From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting

From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting

A Q&A between John Doyle and award-winning political historian Judith Brett about her latest book, From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting, and her forthcoming Quarterly Essay on Australia’s addiction to coal, out in June. In your Q&A with us last year about The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, you said the impetus […]
Contemporary Histories Research Group Award in History and Policy

Contemporary Histories Research Group Award in History and Policy

PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATIONS FOR THIS AWARD HAVE NOW CLOSED This award provides $10,000 each to two early career researchers*° to undertake research in an area of history that relates to a significant issue of contemporary Australian public policy. Recipients will receive: $10,000 to fund archival research and other expenses, paid in instalments** Mentoring by […]
APH in NYC

APH in NYC

Our director, Carolyn Holbrook, was invited to participate in an international panel about history and policy at the recent American Historical Association conference in New York, with Dane Kennedy from the National History Center and Charles Kraus from the Wilson Center in Washington DC and Andrew Blick from History and Policy in London. The panel […]
Dealing the deck: tips for better Powerpoint presentations

Dealing the deck: tips for better Powerpoint presentations

By Shivani Thiyagarajah Eleanor Williams, from the Department of Health and Human Services, delivered APH’s first group workshop at Deakin Downton. Addressing the uses (and abuses) of PowerPoint, the workshop focused on how design can be utilised for maximum impact, particularly towards policy-makers. The Opening: The workshop opened with a discussion on how and why […]
Reviewing skills and knowledge: will the digital age mean a break with the past?

Reviewing skills and knowledge: will the digital age mean a break with the past?

By Francesca Beddie Technological change is forever challenging traditional approaches to education and training. Nevertheless, my review of a collection of landmark reports on vocational education and training published since the 1960s and collated in the VOCED plus database shows that some of the solutions remain the same: give students a strong secondary education so […]
‘Crazy brave’: How a group of inexperienced idealists changed Victoria’s stagnant child welfare sector

‘Crazy brave’: How a group of inexperienced idealists changed Victoria’s stagnant child welfare sector

By Dr Sharron Lane This article examines the work of several Superintendents who together had some success in changing Victoria’s stagnant child welfare system in the early 1960s. It features the work of Alfred Spencer Colliver and the Kildonan Children’s Home which he transformed in the space of just five years. More than just changing […]
A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods

A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods

A Q&A between Lionel Frost and Margaret Cook discussing Margaret’s book – A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods. (UQP 2019.) Margaret – congratulations on the book. Can you tell us what motivated you to do the research? As I watched the events of the 2011 floods unfold and witnessed the […]
Soldier Recognition, Trauma, and the Australian War Memorial

Soldier Recognition, Trauma, and the Australian War Memorial

By Dr Mia Martin Hobbs The expansion of the Australian War Memorial comes at a public cost of half a billion dollars. Anzac Hall will be demolished and completely rebuilt to create space for displays of military hardware: a Bushmaster, light-armoured vehicles, and a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The purpose of this expansion and hardware display, […]
What do Australians know about international education in Australia?

What do Australians know about international education in Australia?

By Anna Kent International students, and the international education sector are hitting the headlines on a regular basis at the moment. These stories are rarely positive – stories of students being accepted without sufficient English language skills, students as spies and more. There are more nuanced discussions on the role of international education in contemporary […]
‘Canvas Town’ – Managing Melbourne’s First Housing Crisis

‘Canvas Town’ – Managing Melbourne’s First Housing Crisis

By Alex Little and Benjamin Mountford Melbourne is no stranger to housing shortages. Although Melburnians sometimes pride themselves on inhabiting the ‘world’s most liveable city’, the ability of Melbourne’s residents to access quality, affordable housing continues to be at the forefront of public consciousness. Likewise, while the need for more public housing is well recognised, […]
The minimum wage a milestone in the history of human rights

The minimum wage a milestone in the history of human rights

by Professor Marilyn Lake Rarely does a day pass without newspaper reports of rampant economic exploitation and underpayment of workers by employers.  Employment law principal at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Giri Sivaraman attributed the spike in wage theft to a number of factors including the decline in union power and membership, the difficulty of legal redress […]
Landmarks in the governance and policy frameworks of Australian VET

Landmarks in the governance and policy frameworks of Australian VET

By Francesca Beddie In Landmarks in the governance and policy frameworks of Australian VET, Robin Ryan, retired adjunct academic, Flinders University, surveys a set of landmark policy documents on vocational education and training (VET). He charts the history of the systems of governance, institutional frameworks and processes of policy formulation. This exercise uncovers some recurring […]