Last night's Budget has been received by many as a typically Labor Budget. And, to be frank, that's about right. Publicly framed as fair while hiding tax cuts for big corporations and nasty punitive measures for vulnerable people, it's a Budget that suits a party still emerging from the 19th century, paying no heed to the huge challenges of the 21st century.
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I chaired a tremendously exciting and invigorating session on Universal Basic Income at the Global Greens Congress yesterday, with panellists Barb Jacobson, Chair of Basic Income Europe, June Cho from the Green Transformation Institute of Korea, and Swedish MP and government minister, Janine Alm Ericsson. Around 100 people from…
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Thoughts following Donald Trump’s inauguration speech. “Forgotten men and women”. “Struggling families”. “Mothers and children trapped in poverty”, not “sharing the wealth” of “the establishment”. On one reading, Donald Trump’s inauguration speech is full of left wing imagery and ideas. So much so that some left wing people, on Facebook…
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I hope you had a good rest over the holiday period and, like me, are ready to leap into 2017 with renewed energy. One of the reasons I’m feeling excited and energetic is because, as well as just not working for a while, I had some fantastic conversations with people…
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This was first published in the Canberra Times There is a dark irony in the fact that many of those who have been hit by Centrelink’s automated debt recovery debacle are on benefits in the first place because automation is dramatically changing the face of work,…
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Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat. Reams are already being written on what the election of Donald Trump means. We don’t intend to add to those reams with yet another hot take. But this extraordinary moment demands that we ask – what now? The Green Institute has set our goal as…
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This was first published at Renew Economy The recent controversial split in the Climate Change Authority revealed a deep rift between those who believe that the adage “politics is the art of the possible” means we have to always seek compromise and those who believe it…
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This was first published at The Guardian Pauline Hanson didn’t appear out of a vacuum. Like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, she is a reaction to trends in our society, economy and politics. Their type of nasty firebrand always exists, but they receive greater support…
Read MoreThis was first published by the Canberra Times From Brexit to ‘tram v hospital’: post-truth politics in the ACT It’s been practised around the world for some time now, in forms both subtle and obvious. But in recent months, following startling political events from Trump to…
Read MoreThis was first published at Renew Economy Coal is dying – it’s time to put us out of its misery How did we find ourselves here? While Australian politics has been looking elsewhere, assuming that old certainties will continue unimpeded, the coal industry has entered a…
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