Message from the Director

In this summer edition of It's Time you can see that in the past few months we have gone a long way towards completing the ambitious program we set for ourselves in 2008

The primary research in two of our major projects, the Imagining a New Democracy project and the NGO Contracts project, is complete and we expect to finalise the respective reports by year's end for release early in 2009. Our work in both these projects has opened up other opportunities that we will be pursuing next year.

Our fifth and final session of the Energy Security Series with Dr Bert Drake from the Smithsonian Institute was a sell-out and a fitting finale to our first foray into providing public information as a series. All of the five sessions can be viewed through our YouTube channel.

We are looking forward to the challenges ahead. We have several exciting projects in the pipeline for next year. For some time we have been planning a public information series on "getting to grips with the economy" – the imperatives of offering this series are confirmed by the current economic situation. We will be continuing to develop our work on Australia's democracy in the 21st century. We will also be publishing more extensively on public policy issues. We plan also to launch our inaugural Whitlam Institute Gough Whitlam Annual Lecture – more news of that to come.

So, keep an eye on our website for more details about our activities for 2009.

As the year draws to a close I am conscious that we owe a great debt of gratitude to our many collaborators and supporters, also to our University of Western Sydney colleagues. With your support and continuing interest in our work we have been able to achieve much this year, and optimistically map a course for 2009.

Best wishes for a safe, enjoyable and rejuvenating festive break - we look forward to your support and interest in the work of the Whitlam Institute in 2009.

Eric Sidoti
Director