‘Groundhog Day’: 40 years of Australian government responses to domestic violence reveal a bumpy road to  change

‘Groundhog Day’: 40 years of Australian government responses to domestic violence reveal a bumpy road to  change

Above Left: Anne Summers working at women’s refuge Elsie. Elsie Conference, Lukas Coch/AAP Zora Simic, UNSW Sydney; Ann Curthoys, University of Sydney, and Catherine Kevin, Flinders University Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared a “national crisis” of domestic violence following an alarming spike in killings of women and a wave of protest rallies across the […]
Walking Towards the Führer. What Do These Neo-Nazis Signify?

Walking Towards the Führer. What Do These Neo-Nazis Signify?

By Richard Trembath, Ballarat.   Let’s be precise.  On Sunday 3 December last year, my wife and I were having lunch, next to one of the large windows in our living room.  I looked out and then informed Anne Marie that, if she cared to view the street, she would see a group of about […]
Medicare: A Forty Year Health Check

Medicare: A Forty Year Health Check

Healthcare experts diagnose fundamental problems with our health system – it remains oriented to acute and episodic illness and curative responses even though we are now in an age of chronic illness, which requires continuing and holistic care, and a more preventative approach. Not only does this disjunction between disease and service provision affect the […]
We’ve taken smoking from ‘normal’ to ‘uncommon’ and we can do the same with vaping – here’s  how

We’ve taken smoking from ‘normal’ to ‘uncommon’ and we can do the same with vaping – here’s  how

Carolyn Holbrook, Deakin University and Thomas Kehoe Vaping is a pressing public health issue. While adult smoking rates continue to fall, vaping rates are rising. Some 7% of adults now vape daily, up nearly three-fold since 2019. Most alarmingly, the rate of current vape use – on a daily, weekly or monthly basis – among […]
Setting a dangerous policy precedent: when digitisation leads to destruction

Setting a dangerous policy precedent: when digitisation leads to destruction

Dr Deborah Lee-Talbot   The libraries and archives of Europe have been described by the Australian researcher George Collinridge, as the ‘great centres and stores of knowledge’ (2018, p. 5). If that is so, the recent proposal to destroy records from Britain needs to be a concern for many. On 15 December 2023, as people […]
It was Greek to me: The historian’s obligation to communicate

It was Greek to me: The historian’s obligation to communicate

By Richard Trembath   Cassius: Did Cicero say anything? Casca: Aye, he spoke Greek. Cassius: To what effect? Casca: Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you I’ the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another, and shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to […]
History Education for the Citizens of the Future – HTAV Conference, Melbourne 27 July 2023

History Education for the Citizens of the Future – HTAV Conference, Melbourne 27 July 2023

*This is an edited version of a speech delivered by Dr Carolyn Holbrook to the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria annual conference in Melbourne on 27 July 2023.   History teachers hold a special place in my heart.   Like many of you, I was drawn to study history because I had the privilege of […]
Your body is a temple: The politics of junk food in Australia

Your body is a temple: The politics of junk food in Australia

By Richard Trembath   I cannot advise all more spiritual natures too seriously to abstain from alcohol absolutely.  Water suffices . . . No eating between meals, no coffee . . . Tea beneficial only in the morning. Friedrich Nietzsche, Ecce Homo (1888), from the section called ‘Why I Am So Clever’.   In this […]
Not Neglecting, Strangling: A Short History of a Most Inefficient Policy

Not Neglecting, Strangling: A Short History of a Most Inefficient Policy

By     Joshua Black   Executive Summary The efficiency dividend has been applied to Australia’s public sector agencies for thirty-five years, and in the case of the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries Archives and Museums) sector, with particularly devastating effects The efficiency dividend has helped to destroy the formerly first-class service provision of Australia’s national cultural institutions […]
What Can Asbestos’ Past Tell Us about Silica’s Future in Australia?

What Can Asbestos’ Past Tell Us about Silica’s Future in Australia?

James Watson   On 28 February 2023, the Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Tony Burke, met with his state and territory counterparts to take the first steps to ban the manufacture of silica-containing products in Australia. Silica is a naturally occurring mineral found in quartz and is used in the manufacture of kitchen benchtops. Inhalation of […]
A Broken Model? Medicare in the summer of 2023

A Broken Model? Medicare in the summer of 2023

Richard Trembath   When I suggested this article to the editors of Australian Policy and History  (which is now some time ago) there was considerable discussion in the media about the strain on Australia’s health services, partly as the result of the pandemic, and partly as the result of long-term structural issues.  For example, Chip […]
How the push to end tobacco advertising in the 1970s could be used to curb gambling ads  today

How the push to end tobacco advertising in the 1970s could be used to curb gambling ads  today

Julian Smith/AAP Carolyn Holbrook, Deakin University and Thomas Kehoe If you think you are seeing a lot more gambling ads on television and online platforms, you are not imagining it. They are so common that high-profile AFL players have refused to participate in sponsored gambling. Online gambling companies are ploughing huge amounts of money into […]