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Keywords: Australian Government

  • AUSTRALIA

    40 Days: Generosity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 07 March 2024

    Generosity is most heartwarming when it is a habit. We see it in people whose first inclination is to give something to a beggar, to stop and listen to a hard luck story, to think first of persons affected by war and economic crises and only secondly to policy, to welcome people into their homes and to go out of their way to help.

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  • EDUCATION

    Declining staff-to-student ratios reveal sorry state of higher ed

    • Erica Cervini
    • 06 March 2024
    2 Comments

    By 2012, when the federal government first started reporting on staff-to-student ratios in universities, there was one academic for every 20 students. The most recent data, from 2021, shows that figure had increased to 23. As Australian students return for the new academic year, it will surely come as no surprise to find that ratio has worsened.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The geography of loneliness

    • John Chesterman and Ilan Wiesel
    • 01 March 2024
    1 Comment

    The key to combatting increasing levels of loneliness and social isolation will likely start in the way we think about cities, public spaces and social care to enable meaningful connections between people, and help to guard against harms caused by habitual loneliness. But we'll need to get creative.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why the choice revolution let us down: In conversation with Mark Considine

    • David Halliday
    • 28 February 2024
    1 Comment

    The main purpose of government is to promote the welfare of its people. And yet over the last few decades, through numerous inquiries, it’s become clear that the Australian government has failed to provide services for the Australian population as well as might be expected. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    On striving officiously to keep alive

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 22 February 2024

    If the treatment of persons is unethical, it will inevitably lead to ethical corruption in the people and the institutions involved in administering it. It is almost impossible to participate in a policy based on such unethical premises without being complicit in it. If we do, we become blinded to what we owe one another by virtue of being human.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Redefining Dad: Research leads, but policy lags

    • Mike Kelly
    • 14 February 2024
    2 Comments

    Despite a 'fatherhood revolution', government policies continue to neglect the positive impact fathers can have on child development, educational success, and even social well-being. Bridging the gap between the surging research on fatherhood and concrete policy measures ultimately means better outcomes for families.  

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    When is a fashion fad a nationalist signal?

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 14 February 2024

    In China, the resurgence of traditional Hanfu garb from the Han dynasty is capturing the imagination of social media users, sending a multi-layered message about Chinese identity. The trend goes beyond most online fads, subtly conveying China's desire to project  cultural and political influence. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    We need a real conversation about tax reform

    • Joe Zabar
    • 12 February 2024
    1 Comment

    Much of the discussion about tax reform is about the mechanisms of collection; around changes to things like negative gearing, stamp duty, land tax, capital gains tax, and superannuation. But what is missing is a statement of values about what we expect our tax system to fund.

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  • RELIGION

    What is the purpose of the RE classroom in a secular world?

    • Ann Rennie, Bernadette Mercieca
    • 09 February 2024
    5 Comments

    Today, the claims of Christianity are no longer common knowledge among a Catholic student cohort that comes from many faith traditions and none, but the Catholic school has a place for them all. Has the classroom become the ecclesial face of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Building on the rock of the apology

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 February 2024
    3 Comments

    Kevin Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008 seems to belong to a different age. It can never be unsaid. It can, however, be disregarded. For that reason it continues to be important. It is a measuring stick by which both Parliamentary behaviour and the treatment of Indigenous Australians can be judged.

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  • EDUCATION

    Why we need a new approach to school bullying

    • Ben Lohmeyer
    • 07 February 2024
    2 Comments

    In a hierarchical society, we routinely celebrate and reward various dominating and competitive behaviour. When children and young people replicate this in the playground, we call it bullying. Anti-bullying measures may be more effective shifting the focus away from perpetrators and on the social and institutional context. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Lessons from the referendum

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 February 2024
    12 Comments

    The referendum result was a disaster for the country and a tragedy for First Australians and there has been little appetite for public discussion about lessons to be learnt from this abject failure. If we are to move forward, it’s time to begin the conversation about past mistakes.

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