Rather than being empowered, children are being exploited by the process of sexualisation. For children seeking to become empowered in an adult world, a more promising route is to focus on developing cognitive and emotional capacities that enable them to negotiate power relations more maturely and with less risk to themselves. There is nothing wrong

Despite the fanfare that surrounds major events, the reality is that state and territory governments are often spending large sums of taxpayer money in attempts to divert events, tourists, jobs and associated revenue from one part of Australia to another, and from one industry to another.

Since the early 1900s, Australias drug policies have been based on the notion that the law should be the primary mechanism for addressing drug problems. By prohibiting both the supply and use of certain undesirable drugs, governments thought they could stamp out drug use and drug-related activities. But drug markets have proved remarkably resistant to

Sex and Children: A volatile mix by Emma Rush Playing politics with national security by Andrew Wilkie Religion and global warming by Kate Mannix Howard’s morality play by Andrew Macintosh Howard’s politics of the past by Clive Hamilton The changing climate of business by Molly Harriss Olson Dramatic changes to Land Rights law by Sean

Over the last fifteen years, much effort has gone into the preparation of sustainability reports. These are reports that provide information on social and environmental as well as economic matters. This has been done in the name of improved decision making, accountability and transparency. It has also been motivated by a desire to promote ecologically

Our national myth is that of the stoical farmer battling the elements and never succumbing. But the $1 billion plus in drought relief granted over the last few years is an expensive means of sustaining an anachronism. Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind, and that means refusing to pretend that if we

The Government argues that encouraging people to work longer is also helping them do something for their own benefit. However, increasing the retirement age is asking people to contribute time at a life stage when time is scarce. For boomers, being compelled to work later means that individuals are giving up something – time –

Who listens to Alan Jones by Clive Hamilton Indonesia’s nuclear plans Are fossil fuel companies ‘capturing’ our universities? by Christian Downie School vouchers: update by Andrew Macintosh History wars and heritage omissions by Deb Wilkinson Rich boomer, poor boomer by Myra Hamilton Tourism subsidies are money down the drain by Christian Downie The use and

Under a voucher scheme, government funding would be provided on a per student basis to the school of parents’ choice, whether public or private. The amount given to each student could be the same (flat-rate vouchers) or could vary (differentiated vouchers). Vouchers could also be confined to particular students (targeted vouchers). Jennifer Buckingham, from the

Quality of child care by Emma Rush New media – just more of the same by Christian Downie The nuclear debate warms up by Andrew Macintosh Losing faith in the official future by Richard Eckersley School Vouchers by Andrew Macintosh Dealing with America by John Langmore Equality of opportunity by Fred Argy A new approach

We drew out the broad elements of an active social strategy targeted at the major barriers to social mobility ”” children’s early development, public infrastructure deficiencies and inequalities of access to employment, health, education, training and housing. If it is to gain public acceptance, such a strategy would need to be preceded by a campaign

Corporate chains – which now own around a quarter of centres in Australia – offer the lowest quality of care on all indicators surveyed, in some cases markedly lower than that provided by community-based centres. Beyond tightening up the centre accreditation processes, as announced recently, the government should consider offering capital grants to new community-based

Social scientists have sought to measure the degree of upward income mobility (the ability of low-income people to rise up the ladder over time) and found that some nations perform better than others on this criterion. Looking back over recent decades, Australia emerges as a more mobile (less “sticky”) society than the United States, Britain

With evidence now appearing to suggest that the quality of care in corporate childcare centres is markedly lower than elsewhere, the Government will need to act to discourage any further domination of long day care in Australia by the corporate chains until it can be shown that the quality of the care they provide is

Our state and local governments have also been cowed by the cultural and economic momentum of the marketing industry and their squadrons of boosters and lickspittles in the media. In the relentless drive to attract advertisers’ dollars into supporting public facilities and events, the guardians of public morals have lost their way, blinded by the

A recent Australia Institute report found that drug strategies should be treatment-orientated so that to ease the punitive burden on users we need to discourage people from using drugs and provide those who do with effective treatment. It also found that drug law enforcement is incapable of putting a significant dent in illicit drug markets,

