With an increasingly farcical stream of revelations emerging from the Cole Enquiry over the past several months, surely it is time for our Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, to resign. Not only does this man represent us all to the governments of the world, but he does not seem capable of reading diplomatic cables or significant letters ( Read more... )

The Australia's editorial on Tuesday (second one) was excellent. As they make clear, a lot of our water scarcity problems are man-made, and have very little to do with what falls from the sky, or even whether it makes it into a dam. As the world's driest inhabited continent (and littered with large agricultural and industrial water consumers) we ( Read more... )

Louise Dodson's thoughtful opinion piece ( SMH) was right to draw the link between Orwell's nightmares in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and some of the laws recently passed by our parliament. For a prosperous democracy that supposedly values individual rights, and opposes repressive, terrorist ideologies, our legislature has shown a great deal of contempt ( Read more... )

THE Government’s response to a lagging Telstra share price-dithering around, then deciding to sell $8 billion of it while parking the rest in the Future Fund-is alarming.

The sale of such a large part-government-owned asset should not be premised on a businessman, Phil Burgess, keeping quiet. The bulk of the shares should not be placed into an ( Read more... )

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Does anyone else find this picture kinda scary?


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I've been told there's a review underway at the uni in regards to creating a new Faculty of Social Sciences.

It would (potentially) include:
Human Geography (from Science)
Urban Planning (from Architecture)
Sociology (from Arts)
Anthropology (from Arts)
Political Economy (from E+B)
Government (from E+B)

The review is looking for submissions from staff and ( Read more... )

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nightclub-sprayed-with-30-bullets/2006/08/25/1156012701832.htmlRead more... )

Helen Irving (SMH) is correct to identify flag burning as an act of free speech and political statement, even if offensive and insensitive, and place it in its full legal context. The principles of Australian democracy, underwritten and preserved by our Constitution, uphold that one's views and protests should not be suppressed because they are ( Read more... )

Whether or not the History Summit will result in the right courses for schools across Australia, the focus it has placed on humanities education is to be praised. However, the summit's focus has been too narrow. Geography does not deserve to be pushed aside and forgotten. In many respects it is just as important that students learn about the world ( Read more... )