Between the lines is the Institute’s selective analysis of the policies and politics affecting the wellbeing of Australians. This edition looks at the nature of green jobs and their creation; the return of dog whistling in political speech; donations to political parties.

Richard Denniss examines the work of the Institute over his first year as the new executive director; Brian Walters looks at anomalies in the common law with regard to public and private interests; David Richardson dissects the benefits of the mining boom; Georgia Miller explains some of the problems inherent in the nanotechnology revolution.

Denticare: making a mountain out of a molar. Dissent is a dirty word. A fair-weather friend: Australia’s relationship with a climate-changed Pacific. Extract from author Ben McNeil’s speech at the launch of ‘The Clean Industrial Revolution’.

Seven in 10 Australians support a Commonwealth takeover of public hospitals, according to polling released by The Australia Institute today. There is also widespread public support for the federal government to take full responsibility for environmental protection (including water), infrastructure, public schools and even gambling.

Dr Bill de Maria discusses the new whistleblowing proposals; David Ingles laments the exclusion of people on NewStart from either of the stimulus packages and explains the great superannuation tax concession rort; Reconciliation Australia looks at reconciliation a year after the Rudd apology; Tully Fletcher examines the current state of legal aid; Richard Denniss enumerates

Senator Fielding and the alcopops debacle. The wisdom of tax cuts. Freedom of information becomes freer?

A Human Rights Act for Australia. Executive excess. Policy on the run; is policy underdone? Food security

How annoyed does the community need to get before further restrictions can be placed on telemarketing, junk mail and street spruiking? And which is more important, the interests of direct marketing companies or the views of the wider public? These are the kinds of issues that The Australia Institute sought to raise through its research.

Burying bad news in the media. The impact of climate change on new businesses. Cooperatives. The Government’s new human rights consultation.

Telemarketing is one form of ‘direct marketing’, along with junk mail, spam and face-to-face marketing. Direct marketing differs from ‘traditional’ advertising in making a much stronger claim on our attention. Members of the public have to take deliberate action if they wish to avoid direct marketing, but Institute research indicates that an ‘opt-in’ system would

An economical truth. The bogus economic case for telemarketing. Bee lines. Over a barrel.

The value of time wasted on unsolicited telemarketing calls in Australia amounts to $1.58 billion annually. Two in three Australians believe that telemarketing should be banned altogether.

Ministerial responsibility. A major flaw in the ETS. Thinking long term.

Under John Howard, the Liberal Party was able to walk both sides of the philosophical street. On “economic” issues they were opposed to government interference in the individual’s “right to choose”, but on “social” issues the Liberals seemed comfortable with the idea that government knew best. The real issues, though, such as whether people should

Clive Hamilton left the Australia Institute at the end of February to devote himself to writing. Here he pens his last comment for the newsletter.

But is it acceptable for former government members to leave early purely because they have lost government? At the least, there should be recognition of the shirking of responsibility that this entails. There should also be some contribution towards the considerable costs of holding by-elections. Representing one’s constituency for the duration of the parliament is

From the moment it became plain that Labor would win the election, The Australian began to argue that a Rudd victory is in fact a victory for Howard. He has so much in common with Howard that, despite appearances, the victory of Rudd is another defeat for the left. Humbled by the new spirit of

The dawn of the new 42nd Parliament is a rare chance to draw a line under certain practices of the previous decade of Parliament, practices that had undermined some of the basic tenets of parliamentary democracy. The new tone has to be set from the outset. What precisely was wrong with our old Parliament? In

Australia After Howard What sort of government will Rudd Labor be? Clive Hamilton situates last month’s dramatic defeat of John Howard within broader historical trends.

Nearly 20 years ago I went through a process that is sometimes referred to as “the dark night of the soul”. It is a phase of spiritual life that many people experience. The phenomenon is well known in the Catholic Church in all traditions. Openness is a virtue in public life. What an impoverished world

Today’s little girls aren’t tottering around in mum’s high heels. These days, nothing could be more daggy for a primary school girl than pretending to be her mum, or any other normal adult. So – at the risk of sounding repetitive – everyone please take note: premature sexualisation has nothing to do with children’s creative

While we stigmatise fat people, perhaps they are behaving normally in a sick social environment. The answer then is not diets, drugs and surgery but a wholesale change in the culture of consumption, which itself is a reaction to the emptiness of affluence.

Ever wondered how the PR industry operates, its tactics and links to government and business? A new book, Inside Spin published by Allen & Unwin, reveals how spin doctors invisibly influence just about every news story we read. Author Bob Burton provides an inside look.

Turbulence ahead by Andrew Macintosh and Christian Downie Universities and fossil fuel capture by Christian Downie Silencing dissent: The Federal Government strikes by James Arvanitakis Grassroots campaign against sexualisation of children by Julie Gale See Paris and Die? by Steve Biddulph Academic economists call for Kyoto ratification by Clive Hamilton Insuring against catastrophic change by

As parents and professionals who work with children point out, the time and energy that they currently spend in trying to protect children from the advertising and media onslaught (as well as in healing the damage it causes) would be far better spent on the positive aspects of caring for children. In short, if government