Opinion Pieces | Page 6 | Australian Policy and History Network

Soil Salinity in Australia: A Slow Motion Crisis

By Andrea Gaynor and Keith Bradby Sweeping the salt under the carpet Dryland salinity in Western Australia’s agricultural areas is now estimated to directly affect up to 2 million hectares and cost over half a billion dollars a year in lost agricultural production. With few exceptions, the south-west’s rivers also suffer from […]

Commemorators-in-Chief: How Politicians Appropriated Anzac Commemoration

Last week the Commonwealth announced that it would be spending $498 million over nine years to redevelop the Australian War Memorial. The renovation will increase the exhibition space by more than 80 per cent and provide room for military hardware like Chinook helicopters and jet fighters from recent conflicts. Announcing the project, Prime Minister Scott […]

Homelessness, Policy and the Media: How a Long Lens Helps

By Anne O’Brien* One of the most difficult tasks facing advocates and policy advisors in late industrial welfare states must surely be navigating the media – new as well as old. At worst the tabloids manufacture crises, fuel moral panic and demonise people in need while online platforms enable trolls to reinforce old prejudices. But […]

Heritage Diplomacy

By Amy Clarke* Culture has played a prominent role in the realm of public diplomacy, to the extent that some argue it deserves to be recognised as a distinct form of diplomatic strategy. This debate is further complicated when we consider how heritage—in both tangible (e.g. artefacts, buildings, landscapes) and intangible (e.g. cultural traditions, cuisine, […]

‘How is this not murder?’ Infanticide and the Law in Australian History

By Caroline Ingram* Overview Until abortions and contraception became readily accessible to women, infanticide was a relatively common solution to the birth of unwanted illegitimate children. The formulating of laws relating to infanticide began in 1624 in an attempt to counter the killing of illegitimate children by their mothers. Today infanticide, which carries a less […]

Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Importance of the History of the Left in the Present Day

By Jon Piccini, Evan Smith and Matthew Worley* One of the outcomes of the populist shift to the right in many areas of the West has been a corresponding shift to the left. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, many traditional social democratic and labour parties have suffered from what has been described as ‘Pasokification’: […]

Political Campaigning: Less Has Changed Than You Might Think

By Chris Monnox* Australian election campaigns are highly disciplined affairs. They mobilise large numbers of people, but there is little that is unruly about them. Gaffes and slip-ups prove newsworthy precisely because they are unusual. It is true that campaign organisers increasingly speak the language of grassroots empowerment, but as election scholar Stephen Mills observes, […]

Senator Fulbright, We Need You Now

By Professor Joan Dassin* International students offer a glimmer of hope in the current Trumpian, post-Brexit era. Despite the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric and newly restrictive visa policies in some Western countries, the demand for international higher education remains strong. In 2015 4.6 million globally mobile students were studying abroad, a nearly five-fold increase from the […]

Australia’s Long-Held Stake in Timor-Leste’s Oil

Few political matters could claim to be more incendiary than Australia’s actions in the Timor Sea over recent decades. The media emphasis on the maritime boundary dispute over access to oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea has led to a commonly held view that Australian oil interests began there during the first sea […]

Humanitarian Emergency Aid: Lessons from the Indian Ocean Tsunami

*By Professor Matthew Clarke Over the last decade, 400 natural and human-caused disasters have killed more than 100,000 people and affected a further 120 million annually. Many of these events are natural disasters ranging from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and cyclones to flooding and droughts. The international community provides significant resources to assist local communities impacted […]

Decisive New South Wales government action solved the electricity crisis, but that was in 1950

By Dr Ken Thornton* In Australia in 2018, barring the consequences of extreme weather events or equipment malfunctions, the light always comes on when you flick the switch. As a residential consumer, your PC or Mac fires up when you want to check your emails or do some writing. Electricity is always there when you […]

Multiple Choice: Complementary Medicine in Contemporary Australia

By Dr Richard Trembath* Federation University I was once told never start an article with an anecdote, but, as this is an opinion piece, I shall ignore that advice. In the mid-1990s, when working at RMIT, I was asked to liaise with a leading Melbourne naturopath to establish a TAFE level course in naturopathy at […]