Former NZ Attorney General and Labour Minister Professor Margaret Wilson has written a detailed account of the rise of precarious work arrangements in Australia and New Zealand in her paper Precarious Work: The Need for a New Policy Framework. Professor Wilson says Australia and New Zealand currently rank fifth and fourth on the OECD scale of countries with the least employment protection laws, meaning precarious work – characterised by few benefits, low pay and a lack of access to collective bargaining – is becoming more common. Professor Wilson argues that we must look at how best to structure the policy agenda to protect those who are currently the most vulnerable. This is the latest in our 'Perspectives' series of policy essays.
Launched to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic relations with China, the Whitlam and China online exhibition provides an opportunity to explore the extraordinary events that led to this dramatic shift in Australian foreign policy.
In this new report commissioned by the Whitlam Institute [released 26 Nov 2012], Dr John Polesel, Ms Nicky Dulfer, and Dr Susan Rice from Melbourne University’s Graduate School of Education lay bare Australian educator’s perspectives of NAPLAN testing and its unintended effects on schooling and student well-being.
The report draws on the experience of over 8,300 teachers and principals across the country, surveyed at the time of the NAPLAN testing in mid-May, 2012. It probes the impact of NAPLAN on testing, pedagogy and curriculum practice as well as the more difficult (and largely ignored) question of the impact on students’ health and well-being.
In this new paper commissioned by the Whitlam Institute, former diplomat and Ambassador Dr Stephen FitzGerald AO traces the political, social and cultural developments that led to Whitlam’s bold decision to visit, and later extend diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China.
The paper draws on his own experience as part of Gough Whitlam’s historic 1971 delegation to China, and paints a vivid picture of those great moments. The paper is also a call for Australia’s current attitude toward China to be imbued with the same courage and independence that drove Gough Whitlam to make his ground-breaking 1971 visit.
Expanding the Economy: Perspectives on Growth, Well-being and Prosperity
Presented by the Whitlam Institute in partnership with the University of Western Sydney School of Business
Wednesday 24 October 2012, InterContinental Sydney
While economic ‘growth’ tends to feature in public discourse as a given, the reality is that economists and policy makers of various persuasions are struggling with a more complex set of questions and contested positions: most critically, is the current growth-dependent economic system sustainable and, if not, what are the options for adaptation or more comprehensive systemic change?
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