establishments had never looked so good. They were doubly protected, by universal belief and by their many material connections…
Can you imagine Prince William, on his visit to Australia, being gifted a specimen of uranium? That’s what happened to his grandfather Prince Philip on a Royal Tour during the first great age of Australian…
Australia is in danger of forgetting its past. The government is starving history projects of their funding. And we have until Friday to try to stop the total abolition of the crucial Making History initiative…
There is a quiet revolution taking place in teaching and learning languages, in both primary and secondary teaching. For years, most Australian schools have lagged behind those in other countries in the…
The unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster has highlighted the weaknesses and dysfunctions inherent in Japan’s conventional corporate culture. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), now the center of…
The recent anti-carbon tax rally that took place in front of Parliament House was compared to a US Tea Party rally. It certainly reflected its tone and style. There was the same anti-government, anti-tax…
The decision by a US Federal Court judge last week to reject a $US125 million settlement between Google Books and the publishing industry allows authors to protect their copyright and prevents Google from…
The trite stuff to say about the NSW election would begin with phrases like “bloodletting” or “slaughter”. It would involve excessive attention to serial mismanagement (political and policy) and the decline…
The protests that have swept the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt from power, and brought much of the region to a halt as massive crowds take to the streets to demand political change, have been spectacular…
When a media proprietor such as Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes describes newspapers as a “sunset industry”, it goes without saying that the future of the newspaper does not involve paper. Mr Stokes…
All the signs point to a landslide victory for Barry O’Farrell and the Liberal National coalition tomorrow. Premier Kristina Keneally’s popularity has plummeted with only 30 per cent of voters satisfied…
Foundation essay – “If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?” While slightly flippant, this comment by Albert Einstein captures the unpredictability of research beautifully…
The debate about health in the lead-up to the Saturday March 26 NSW election has been unusually civilised and intelligent. The main contestants – the current minister, Carmel Tebbutt, and shadow minister…
Foundation Essay – A democracy needs conversations that range broadly, find space for many voices, accept new information, explore unexpected ideas, allow people to reach a judgement about the issues that…
Successive governments in NSW, of both political persuasions, have tried to privatise electricity despite strong and consistent citizen opposition. Citizen opposition is based on the desire to maintain…
Foundation Essay – In his recent statements on the poor state of the Australian debate on global warming (meaning discussion of its causes, and how to deal with it in policy terms) Professor Ross Garnaut…
Many public debates come down to facts – issues like “Whose costing of the Opposition’s spending plans was correct?” or “How many people died in Iraq?” Too often the media report a strident opinion from…
The failure to adequately price carbon emissions allows the world’s affluent to impose serious climate-related costs upon its poor. But is this primarily an economic or an ethical issue? Despite fierce…
Australia used to be one of the most tolerant places in the world. In the 1980s when the spectre of HIV and AIDS reached around the globe, the government funded campaigns to raise awareness of the virus…
In any criticism of a social out-group such as Muslims in Australia there is another unstated message being communicated: that those criticisms do not apply to us. To berate Muslims for intolerance, militancy…
With the state election in NSW approaching, and the predicted demise of the reign of Labor, there is no more perfect an opportunity to reflect on the way in which law and order issues have come to characterise…
NSW Labor is so detested that many inside and outside the party look back nostalgically to the leadership of that erudite policy thug Bob Carr. As Premier, he stirred-up anti-Muslim racism for electoral…
Foundation Essay – Universities are at permanent risk of getting a bad rap.. They are too remote, too elitist, too unworldly, too expensive (especially in the US). They are ‘irrelevant’ to the needs and…