Looking back on 2014
I would like to thank you, the Open Forum community, for your support and engagement throughout the year. You are instrumental in shaping this website with your blogs, ideas and comments.
Let’s look back on the year that was, revisit the broad range of content and some of the most successful blogs this year.
We started 2014 by exploring Health & Wellbeing. This was followed by featured forums on Art & Culture, Urban Planning, Sport in Australia, Education and Employment. Until the end of January we will be discussing Social Responsibility, and I’d love to hear from you if you would like to contribute a blog.
In September Global Access Partners held its Annual Growth Summit in the NSW Parliament House in Sydney. Federal ministers, public policy makers, chief executives and leading academics discussed education in Australia today and its importance to the future of the nation.
Some of our most popular blogs this year were:
- How not to make a bed – synthetic drugs in Australia – by Dr David Caldicott
- The rise of hyper-local social networking – by Darren Moffatt
- Should the Queen be the last Australian monarch? – by Simon Longstaff
- It’s time for our day, Australia – by David Morris
- Australia’s national security legislation: Where are we going? – by Patrick Walsh
- The intervention versus homelands – shattered ambitions – by Brendan Howden
- Cities feeding themselves – by Russ Grayson
- Hidden causes of low energy and fatigue – by Vanessa Hitch
- How is the employment market changing in Australia? – by Sue Ellson
- The future of our students – by Professor Andrew Vann
And here are just a few of my favourites – no exhaustive list and in no particular order:
- Creating a good society, a better society or a more civil society? – by Eva Cox
- Team Australia: From bad fashion to bad politics – by Binoy Kampmark
- Australia, we need to talk – by Alycia Gawthorne
- Better educational outcomes: Start early – by Frank Oberklaid
- Democracy. What democracy? – by Leicester Warburton
- Work and the art of belonging – by Leah Sparkes
I warmly invite you to read or re-read these blogs. Let me know which posts you particularly enjoyed this year and which topics you’d like to read about on Open Forum in 2015.
I wish you all the best for this festive season. We will be back in January, and I’m already looking forward to a successful and collaborative year.
Svetlana Stankovic was the editor of Open Forum between 2013 and 2017. Prior to working for GAP, Svetlana was a freelance producer for several German speaking print, radio and TV outlets in Munich, Paris and London. Svetlana has a Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies and a Diploma of Professional Book Editing, Proofreading and Publishing.
