http://www.australianreview.net/ Australian Review of Public Affairs -- Original research, commentary, and review. Published by the School of Economics and Political Science, The University of Sydney en-au (C) 2000-2006 School of Economics and Political Science, The University of Sydney S.Cheung@econ.usyd.edu.au (Stephen Cheung) S.Cheung@econ.usyd.edu.au (Stephen Cheung) http://www.australianreview.net/image/feed.gif http://www.australianreview.net/ 144 85 http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/07/thart.html By Paul 't Hart. The winds of change are once again blowing through Canberra. Every two decades or so, the federal bureaucracy is encouraged to take a good hard look at itself with a view to reforming how it is organised and operates. In the community of public sector stakeholders such big-ticket reform exercises are the stuff of excitement, even legend ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/07/macdermott.html By Kathy MacDermott. Over the course of the Howard Government, the Australian Public Service was accused with increasing frequency of failing to strike a balance between telling the government what it wants to know and telling the government what it needs to know. Is there a toolkit that can help public servants do their job better? And how, if at all, can academics help? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/06/maddox.html By Marion Maddox. The Texas Board of Education recently approved new curricula for the history, social sciences and economics in public schools, with standards that present the McCarthyist witch hunts as justified, downplay the civil rights movement and add study of the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association, among others. If the departure of President George W. Bush was expected to end the influence of the religious right in the American public sphere, these changes give pause for thought ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/06/proctor.html By Helen Proctor. At the beginning of the 20th century, a parent might have considered themselves to have done a good job if their children were clean, housed, fed and healthy. At the beginning of the 21st, this had expanded to include the provision of advanced education in the "right" school, prolonged financial support, detailed psychological encouragement and personal fulfilment. With the bar set so high, is it any wonder that parenting advice has become such a wildly successful publishing phenomenon? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/05/smith.html By Tony Smith. Australia has had 26 prime ministers and Australians have a natural tendency to find fault with the powerful. We have applied to prime ministers terms such as drunkard, playboy, traitor, narcissist, cynical opportunist and intellectual pygmy. Amongst such an unflattering range of traits, the idealism of Malcolm Fraser has much to recommend it. http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/04/charlesworth.html By Hilary Charlesworth. Much research and writing on human rights in Australia has come from lawyers so a new book that seeks to examine the politics of this key field of theory, policy and practice is welcome. Yet human rights is an area where it is particularly difficult to disentangle law from politics, so what does a political, as opposed to a legal, analysis of human rights protection in Australia look like? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/04/tiffen.html By Rodney Tiffen. First we had the "Howard battlers": working and middle class Australians repelled by Keating's exotic pursuits and attracted to Howard's sound economic management. Then we had the "Howard haters", the term his supporters attached to those who criticised his government's actions, especially on asylum seekers or the Iraq war. Now we have the "Howard whingers" ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/03/clegg.html By Stewart Clegg. Socrates was, if Plato is to be believed, as much of an anti-careerist as one might find: the agora rather than the boardroom was his habitual place, or what one might call "the street". Moreover, in recent times, few university leaders have been prepared to take the hemlock rather than compromise themselves when a difficult and ethically challenging decision presented itself. So is there a case for Socrates in the Boardroom of our universities? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/03/phillips.html By Dennis Phillips. It is easy to sympathise with those who despair at the current state of global politics. Today the world system seems to be broken, unable to function effectively in many crisis situations. Nevertheless, there are some distinguished optimists out there, with concrete plans for change for the better. What are their plans and will they work? