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The Ends of Howard and
Costello? Mark Rolfe
Observers typically claim that a political
leader succeeded or failed because he (less often she) was
charismatic, strong, principled, arrogant, ideological, popular,
in touch with the people, or an out and out bastard. Such
judgments usually ignore the more interesting dilemma of
how leaders must be all of those things at different times,
carefully managing public perceptions of their character
as they go. After the Coalition’s crushing loss in
2007, what sense can we make of Howard and Costello as political
characters?
New Reproductive Technologies
and Limits to Procreative Liberty Mianna Lotz
In September this year, Sydney IVF
became the first Australian fertility clinic to be issued
with a licence to produce human cloned embryos exclusively
for research purposes. Stem cell scientists and patient advocacy
groups are delighted, but many religious leaders are profoundly
disturbed. Should science stop if not everyone agrees?
What’s Going
On, Then? Jenny Stewart
The recent turmoil on world financial
markets had led many to wonder whether, this time, capitalism
as we know it might really be finished. Whatever form the
new capitalism takes, it will be different from the old.
For the foreseeable future, the ideology of the free market,
at least in its fundamentalist forms, will have run its course.
Some form of regulatory renaissance seems inevitable. But
regulation of what kind?
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Language, Culture and Education
in Remote Indigenous Communities David P. Wilkins (Oct
2008)
NT Minister for Education, Marion Scrymgour,
recently announced that the first four hours of every school day
in the Territory will be taught in English. The policy is an imposition
that threatens the linguistic and cultural viability of remote
communities running active bilingual education programs. In this
one decision we find a microcosm that reflects the macrocosm of
issues relating to the future of language, culture, and education
in remote Indigenous communities.
Distributing Responsibility
For Decision Making In Medical Ethics Paul Jewell (Oct
2008)
Doctors, patients and the wider community
do not agree on what constitutes acceptable outcomes, who should
decide, and how power, responsibility, obligation and authority
should be allocated between the state, the profession and the patient.
Indeed, the medical profession itself is seriously confused
and conflicted on these issues …
A Paean to the Keating Legacy Evan
Jones (Oct 2008)
A growing literature, albeit unrecognised
as a genre, is concerned with two grand themes in debate about
Australian economic policy over the last 25 years—the relative
merits of the current ‘neoliberal’ regime compared
to the policy structures in place until the 1970s, and which side
of politics should be given the most kudos for engineering the
presumed successes of the neoliberal era. So which side does the
latest addition take?
‘Partnerships’:
Potentials and Pitfalls for Not-for-Profits Leanne Cutcher (Oct
2008)
Management of not-for-profit organisations
was once seen as irrelevant and esoteric. Because these organisations
now receive so much government funding, interest in understanding
how they ought to be managed and organised is now keen. With public
funding comes increased scrutiny and policies to encourage ‘partnerships’ between
not-for-profits and governments and businesses. In this environment,
not-for-profits face challenges—perhaps threats—they
have not encountered before.
America’s Working
Class: Wronged by the Right and the Rich Dennis Phillips (Sep
2008)
There is a class war between rich and poor,
the educated and the uneducated, going on in the United States
and its victims include more than Blacks and Latinos. More than
half the poor are white and most of them have jobs. Meanwhile,
the privileged ones—the busy doctors, lawyers, journalists,
academicians, and others who can put on a sympathetic front when
necessary—harbour a quiet disdain for working folks.
Corporate Australia and the ‘Education
Revolution’ Andrew Gonczi (Sep
2008)
If the government wants a real education
revolution it needs to realise that there are no easy or cheap
solutions. One of the most important issues facing school education
over the next few years is the quality of the future teaching workforce.
Indeed, there is a desperate need to professionalise teaching,
along the lines suggested in a recent report by a surprising contributor
to the school education debate: the Business Council of Australia.
How Real is Reel? Teachers
on Screen and in the Classroom Lesley Scanlon (Sep
2008)
Reel teachers clearly fascinate the public
imagination, if we take as evidence the constant release of teacher
films over the past 50 years. How real are these filmic images?
Is the reel a dangerous distortion of reality, a useful way for
teachers to engage with broad educational issues, or merely entertainment?
Do reel images of teachers have a role to play in teacher education
and development?
