Whitlam Institute

Latest

Browse Latest

Posts in Australia in the World
2022 Whitlam Oration: Labor's Foreign Policy Informed by Whitlam's Legacy

The 2022 Whitlam Oration, Labor’s Foreign Policy Informed by Whitlam’s Legacy, was delivered by Senator the Hon Penny Wong on 13 November at Bowman Hall in Blacktown, 50 years to the day from Gough Whitlam’s campaign launch at the very same place.

In her Oration, Senator the Hon Penny Wong reflected on the lessons we can learn from Gough Whitlam and outlined her government’s plan for a future of foreign affairs informed by his legacy. “We are more than just supporting players in a grand drama of global geopolitics, on a stage dominated by great powers,” she said.

Read More
Best practice SDG policy & planning: Examples from Pacific-Rim countries

Our panel discussion for the UNESCAP Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) with the authors of the report, Leanne Smith, Director Whitlam Institute (Sydney) and Dr Claire Brolan, Centre for Policy Futures University of Queensland (Brisbane) who will be joined by Ms Laiza Garcia, Development Partner Institute for Mining (Melbourne) and Dr Amanda Katili Niode - Climate Reality Project (Indonesia) saw participants analyse ways Australia can learn from best practice around the world.

Read More
The goals for Australia to do better

The fallout from the bushfire and Covid-19 catastrophes reinforce that Australia’s leaders urgently need to recalibrate the way Australia plans for our future, through comprehensive national sustainability policy, planning and investment.

And the roadmap is already there – it’s time the Australian government took its commitment to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seriously.

Read More
No One Left Behind: Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in Australia

Why has the Australian Government been so slow to take up its responsibilities to implement the SDGs, despite a 2019 parliamentary inquiry that gave clear guidance on how to do so? This report builds on one of the parliamentary recommendations - that Australia look to international best practice to improve it’s own efforts to work toward a sustainable future for Australia – by analysing best practice around the world and offering tools for Australian government to take charge of SDG implementation in this country.

Read More
Australia’s Indigenous Relations are not only a Domestic Matter

Aside from its inherent value and importance for the future of Australia, reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous and settler populations has the potential to transform Australia’s status as part of the ‘Pacific family’. Research by the Whitlam Institute suggests that Pacific Islanders from Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are concerned and saddened by status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their absence from Australia’s public face and want to form closer connections with them.

Read More
‘It’s Time’ for a Culture Change

This report proposes that the current Australian government should adopt the Whitlam Government’s general policy direction to enhance its cultural engagement with PNG. It is important to note that the report does not advocate for the Whitlam Government’s exact policies to be implemented in today’s policy setting. However, the emphasis which the Whitlam Government provided to cultural links both within PNG itself and between PNG and Australia is a
direction which should be followed.

Read More