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/03/hill.html By Elizabeth Hill. The lives of knowledge economy professionals look pretty much the same, whether they live and work in New York, Sydney, London, New Delhi or Beijing. It"s a whirlpool of constantly intersecting activities in which they multi-task their way through every minute of the day, feeling ever pressed for time and on the move. Buffeted by streams of information coming via their BlackBerries and laptops, this elite live with only one eye on the here and now ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/02/grey.html By William Grey. Greek mythology gives us the goddess Gaia, who brought order out of chaos, and the tempestuous and destructive Medea. These figures provide powerful -- and opposing -- metaphors for understanding the history of life on earth. As ever, how we understand history shapes how we move forward, and as global temperatures continue to rise, some tough decisions are needed. http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/02/sawer.html By Marian Sawer. The Liberal Party of Australia has eschewed quotas as "patronising" to women. The effects of this approach seem evident enough in the proportion of Liberal women in Australian parliaments: currently an average of 20 per cent, compared with 37 per cent on the Labor side. If the Liberal Party did more to assist the entry of more talented women, it might assist in the rebuilding of the party and its electoral appeal. http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2010/02/brownlee.html By Patrick Brownlee. Australia' s last two prime ministers Paul Keating and John Howard, were tribal warriors, perhaps the last of their kind. Both are 1950s suburban Sydney boys of white Christian background, both were administered a healthy dose of work ethic by their small business parents, both had entered parliament by the mid-1970s. They do seem to have a lot in common ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/12/smith.html By Tony Smith. Along with the other summer sports of swimming and tennis, cricket dominates myth production and hero generation in Australia. And most cricket books reinforce the notion that beneath the commercial imperatives, the game remains in the "fair go" tradition that has coincided with Australian values. Can we read between the lines to find a richer -- and more realistic -- account of corporate cricket in the postmodern age? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/12/edwards.html By Jane Edwards. However much conservatives insist that marriage is divinely ordained, it is an institution profoundly moulded by secular events. The changing position of women, the nature of the labour market, educational and welfare policy, the state of the economy and other structural factors will continue to shape marriage into the future. It is the worst fear of conservatives and a fond hope of non-heterosexuals that gay marriage might also help re-shape heterosexual marriage. Both groups are likely to be disappointed ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/11/chappell.html By Louise Chappell. If Australia is to adopt a bill of rights, three elements need to be in place: an agreed model, public support and political support. The National Human Rights Consultation Committee recently submitted its report to the Attorney-General. The report clearly demonstrates that one element can be counted on: public support. The other two still seem to be some way off ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/11/gelber.html By Katharine Gelber. Freedom of speech is at the apex of the core freedoms considered to warrant protection in any mechanism designed to protect human rights. Yet developments in anti-terrorism laws have demonstrated the fragility of the protection of freedom of speech in Australia. Changes to sedition and censorship laws have turned sceptics into supporters of a bill of rights for this country. http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/11/hill.html By Lisa Hill. Australia is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates that "every adult citizen shall have the right to vote without distinction and regardless of their circumstances". Yet Australia flouts this commitment by legally preventing prisoners from voting. Curiously, the same high standards for political participation do not apply to legislators themselves ... http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/11/thom.html By Graham Thom. Fleeing persecution is a fundamental human right. Despite the 1951 Refugee Convention explicitly stating that those arriving undocumented, or "illegally", should not be penalised for doing so, members of this group are increasingly being stripped of some of their basic human rights. Their treatment by successive Australian governments provides a compelling case for a human rights act. http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/11/hogan1.html By Michael Hogan. The mainstream secularist argument has it that the more modern, economically developed and technological a society becomes, the more religion will fade away. Can the argument be turned on its head? As we advance into the 21st century, are formerly materialistic societies like Australia facing a religious revival of hand-clapping religious enthusiasm from populist movements like Sydney's Hillsong? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/10/bowe.html By William Bowe. The qualities or otherwise of democracy have been the subject of controversy since ancient Greece. In Australia, the meaning of the term has been one more battleground in the culture wars, over which the Howard Government continues to cast a long shadow. A new book from the Democratic Audit of Australia provides a systematic evaluation of Australian state and society in a single volume. What does it find? http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2009/10/phillips.html By Dennis Phillips. Who could have predicted that eight years of George W. Bush's hapless foreign policy would produce a crisis of confidence among liberal theorists? Put another way, did George W. Bush and his neoconservative brains trust so discredit Wilsonian liberal internationalism that there is nothing useful left in the grand old idealism for which America's 28th president, Woodrow Wilson, is justly famous?