Dog-whistle politics is the art of sending coded or implicit messages to a select group of voters while keeping others in the dark. Dog whistling allows politicians to communicate divisive or reactionary ideas using apparently harmless statements so as to avoid offending or scandalising more tolerant members of the community. This paper represents the first

This piece focuses on if the electorate believes that prominent politicians should go to heaven. Out of the six politicians John Howard scored the lowest with less than half of the population believing he should go to heaven, while Peter Garrett scored the highest at 74%. When split into political parties Howard was the most

In recent years, universities have been at the centre of a vigorous debate about the role of higher education in society. In particular, concerns have been raised about the effects of commercialisation of Australian universities on academic freedom and the quality of teaching. This paper explores the increasingly close relationships between Australian universities and the

A quarter of children ages 6-14 own phones, 1/3 of them pay for this phone with their own money. Children often buy phones for aesthetic reasons not for safety. Corporations have been trying to sell to children, and this has resulted in financial strain on them.

This paper explains why the current patchwork of media and advertising regulation is failing to prevent the premature sexualisation of Australian children. A number of improvements are proposed based on a review of current regulatory arrangements for the areas most responsible for the sexualisation of children: girls’ magazines, television and outdoor advertising, and television programs.

This article critics the cold war mentality of John Howard’s speech at the 50th anniversary of the Quadrant. Howard attacked environmentalists, unions, public schools, teachers and indigenous rights activists. The ability to tap into anti-left fear is due to the perceived moral decay of society that the conservatives have dominated. This article recommends a closer connection

This report gives the first comprehensive overview of the ways in which Australian children are being sexualised by advertising and marketing from a very young age. It also describes in detail the risks children face as a result of this corporate paedophilia.

This new paper reports the results of an extensive study of the attitudes of baby boomers to retirement and shifting perceptions to the pension and self-funding.

There has been a growing push for the Federal Government to introduce a universal school voucher scheme that results in government funding being provided on a per student basis to parents, which they could then use at a public or private school of their choice. This paper evaluates the available evidence on school voucher schemes

There is a belief that Alan Jones can make or break elections. However on any given day Jones has 187,000 listeners, compared to 552,000 viewers of Nine National News, and nearly 1 million buyers of the Sydney newspapers. Those who do listen are disproportionately older, believe that the Coalition is doing a good job, and

Concerns have been raised about the quality of care provided by corporate chain child care centres (see Australia Institute Discussion Paper 84). ABC Learning Centres is the largest corporate child care chain in Australia, providing more than 20 per cent of all long day care places. This paper reports the results of interviews carried out

While there is a claim that new media is making Australia more pluralistic, there is little evidence to support this. 95% of people get there information on domestic news and current affairs from traditional media, compared to 3% from the internet. The most popular internet news sites are owned by the major traditional media outlets.

Recent public debate about the child care system in Australia has focused primarily on the availability and affordability of child care. This paper considers an aspect of child care that has received much less attention, that of the quality of the care provided. Results from a national survey of long day care centre staff suggest

Public policy debate about equality of opportunity in Australia currently centres around the distribution of disposable incomes and the role played by taxes and transfers. In contrast, this paper presents the available evidence on underlying structural inequalities of education, health, employment, housing and location. Based on international evidence, the paper argues that governments which address

Prohibition has failed to significantly reduce illicit drug markets and has caused greater harm to society than it has saved. The evidence shows that a treatment-orientated approach to drug issues would be far more effective in reducing drug-related harm.

The experience of the Democrats’ GST/MBE deal suggests that the Nationals’ Telstra agreement is likely to fail to protect the interests of rural and regional Australians and disappoint those in the National Party who believe it could protect them from an electoral backlash.

This piece aims to map out the socio-economic, age, regional and gendered opinions on homosexuality. This piece found that 35% of Australians are homosexual, mostly older, rural, lower socio-economic males.

A response to a series of papers authored mainly by Helen Hughes whose argument that customary land tenures are the principal cause of poverty in PNG, and that Australia should make its aid contingent upon changes, is influential in Government circles. This report argues that the proposed privatisation is based on wholesale confusion about the

The belief that Canberra should grow is not supported by 72% of Canberrans. The belief that Canberra does not have culture is also false, as Canberra has the more artists and intellectuals per hectare than any other city in Australia. Due to the false perception of Canberra’s cultural impoverishment, and the wide support for no

The private health care rebate of 30% costs the government $2.5b per year. Only 24% of households under $25,000 per year have private health care, this increases to 69% for household over $100,000 per year. Single parents, young people and poor families are the least likely to have private health care. Due to this the

Using national survey data, this paper outlines patters of loneliness, support and friendship and assesses who is most at risk of emotional and social isolation and who is socially supported and connected.

The Howard government promised to rise in the private health care rebate from 30% to 35% for people over 65 and 40% for people over 70. However between 2001 and 2004 there has been a decrease in private health insurance for people under 55 by 4.8%, while people over 55 have increased 13.7%. Prices for

A speeding fine of $125 represent one third of the weekly pay for those who make $20,000 per annum, while it only makes up 6% for someone making $100,000 per annum. This applies to the cost of a parking ticket or any other flat fine. The recommendation of this piece is to make the fine

Examines how much emissions abatement geosequestration may be able to deliver, how soon it may be able to do so, what the cost of such abatement may be and how it compares with other energy policy options to reduce emissions. Geosequestration: Supporting on-line material

A study of the attitudes of teenagers showing that the gender wars are set to continue into the next generation with boys and girls making conflicting plans about who will do the housework and look after the children.

This report considers some of the failings of private schools to protect public values and argues that the receipt of government funding should be contingent upon upholding them.

Despite the fact that real incomes are increasing majority of Australians believe they cannot afford the necessities. This extends to pet care. 64% of Australians have pets; our total expenditure on our pets is $2.3b in 2002. Some pet products cost $800 and dog food can be $100kg. The luxury pet goods industry is emblematic