Drug Law Reform by Andrew Macintosh Skip Dipping by Emma Rush The Dirty Politics of Climate Change by Clive Hamilton Gagging the CSIRO by Roslyn Beeby Bugging Legislation by Cameron Murphy

Who Drives 4WDs? by Clive Hamilton The Nationals’ Telstra Deal by Deb Wilkinson New Climate Institute Can We Withdraw From Iraq? by Barry Naughten Beyond Right and Left by David McKnight A Sick Economy? by Clive Hamilton The Senate: Now and Then by Emma Rush Corporate Control of Child Care by Emma Rush Fear and

Activists: How to beat them at their own game by Katherine Wilson Mapping Homophobia in Australia by Michael Flood and Clive Hamilton Poverty in Australia: Vinnies versus the CIS by Clive Hamilton The EPBC Act: A five-year assessment by Andrew Macintosh and Deb Wilkinson Managing the Economy: A Political Scorecard by Prof. Raja Junankar Will

Stuck in Traffic by Claire Barbato Government stymies advocacy by green NGOs by Clive Hamilton Wellbeing Manifesto launch Howard’s Children by Richard Denniss The ‘Left” and the Iraq War by Clive Hamilton Taxpayers Soaked by Andrew Macintosh Is the Bracks Government Serious about Climate Change? ZPG for ACT? by Claire Barbato Gross National Happiness by

Waste not want not by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss Who is lonely in Australia? by Michael Flood Traffic fine by Clive Hamilton New Book from the Institute Relational thinking by Michael Schluter Climate Taskforce Report Released by Justin Sherrard Private health insurance by Richard Denniss

Property rights and the environment by Andrew Macintosh and Richard Denniss The peripatetic Institute When FTA spells BSE by Hilary Bambrick Can we bury our greenhouse problem? by High Saddler Climate Change Taskforce reaches consensus by Alan Tate Time to mothball the Kyoto sceptics by Clive Hamilton Take the rest of the year off  by

Pandering to the Government by Clive Hamilton Masking private schools accountable by Deb Wilkinson The next gender wars by Barbara Pocock Pets and foreign aid by Richard Denniss Quotes from the tenth anniversary dinner Looking into the ‘Too Hard’ basket Health insurance tricky for the old by Richard Denniss Australians still the world’s worst greenhouse

Silencing dissent by Sarah Maddison Is the growth of private schools good for Australia? by Deb Wilkinson Institute’s filtering strategy vindicated by Michael Flood Children’s exposure to porn increasing by Michael Flood Fortress Australia against climate refugees by Clive Hamilton Caring for children by Michael Flood The growing price of cultural fraud by Richard Eckersley

Getting a life by Christie Breakspear and Clive Hamilton Clean energy futures by Hugh Saddler International Climate Change Taskforce Can’t buy me love? by Barbara Pocock FTA price hikes by Buddhima Lokuge Greenhouse gas emissions by Clive Hamilton Can the arts be democratic? by Pauline Griffiths Family men by Michael Flood

Rocking the cradle by Michael Flood Collusion and insider trading by Bruce Chapman and Richard Denniss Downshifting in Britain by Clive Hamilton U N Expert Group Regional inequality in health insurance by Richard Denniss Patent laws and the FTA by Buddhima Lokuge and Richard Denniss Plan to auction Medicare provider numbers

Charity and advocacy by Rev Tim Costello Making industry assistance accountable by Richard Denniss How much money is enough? by Clive Hamilton Fathers and families by Michael Flood Pharmaceuticals and the FTA by Richard Denniss Sacrificing democracy for growth by Clive Hamilton Homophobia and schools by Michael Flood Annual leave in Australia by Richard Denniss

Comfortable, relaxed and drugged to the eye-balls by Clive Hamilton Reflections on the porn wars by Michael Flood Playing dirty on trade by Richard Denniss What does ‘left wing’ mean? by Clive Hamilton A Tim Tam tax Discarding the UN by Spencer Zifcak Wanted: more information on GM crops by Steve Rix The politics of