Latest Story
-
A better way: building healthy, safe and sustainable communities in the Northern Territory
Jacqueline Phillips | October 6, 2011At this critical juncture in planning the future of the Northern Territory Intervention, ANTaR calls on both major parties to learn from the international development experience and work with Aboriginal people to plan the transition from intervention to sustainable futures.
“There is a Third World in every First World… and vice-versa” — Trinh Minh Ha
In June 2011 the Federal Government released a discussion paper, Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory, to consult with Northern Territory communities on the future of Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), acknowledging that there is “still much to be done” to close the gap in the Northern Territory.
-
What are we fighting for?
Prof Kim Walker | October 6, 2011Following the release of a stakeholder report on Tertiary Music Education in Australia earlier this week, Dean of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Prof Kim Walker, reflects on the current state of professional music education in the country.
Amid all the wonderful triumphs and successes achieved in recent years by students, faculty and alumni of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, individually and together, nationally and internationally, there remains one major problem to be addressed. We would ignore it at our peril.
-
Immigration: An inappropriate response to the ageing of Australia’s population
Prof Bob Birrell | October 4, 2011Prof Bob Birrell, Co-director of the Centre for Population & Urban research at Monash University, delivered the following address at Global Access Partners’ National Economic Review 2011: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit on Friday 16 September 2011.
-
Uncategorised20 years after the Dawkins Review: Australian Tertiary Music Education report released
editor | October 4, 2011
Music faculties around Australia are at breaking point. Australian institutions are underfunded compared to their international counterparts and the current funding model fails to account for the higher costs incurred by high quality tuition. A failure to value artistic output as equivalent to the academic research which attracts funding exacerbates the situation. This demands a drastic revision of the national funding model and a greater recognition of the social and economic benefits of tertiary music to the Australian people.
-
Population: Is it really the 800 pound gorilla lurking in our shadows?
Fergus Neilson | October 4, 2011The world’s population is predicted to exceed seven billion during 2012. The changes brought on by this ever increasing growth are the subject of much debate in Australia and around the globe.
When my father was born in India in 1902, the total world population was near enough 1.5 billion. When I was born in the UK in 1949 it had reached 2.5 billion. By the time my nephew’s first child is born in Sydney next year, total world population will have just gone over seven billion. This is an increase of over four-and-a-half times in 110 years. Compound that with an estimated five-fold increase in the average global GDP per capita over the same period and it is possible that we are looking at a 23-fold increase in the impact of humanity on a planet that hasn’t gotten any bigger in the last 110 years, and won’t be getting any bigger in the future.
-
UncategorisedSmart Transport for a Growing Nation: Discussion Paper
editor | September 30, 2011
What do we want from our transport system? A discussion paper by the National Transport Commission highlights opportunities to improve transport over time to create a more sustainable system for Australia and seeks stakeholder views about these opportunities. The Commission will use your feedback to set the direction of its future work program.But hurry – your comments are needed by 14 October 2011.
More information at http://www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Reports/SmarttransportNEW.pdf
-
Australia’s population debate: an international perspective
Dr Keith Suter | September 30, 2011Dr Keith Suter, Managing Director of Global Directions think tank and Foreign Affairs Editor for Channel 7 Sunrise, delivered the following keynote address at Global Access Partners' National Economic Review 2011: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit in Sydney on Friday 16 September 2011.
-
Prevention integral to sustainable healthcare in Australia
Mark Fear | September 29, 2011A continually increasing and increasingly elderly population presents a significant challenge not only to future governments, but to all Australians.
Much of the recent news has focused on the proposed ’Malaysia solution’ and the impact of Government policy on the small numbers of asylum seekers that arrive on Australia’s shores.
Much less discussion centres on the impact of a continually increasing and increasingly elderly population, which presents a much bigger challenge – not only to future governments but to all Australians. Children born in 2011 can expect to see in the 22nd century, but what type of future they see depends largely on decisions we make now.
-
UncategorisedRMIT University research project
Open Forum | September 28, 2011
Climate change is a complex challenge and perhaps one of the largest that the world has ever faced.
As part of Robert Petruzzi’s undergraduate studies at RMIT University he is currently undertaking a research project measuring the level at which youths are willing to change their socio-economic behaviour in response to climate change.Although the study may identify important trends and behaviours, the results will not be published but only shared with staff and other students in the course.
If you would like to be involved please complete the online questionnaire. This will take only 10 minutes of your time, the answers you provide are anonymous and will be stored confidentially. -
Improving the level of debate about population and innovation
Prof Tony Peacock | September 27, 2011Tony Peacock, CEO of the CRC Association and a Professor at the University of Canberra, delivered the following speech to Global Access Partner’s National Economic Review: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit in Sydney on Friday 16 September 2011.
Innovation is the single most important component of long-term growth, and innovation and population have always been entwined.
Thirty thousand years ago better rock flake production enabled certain Indian groups to vastly improve hunting success and thus increase their population. The domestication of livestock and cereal production, of course, also allowed for much greater populations to develop.
-
World Tourism Day: Leaping into the unknown
Olivia Porter | September 27, 2011Travel holds enormous potential to create positive, constructive change. By ‘change’ I mean change in the way Australians think about things like where their coffee comes from, or how fair trade empowers disadvantaged communities including Indigenous cultures.
For a 24 year old, I’ve seen a lot. Some would assert that I have an addiction to travel. From the hallucinogenic salt flats of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, to the hot springs, tearing fissures and slow, grinding glaciers of Iceland, I‘ve indulged in numerous journeys around the world, admiring and celebrating vibrant cultures, colonial cities, impressive landscapes and ancient civilisations.
-
The Real Productivity Paradox
Alan Bennett | September 26, 2011Alan Bennett, Vice President, Enterprise Services Hewlett-Packard South Pacific delivered the following address at Global Access Partners’ National Economic Review 2011: Australia’s Annual Growth Summit in Sydney on Friday 16 September 2011.
