The Howard Government’s vilification of indigenous communities and their culture is another in a long line of morally repugnant diversionary tactics employed by a Government devoid of ideas and scrambling to retain the interest of the electorate. When the history of this Government is written, the events in recent times should be placed side-by-side with

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

Community opposition to wind farms is heavily influenced by a network of anti-environmental activists, some with links to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. This helps to explain why apparently independent local opposition groups reproduce the same misinformation and distortions about wind power. The truth is that most wind farm opponents don’t like the look

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

The Howard Government has made a mockery of the environment and heritage portfolio, turning it into little more than a pork-barrel buffet. But who would have thought that things would stoop to the level where the federal Environment Minister would use environment laws against the environment. This is precisely what occurred on Wednesday when the

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

According to the Prime Minister, Indigenous history should be taught as part of the “whole national inheritance”. He also indicated that his Government is willing to “meet the Indigenous people more than half way” on the road to reconciliation. On the basis of these statements, one would expect the Howard Government to have sought to

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,

Can Labor reinvent itself as a social democratic party, or as a party with a progressive political stance that distinguishes it in a substantive way from the conservatives? Its recent history provides a few signs that it may be able to do so. Among the thinkers in the party there is an incipient recognition that

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

Downshifting in Australia by Clive Hamilton Pornography on the Internet by Clive Hamilton The PC’s blind spot Should sports stars get a free ride? by Richard Denniss Young run from health cover by Richard Denniss Grog and cigs up? by Richard Denniss Who should pay for maternity leave? by B Chapman & R Sethi 4WDs:

The politics of affluence by Clive Hamilton Who should pay for maternity leave by Natasha Stott Despoja The Coalition’s Clayton health policy by Richard Denniss Letter to a farmer by Clive Hamilton Deep cuts in greenhouse gases by Clive Hamilton Future population dilemmas by Barney Foran The exhausted Australian by Barbara Pocock

Knocking Down the White Picket Fence by Pamela Kinnear A Way Through the Maternity Leave Maze by Bruce Chapman Rescuing the Truth from the Kids Overboard Affair by Richard Mills Whither the Democrats? by Clive Hamilton Greenhouse Emissions in the Long Term by Hal Turton A Statement by Professional Economists on Climate Change A $1