• Politics and Policy

    Te Tiriti o Waitangi


    Dominic O'Sullivan |  December 10, 2024


    As New Zealand’s controversial Treaty Principles Bill goes to a Parliamentary Select Committee Hearing it’s worth considering whether te Tiriti o Waitangi really does undermine liberal democracy as the Bill’s proponents say.


  • Environment

    Firebugs


    Open Forum |  December 10, 2024


    Arson, rather than climate change, is the direct cause of around 40% of Australia’s bushfires,but prevention of deliberately lit conflagrations is mostly absent from emergency, public health and climate action plans.


  • Infrastructure

    Remaking healthy cities


    Jinhee Kim |  December 10, 2024


    Australia drifted away from the Healthy Cities movement it helped start. It can still get back on track.


Latest Story

  • John Caldwell

    Be unique and give the customers what they want

    John Caldwell     |      December 1, 2011

    Australia recently became the 78th country in the world to house one of global brand phenomenon, Zara’s, 1700 stores. The brand, which began in 1975 in Spain, has managed to establish itself as one of the world’s most prolific fashion retailers. John Caldwell looks at how that happened.

    There can be no doubt that the retail industry is going through some difficult times. Chains such as Borders and Colorado have gone under in the last year, and many others would have followed suit if they had not been bailed out by their parent companies.

  • Peter Reid

    Cloud revolution starting from the bottom up

    Peter Reid     |      December 1, 2011

    The concept of cloud computing dates back to the 1960s, when computer scientist John McCarthy suggested that ‘computation may someday be organised as a public utility’. It has come a long way since then and, as Peter Reid discusses, it’s sky-high growth started from the ground up.

    There has been much focus recently on cloud computing and its adoption (or not) by enterprise. Although most cloud vendors are understandably keeping their cards close to the chest, by all reports the enterprise uptake has been slow.

    Having first-hand experience on both sides of the fence the problem, as I see it, is multi-faceted.

  • Prof Tony Peacock

    CRC boost a success for Australian innovation

    Prof Tony Peacock     |      November 30, 2011

    Cooperative Research Centres were established in Australia in 1990 to enhance Australia’s economic growth through an injection of Commonwealth research funding. CEO Prof Tony Peacock shows how important they are to Australia’s global innovation success.

    Australia’s unique Cooperative Research Centres Program received a boost recently, with the Innovation Minister announcing that six CRCs had been successful in the 14th funding round of the program.

    Most observers thought a good result would be if four or five of the shortlisted 10 proposals received a funding offer, so six is a great result. Four continuing CRCs were funded along with two new centres.

  • Cameron Murray

    Caution over government’s role in wage negotiations

    Cameron Murray     |      November 28, 2011

    Australia has a long history of Union intervention, but the current reality is that only a small percentage of the workforce is represented by Union members. Cameron Murray argues that we should be looking to Germany when it comes to inspiration for our workplace relations.

    Germany has a long history of organised labour wage bargaining, and a hands-off approach by government. This allowed the strong industry unions to negotiate their own wage agreements in response to sector specific conditions. This history explains why Germany is one of the nine OECD countries without a national statutory minimum wage. Yet union membership is falling, following a global trend, and as election time rolls around, Angela Merkel is proposing to adopt a national minimum wage for industries not covered by independently bargained wage agreements.

  • Anita Tang

    Let’s match words with action to truly clear the air

    Anita Tang     |      November 25, 2011
    Since Australian laws banning smoking indoors came into effect we have enjoyed the benefits of clean air as we eat, work and play. Public demand for extending the same policies to outdoor public spaces has been increasing, but Anita Tang from Cancer Council NSW, asks why New South Wales has been slow to act.
     
    On a wet Thursday evening this week, over 60 people chose to attend a 30 minute discussion in NSW Parliament rather than head home for dinner with their family, attend the Christmas celebrations in the city or catch up on their late night shopping.

    Why? What was the attraction in Parliament that evening?

  • Susan McAlpin

    Rural health services essential to a healthy country

    Susan McAlpin     |      November 24, 2011

  • CPM report cover
    Uncategorised

    NSW Deputy Premier launches a stakeholder report on complexity management

    editor     |      November 23, 2011

    CPM report cover

    Be they bloated defence programmes, bungled IT projects or unwieldy infrastructure schemes, a large number of case studies from around the world demonstrate that traditional, linear project management tools and techniques are insufficient to manage the modern complexities of major schemes.

  • Leith Brooke

    Ethics classes in primary schools – the right thing to do

    Leith Brooke     |      November 23, 2011

  • Michael O'Neill

    Mature reforms for an ageing population – that would be progress

    Michael O'Neill     |      November 22, 2011

  • Cate Faehrmann

    Euthanasia law reforms a matter of personal choice

    Cate Faehrmann     |      November 21, 2011

    The subject of euthanasia is highly emotive, and hotly debated around the world. In New South Wales Greens MP, Cate Faehrmann, says the State’s legislation is out of step with what Australian’s want. She will submit her Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2010 to NSW Parliament next year.

  • Progress in Society teaser

    New measures of progress mean little without action

    Charles Berger     |      November 19, 2011

    Discussions surrounding appropriate community progress measures have been going on in Australia, and world-wide, for decades. Discussion is good, but Charles Berger from the Australian Conservation Foundation, is frustrated that little has been done to translate that talk into action.

    Australia is swimming in new and improved progress measures. We have the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ “measures of Australia’s progress”, a new set of national sustainability indicators in development, state and national “state of the environment” reports, a “genuine progress index”, a wellbeing index and many others.

    I admire the people who have showed great ingenuity, and sometimes even courage, in developing these better indicators. They are worthy projects, giving a refreshingly different perspective on the direction our society is taking.

  • Lisa Middlebrook

    Cloud Computing: the Next Big Thing or Incremental Improvement?

    Lisa Middlebrook     |      November 16, 2011

    Having recently launched the Global Access Partners' National Standing Committee on Cloud Computing, I invited Dr Robert Atkinson, president of Washington DC based technology policy think tank, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), to speak to an informed audience about the cloud.

    I worked with Dr Atkinson for six years at the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute in Washington DC. Please find below my reflections on his discussion.

    Rob outlined the ability for the cloud to give organisations flexibility and agility. He said it lets you focus on your core business and can be less expensive than keeping data in-house.

    Market research and analysis company IDC estimates the market for public cloud products and services at $16 billion in 2010, growing to $56 billion by 2014. Gartner more optimistically estimates the cloud market at $150 billion by 2013.