Carbon Pollution: Reduction
Scheme or Soft Option? Patrick Hodder (Sep
2008)
Concessions to major polluters undermine
the effectiveness of the government’s proposed emissions
trading scheme by delaying indefinitely any carbon reduction. Environmentalists
have attempted to persuade the government to change its policy,
but these efforts are unlikely to succeed. So why is the government,
which is apparently committed to action on climate change, about
to introduce a policy that won’t work? And what might make
them change tack?
Celebrations and Critiques
of Contemporary Journalism Rodney Tiffen (Aug
2008)
A new book presents a seemingly endless
and always depressing catalogue of irresponsible journalism. Another
explains why judgements of political newsworthiness derive, at
least partially, from journalists’ sense of where the centre
of gravity of power lies. Meanwhile, in the new Newseum, the exhibit
about News Limited is sponsored by News Limited. So much for the
critical role of the fourth estate …
Securing Australia’s
Maritime Domain Lee Cordner (Aug
2008)
With its endless coastline and vast Exclusive
Economic Zone, Australia has one of the largest maritime security
challenges in the world. Regulation and enforcement of jurisdiction
over this vast domain will require innovative solutions, particularly
given Australia’s relatively small population and small maritime
sector workforce. Some have suggested a coastguard, but other ideas
might get us further …
Summa Sexologica Graham
Willett (Aug 2008)
It is hard to imagine that anyone anywhere
in the West might seriously doubt that our erotic and intimate
lives have been utterly transformed in the past half century. Who
in 1945 imagined a female prime minister, same-sex marriage, public
discussions of abortion and contraception? What is often disputed,
though, is whether these changes have been for the better …
Emissions Trading: ‘Grip
on Reality’ or Just ‘Trust in Numbers’? Stephen
Healy and Declan Kuch (Aug 2008)
Emissions trading has emerged as the key
to reducing carbon emissions by putting a price on carbon. Kevin
Rudd supports the idea; even John Howard seemed to come round to
it before the election of 2007. There may be contention over the
start date and the structure of the scheme, but all round there
seems to be agreement that carbon mitigation is primarily a matter
of economics and technology. Is that really all there is to it?
The American Alliance in
Australian Foreign Policy Dennis Phillips (Jul
2008)
The role of the American alliance has long
been so pivotal that any serious criticism of it is viewed
as mischievous, even potentially dangerous. Critics are usually
dismissed as either naïve or malevolent. It is almost as if
the whole national security edifice could collapse if anyone dares
chip away at the foundation stone. The time has come to get out
a chisel or two …
The Idea of the ‘Bad
Girl’ Dorothy Bottrell (Jul
2008)
Girls now have the advantages of education
and career paths, and are expected to be present in political and
public worlds. Yet when it comes to images of young women in the
media, one seems only to see the video clip ‘ho’, the
mincing, pink Chanel-suit wearing princess, and the vicious ‘mean
girl’. What’s going on?
The Henson Affair: Conflicting
Injustices? Brian Martin (Jul 2008)
The censorship artist Bill Henson’s
photographs involved two conflicting injustices, from the points
of view of the contending parties. For opponents of child sexual
abuse, the key injustice was abuse of children; for Henson’s
defenders, the key issue was artistic freedom from censorship.
Powerful perpetrators of injustice use identifiable tactics to
reduce public outrage in conflicts—can we see these tactics
in the Henson case?
The Art of Bill Henson
and the Welfare of Children kylie valentine (Jun
2008)
An exhibition of Australian artist Bill
Henson’s photographs, including some works depicting nude
children, has provoked a debate between adults over the values
that adults should hold in protecting children on one hand and
in viewing art on the other. Children and young people themselves
have been almost entirely absent. What might change if they were
able to participate fully in discussions about sexuality, choice,
and representation?
Selective Hero Worship in
the War on Terror Tony Smith (Jun
2008)
In the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September
2001, fundamentalist preachers blamed pro-choice feminists for
causing God to withdraw his protection. Conservatives joined the
chorus: feminists had made American males and the military weak
and their multicultural attitudes had allowed the infiltration
of Muslim extremists. The response to the attacks would require
restoration of traditional family values. Now feminists are fighting
back …
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