The release of figures today showing a dramatic fall in immigration numbers prompts the question of whether certain sections of the media are influencing government policy. Are Australian politicians allowing…
Julia Gillard became Prime Minister on June 24th 2010.
AAP/Alan Porritt
In the dying days of his own government, Gough Whitlam observed that Labor’s role in opposition was to win public support for the need for change, thereby raising expectations that would inevitably fail…
20% of people who saw the footage of animal abuse thought it was too graphic.
AFP/Ho/ABC/Four Corners
The decision by Animals Australia/RSPCA to allow their footage of slaughter of cattle and sheep overseas raises interesting questions about how animal welfare should be managed in this country. Was it…
Participants in “Go back to where you came from” had their attitudes towards refugees challenged.
SBS: Go back to where you came from
Tonight, during World Refugee Week, SBS One premieres Go Back to Where You Came From. Over three nights the series plunges six Australian participants into the intense fear and desperation of the refugee/asylum…
The hospitality of the Pacific people is well-known, but they need help to lift themselves out of poverty.
AAP/Torsten Blackwood
It’s easy for the tourists thrilled by the beauty of the Pacific Islands to miss the flourishing squatter settlements just away from their resorts and buzzing nightlife. Many of the friendly islanders…
ALP stalwart Senator John Faulkner’s recommendations do not go far enough.
AAP
Let’s get serious, Senator Faulkner, the problem is the process of candidate selection. John Faulkner’s excellent speech last night describes a process of ALP decline that has been underway for most of…
The Gonski review presents the Government a once in a generation chance to review school funding.
AAP
The current debate about government funding to private schools is misdirected. The issue is (or should be) not at what level should private schools be funded, but whether they are entitled to any funding…
The fishing lobby has pushed for the NSW government to open up marine parks.
Flickr
The chair of an audit into the highly politically charged issue of NSW marine park zoning has vowed to ignore the politics and stick to the science as he conducts his review. The Shooters and Fishers Party…
It’s time to give people a hand up through welfare.
Flickr/sidkid
As a senior public servant I became increasingly frustrated that too many government initiatives, always well meant and often well implemented, simply ended up compounding the problem of passivity and…
Welcome to “In Conversation”, the first in a series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life. Today Politics Professor John Keane is in conversation with Senator…
During a leadership vacuum on environmental policy, Cate Blanchett was heavily criticised for supporting a carbon tax.
AFP/Say Yes Australia
As the International Energy Agency says the world faces a bleak future as emissions fail to fall at a fast enough rate to combat climate change, the challenge is on for governments to act globally, but…
It’s time to look seriously at changing our constitution. An apology is not enough.
AAP/Dave Hunt
There is unfinished business in Australia, and it’s time to start a serious conversation about resolving it. We need to talk about the planned referendum on Indigenous recognition in the Australian Constitution…
Cate Blanchett lends her star power to the ‘Say Yes’ campaign: but is it a good fit?
AAP
Cate Blanchett possibly got more than she bargained for this week when she was caught up in a backlash over her appearance in a campaign calling for Australians to support a carbon price. Blanchett, a…
The government says it’s on track to release all children asylum seekers in detention soon, but other policies need to be changed urgently.
Flickr/Takver
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says Australia is racist. And she’s right. Racial discrimination in Australia is not idiosyncratic; it is enshrined in laws, policies and practices…
Australia has one of the lowest poverty rates for families in work in the OECD.
Flickr/adwriter
One of the most hotly debated features of Budget 2011 was the freezing of thresholds for some family payments. This has been described positively as a “war on middle class welfare” and negatively as punishing…
Some of what Lindsay Tanner decries as a “sideshow” is of genuine public interest.
AAP
Lindsay Tanner isn’t the first politician to attack the media after leaving office, and he won’t be the last. One might say it comes with the territory; the politician’s belief that if only the media had…
An Arakwal man performs the welcome to country ceremony in Byron Bay. It’s a sight which will be less common now in Victoria.
AAP/Torsten Blackwood
The recent decision by Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu to drop the protocol for government ministers to “acknowledge country” and thereby recognise Indigenous Australian custodianship does not sit well…
Karl Bitar should be open about his contacts with government in his new role.
AAP/Danny Rose
The former National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party, Karl Bitar, has been appointed Head of Government Affairs for Crown Ltd, operators of Melbourne’s Crown Casino and Perth’s Burswood. It’s a…
The poorly paid aged care sector is a barometer of collective bargaining efforts.
Elliott Brown/Flickr
Labor’s post-WorkChoices industrial relations regime has come under renewed scrutiny in the past week, following Fair Work Australia’s recognition that community sector workers were being underpaid due…