Whatever specific findings the Robodebt Royal Commission makes, the main outlines of the story are now clear. Between 2015 and 2019, the Coalition government, keen to make savings, undertook a data matching exercise with the Tax Office and Centrelink, designed to flush out welfare fraud. The government was convinced many …
As humans, we are prisoners of the frames we use for bounding and understanding reality. Despite abundant evidence that we need to reconsider, the world’s obsession with economic growth continues. If our economies do not grow we are convinced they must, by definition, be declining. Even climate change has not …
I wish I could write more about grieving, but as others have found, by the time you are conscious of having moved through a stage, another has come upon you – or memories you thought had passed, re-invent themselves, over and over again.
The end days came so quickly. For months, the doctors kept saying there was something wrong with his heart. But it was the cancer, so laboriously excised, that had come back. Or perhaps it never left.
Just as viruses mutate, so does language. Have you noticed how rapidly the use of the preposition is changing in Australian English?
It’s said that every generation has misgivings about the next. I know I do. It’s probably a natural part of growing older. Not only do the young seem younger than ever before, but those in charge, those now in their forties and fifties, seem, in ways both mysterious and self-evident, …
Christianity is for believers, right? This is certainly the message that Christians send to those outside the church. Christians of all denominations project their faith through liturgy, song and prayer. The message, whether stated through the recitation of creedal liturgies or not, is unmistakable: ‘I believe, I believe, I believe’. …
If you are a fan of British comedy, you will no doubt recall that memorable episode of Fawlty Towers, when Basil, the crazed Torquay hotel-keeper played by John Cleese, welcomes some German guests. The more Basil tries not to mention the war, the more obsessed with it he becomes, …
The first time I missed out on promotion (a type of prize, I guess), a wise old academic said to me that it was always tempting to reject a system that had rejected you. It’s a fair point. Any committee that selects oneself, shows startling sagacity. One that does …
I was talking to some friends the other day about spiritual discipline – not the sort that involves self-mortification – but the kind of practice that enables us to communicate within, and without. Reading William James’s Varieties of Religious Experience has been a great help to me in understanding a …
To end up as a Christian is to swim against the Australian tide. Most of my contemporaries have, with varying degrees of relief, jettisoned religion. I respect their reasons for doing so. But my experience may, possibly, suggest a way back.
I have never known an organisation that would not have been improved by a few well-judged changes. Not, I hasten to add, re-structurings or purges, just the addition of a bit of common sense to the pot pourri of accepted practice.
Many years ago, the late Kim Beazley Senior complained that his Australian Labor Party, which had once contained the cream of the working class, now consisted of the dregs of the middle class. These people represented neither the mass of the party nor the majority of voters.
Jenny Stewart My adult son has recently suggested that he might like to become an academic. I am doing my best to dissuade him. The reason? He would be joining a profession that has lost its way. I am not alone in this feeling – surveys of academics regularly show …
Wendy Jarvie In 2004 the Australian Government Department of Education Science and Training (DEST) opened an education office in Santiago, Chile. The initiative turned out to be highly successful. In terms of students enrolled the region grew from 7,000 to 34,000 over 5 years – and was the fastest growing …
Public Servants and Aboriginal Communities Wendy Jarvie Closing the Gap is the current Commonwealth and State government strategy for improving indigenous outcomes in Australia. Its focus is on reducing the marked disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, in opportunity and outcomes, including in health, education, infrastructure, employment and justice. Money, …
By Mark Drummond There is wide acknowledgement that the economic growth Australia has achieved in recent years through China’s huge demand for our commodity exports has masked significant structural deficiencies in the Australian economy. The ongoing drought and recent car manufacturing plant closures in Victoria and South Australia further highlight …
John Power There is a fair measure of guilt underlying this brief piece. For a political scientist to admit that he has been finding more and more satisfaction in novels, and less and-less in contemporary writings in his own discipline, clearly calls for some justification, if not outright expiation.. At …
Brian Martin Over the past few decades, research into expert performance – in fields such as chess, music, sport and science – has challenged conventional ideas. The traditional view is that stellar performance depends on natural talent. Researchers have found, to the contrary, that even the greatest performers require years …
Richard Langereis Leaving aside its meanings in relation to love and lovemaking, passion has for a long time had a pretty bad press, mostly being represented as an inability to control strong emotions – sometimes leading to rage and even mania. Passion gets a better press these days – often …
