Harnessing the Ageing Boom

The Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Eric Abetz delivered the opening address to the Productive Ageing Conference at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Friday 17 May. In his speech he argued that Australia needs to put public policy parameters in place in order to use the talent of our ageing population.

The University of Life experience

As our life expectancy grows and the positive mental and psychological aspects of being employed are obvious, Senator Eric Abetz explains why we should tap into the talent of our ageing population with a more flexible retirement age.

The ethics of the carbon economy

The question is not only how can we make an emissions trading scheme fair and yet still work, but also: is now the right time to have one?

The industrial revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century marked a major turning point in human society, leading over the following centuries to rapid and unprecedented increases in life spans, living standards and general quality of life for those in the western world, culminating in the early 21st century with what economist Ross Garnaut has frequently described as the "Platinum Age".

Little wonder that 180 years later the so-called "developing" countries are also seeking to build their own wealth and social well-being through similar means.

The wealth and growth of the Platinum Age was built on the so-called "carbon economy", powered by two new sources of energy: coal, and then oil.