Category: Feature

Royal Commission into Aged Care shows the difficulty of systemic change must be overcome

I am almost (although not quite) beginning to feel sorry for Scott Morrison.

Since his unlikely victory at the polls in 2019, his prime ministership has been one damn thing after another – bushfires, Covid, predatory ministerial staffers and compromised ministers, vaccine issues – and underlying it all, and exacerbated by the pandemic, the continuing problems in aged care. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which reported in March this year, did not tell us much that was new, but it gave his government plenty to work with.

Public Sector Informant: Disconnect with industries shows there’s not a strategic bone in the nation’s body

As a nation with interests but not much power, Australia has produced many strategic assessments, both official and unofficial, over the years. Until relatively recently, the working assumption behind these analyses was that Australia faced no direct threat to its interests, at least none that could not be handled through our alliance with the United States.

Spirit Level: confessions of a religious battler

You can be an atheist, or a believer. But what if you are neither? What if you want spiritual growth, but jib at the idea of organised religion? What if, like so many, you are a religious battler? (A battler, for those who do not know the term, refers to someone who persists doggedly at a task, or in a role, for which they feel total commitment, but have no real talent).
This little book is Jenny’s attempt at both, from the perspective of an aspiring Christian. Seeking a spiritual home that so many others have left is in some ways the hardest path of all to tread. We are told we should be casting Christianity to the past, yet how can we? Our yearning might just be weakness in the face of the big questions, or it might be a kind of strength. All that is needed is to suspend disbelief, put our fear aside, and take the first steps.
Available on Amazon.com