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UncategorisedTen Common ‘Mistakes’ to Avoid, and ‘Needs’ to Meet, when Seeking to Create a Better World
Stuart Hill | February 11, 2008
Some thoughts on Kevin Rudd’s ‘1,000 Great Minds’ initiative (Australia 2020 Summit) and what might need to happen to improve its chances of success
Because of the holistic nature of the approach being advocated, all of these areas overlap and are highly interactive and interrelated.
1. Getting the usual ‘experts’ together, to then plan for a better future. This always leads to tinkering with existing (flawed) plans, and excludes those most affected by such plans.
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UncategorisedTo smack or not to smack: Is that really the question?
alison gordon | February 7, 2008The act of smacking children has evolved over the past few years into a debate over whether it's an essential and effective form of discipline, or simply a less obvious form of physical and psychological abuse.
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UncategorisedCar industry woes?
proberts | February 5, 2008The car industry, of course is doomed…or is it?
In this year when there is more bad news coming from the car manufacturing sector, it is sometimes hard to appreciate just how much things have changed since the bad old days of protectionism.
Our cars used to be expensive and somewhat dated technologically as they were engineered, designed and manufactured for our rather small domestic market. Nissan was forced to close its local manufacturing and Mitsubishi has long been teetering on the edge.
But while Ford is vulnerable, Toyota is powering ahead and GM Holden's progress has been spectacular. Adelaide-made Commodore and Caprice cars are exported to the Middle East where they are the number one selling car and the United States. The Caprice itself is manufactured in Shanghai and sold as a Buick in China.
In fact Commodore was created from the ground up for global markets and a number of North American cars are to be based on its engineering unperpinnings. Soon to go into production are Melbourne-engineered vehicles including a new Chevrolet Camaro supercar.
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UncategorisedInnovation requires a collaborative approach
tamaraplakalo | February 4, 2008Does Australia need a National Innovation Policy? A recent initiative by the Victorian Government to create a co-ordinated national approach to innovation suggests the country’s top policy makers believe that it does.
The argument underlying the initiative suggests that Australia’s current contribution to the global pool of knowledge (2 per cent), is not enough to sustain future growth or maintain current levels of social and economic prosperity.
In the climate of industrial-age driven economic boom, which positions Australia as a satellite economy fuelling its growth through primary resource exploitation, innovation is a term that mainly refers to the innovative ways of increasing productivity levels to satisfy short-term economic demands. The real challenge, however, lies in developing the national ability to respond to long-term challenges Australia is facing not only as an economy, but as a society as a whole.
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Uncategorised
Government suppression of cheaper energy
DaS Energy | February 1, 2008Government raising energy costs to inflate revenue.
Government supressing technology efiiciency.
Govermnent interfrence in free market supresses lower cost.
At what price do we keep burning Coal.
Eleven times the true tarriff rate for power.
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Uncategorised
Cost Comparison of Energy
DaS Energy | February 1, 2008Government price fixing high energy cost costing more than eleven times it market rate.
Recapturing Carbon is a cost added to burnt coal.
Not releasing Carbon is a cost subtracted.
This is Australia.
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UncategorisedThoughts on innovation: What are the incentives for risk-taking?
Peter Fritz | January 31, 2008There is often confusion over the terms "creative thinking" and "innovation". Many view them as one and the same, but in reality they are very different. One means ideas, the other means action.
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UncategorisedMotherhood in Australia
editor | January 30, 2008Whether you have embarked on motherhood, planning for it or just thinking about it, Open Forum would love to hear your thoughts on the real experience of motherhood in Australia. Our two new surveys "Myths & Facts of Maternity" and "Motherhood for Baby Boomers" are short and simple to complete with an opportunity to participate in an upcoming online discussion about maternity leave and current government policy. With the debate raging over what entitlements and options should be on offer to women who leave the workforce to have children, this is your chance to have your say on an issue that really matters to women and their families.
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Uncategorised
Why a skills focus matters
proberts | January 28, 2008Skills and innovation ensure our role in a world awash with cheap labour.
It is fashionable to think that China and India, with their massive populations, are emerging as a pair of ‘ultimate competitors’ which will knock Australia for six economically.
But that is not how things are turning out, despite China’s great strengths in manufacturing and India’s in information technology services. In both cases rising labour costs and shortages of highly skilled labour show there are limits to their competitiveness that offer opportunity for Australia. High level managers and knowledge workers in Chinese manufacturing and Indian services companies cost just about as much to employ as they do in Australia. The Chinese and Indian advantages remain in lower level, repetitious work which itself has to be directed and guided by more skilled professionals.
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Uncategorised
Paid maternity leave is not a capricious feminist whim
tamaraplakalo | January 20, 2008A sociology lecturer once gave me a valuable piece of advice: “If you want a government to act on an issue, make sure you tell them how much it is going to cost them if they don’t.”
Understanding that this suggestion was probably truer today than at any other time in history, I recently set out to find some information on the cost of not providing paid maternity leave to the working women of Australia. Surprisingly – or not, I have found no information of the kind.
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Uncategorised
Something is rotten in the state of … news-reporting
tamaraplakalo | January 17, 2008So, let’s see … in the last seven days the Australian share-market lost ground on each consecutive day with no recovery in sight … the Australian Embassy in Kabul was attacked by the Taliban in a guerrilla-style attack … one child has died from malnutrition while you were reading this sentence … someone, somwhere has made an amazing discovery … Yet, the “buzz-iest” news item in the Australian mediascape over the last week was the story of the Victorian party-boy Corey ‘I don’t take my sunglasses off indoors or outdoors’ Delaney, whose contribution to the newsworhiness-starved staple of the mainstream media has been … well, what exactly?
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Swallows flying by: the small flock grows
Malcolm Crompton | January 14, 2008And now Ernst & Young have released their swallow, after the earlier ones seen in Privacy gains attention over the Christmas New Year break. Does a swallow or two make a Spring?, then Another swallow flew by, but who was looking?
