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Australian National University

ANU was established, in 1946, to advance the cause of learning and research for the nation. It is consistently ranked among the world’s best universities and many ANU graduates go on to become leaders in government, industry, research and academia.

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Once universally thought of as an egalitarian country, what’s happened to wealth and income inequality in Australia in recent decades? AAP/Dan Peled

Income and wealth inequality: how is Australia faring?

Peter Whiteford, Australian National University

The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Peter Whiteford investigates what has happened to income and wealth inequality…
Students’ expectations can determine their future. www.shutterstock.com.au

Students’ own low expectations can reinforce their disadvantage

Nicholas Biddle, Australian National University

The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Nicholas Biddle outlines how students’ low aspirations can lead to poor outcomes…
A seat at the table: gender equality should be tackled if the G20 want to hit 2% growth targets. AAP

Time for the G20 to invest in gender equality

Susan Harris Rimmer, Australian National University

IMF chief Christine Lagarde left Sydney commenting that the “two genders” will have to contribute if the G20 was to achieve its aim of lifting economic growth targets by 2%. Critiques of that growth target…
Summary of findings from the State of the Climate 2014 report. State of the Climate 2014

Australia has warmed by 0.9C since 1910, with more in store

Michael Hopkin, The Conversation

Australia is almost a degree warmer, on average, than it was a century ago, according to the State of the Climate 2014 report compiled by the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology. Australia has warmed by 0.9C…
Rising unemployment is likely to be a factor in future interest rate movements. AAP Image/Joe Castro

Spectre of rising unemployment to weigh on rates decision

Timo Henckel, Australian National University

The key question for interest rates this month is whether improving domestic demand will curb the increasing rate of unemployment and underemployment, or whether labour market weakness will persist. The…
For millennia, humans have had the tools to change the atmosphere: when will we develop a sense of caution? AK Rockefeller/Flickr

Human global domination began with fire, not factories or farms

Andrew Glikson, Australian National University

The era in which humans have had the power to alter the conditions for all life on Earth is widely thought to have begun with the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago. This era has been dubbed the “Anthropocene…
Arts precincts have a tendency to become an arts ghetto, shut off from the broader community. PreciousBytes

Alas, arts precincts don’t make cultural cities

Peter Tregear, Australian National University

Melburnians are oft to claim that they reside in the “arts capital” of Australia. Such self-perception (justified or not) reflects and helps to elevate the profile, quality and ambition of artistic activity…
How do you stop a hurricane? Put a wind turbine in the way. Wessex Archaeology/Flickr

Wind turbines could put the brakes on hurricanes

James Whitmore, The Conversation

Wind turbines could provide a front-line defence against cyclones and hurricanes, by slowing damaging winds and reducing storm surges. New modelling, published today in Nature Climate Change, shows large…
Attorney-General George Brandis has no qualms about “shackling” free speech to protect property, hence his presence at a copyright forum this month, yet he rejects other constraints. AAP/Alan Porritt

Free speech: what it is and what it isn’t

John Zerilli, Australian National University

Tim Wilson has finally taken up his post as Human Rights Commissioner after controversy about his appointment late last year. Many questioned the suitability of a candidate without relevant legal-administrative…
Australia is pushing for hard growth targets at this weekend’s G20 Finance Ministers meeting, but taxation is the elephant in the room. Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Cut company taxes, boost innovation: OECD

Kylar Loussikian, The Conversation

Australia should cut company taxes and increase innovation to avoid falling behind in the productivity race, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The…
G20 nations should fly the flag for the rest of the world when it comes to boosting infrastructure investment. Flickr/DowningStreet

Boosting infrastructure investment can prove G20’s value to the world

Andrew Elek, Australian National University

As G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs prepare to meet in Sydney this weekend, leading corporate figures known as the B20 will meet separately with major global investors to discuss the need…
Treasurer Joe Hockey said G20 finance ministers gathering this weekend should help fix an outdated international taxation system. AAP/Daniel Munoz

Fix outdated tax arrangements Hockey tells G20 ministers

Kylar Loussikian, The Conversation

Treasurer Joe Hockey today urged G20 finance ministers to focus on ending gaps between Australian and overseas taxation arrangements that are eroding the tax base. He told an Institute of International…
The Immigration Department, which erects shadecloth around its detention centres to give asylum seekers ‘privacy’, has potentially put 10,000 people at risk by mistakenly releasing detailed identifying information about them. AAP/Mick Tsikas

National failure to take privacy seriously snares asylum seekers

Bruce Baer Arnold, University of Canberra and Benjamin A Smith, Australian National University

Another day, another data breach. The response to that breach tells us something about privacy law, the media and bureaucracies. On Wednesday, The Guardian revealed that the Department of Immigration and…
COAG should not be a place where the rate of progress can be measured in decades. Federal and state leaders dragged the chain again last December. AAP/Alan Porritt

To fix the Federation we must harness the digital revolution

James Horne, Australian National University

December’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting passed with barely a murmur. But structural conflicts between the federal and state governments are a constant, making government dysfunctional…
Last year’s G-20 knees up. This year expect the taper, the IMF and corporate tax evasion to be the main themes. Flickr

We are all spillovers now: G20 finance meeting explained

Susan Harris Rimmer, Australian National University

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major economies will meet in Sydney this week. A lot of troubled financial waters have flowed under the bridge since this group last met…
Lego is fighting back against a virtual onslaught. Village Roadshow

Brand connection and The Lego Movie – what’s going on?

Andrew Hughes, Australian National University

Thanks to the release of The Lego Movie – which opened in the US to huge acclaim on February 7 – the Danish toy company looks set to extend its “brand connection” to generations of families, even further…
Bathers on Melbourne’s St Kilda beach on 28 January this year, as temperatures hit 39°C. AAP

Climate Council: heatwaves are getting hotter and more frequent

Will Steffen, Australian National University; Lesley Hughes, Macquarie University, and Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, UNSW Sydney

Heatwaves are one of the most important climate-related risks for Australians. Sometimes called the “silent killers”, they cause the greatest number of deaths of any natural disaster type in Australia…
Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada had to undergo an unannounced doping test hours before performing. Ivan Sekretarev/AP

A drug-free Olympics could be Sochi’s antidote to a bad image

Vanessa McDermott, Australian National University

Since anti-doping tests were introduced at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics there have only been 20 positive drug tests in Winter Olympic competition. Compared to the Summer Olympics, which has more athletes…
Electricity – just one bright idea to stem from physics. Flickr/JonathanCohen

Physics: a fundamental force for future security

Michelle Simmons, UNSW Sydney

AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
Sound familiar? Tasmanian Liberal leader Will Hodgman says the election is ‘the most important in a generation’, a claim symptomatic of the recycling of political narratives. AAP/David Beniuk

Campaign, rinse, repeat: why voters have heard it all before

Jennifer Rayner, Australian National University

South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria are heading to the polls this year to pick their next state governments. All indications are that these campaigns will have more than a dash of déjà vu about them…

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