Series: In the National Interest

In an age of existential threats for Australia and the world, what does society need from companies and how should companies respond? Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a leading role to play in answering these fundamental questions. Yet current Australian and international debate remains stuck in polarised positions on CSR and related topics, including environmental, social, and governance considerations (ESG),...

Technology described as artificial intelligence is becoming more pervasive, with AI algorithms transforming science and industry, along with our everyday lives. They can rapidly analyse and classify all manner of data. They can generate passages of text and produce realistic images. They are used to design medicines, to autonomously drive cars. They are our tour guides through the vast collection...

The erosion of public trust in government has been a characteristic of liberal democracies in recent years. How much have the twists and turns in climate change policy over the past decade contributed to this in Australia? As a senior public servant during six prime ministerships, Martin Parkinson had a front-row seat from which to watch the inability of successive...

Australia has enjoyed an unprecedented period of prosperity in recent decades, yet despite this, there has been a widely reported loss of faith in politics and institutions. With the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia faces its most significant economic and social challenges in decades. How is politics placed to deal with these challenges and what is the capacity of our key institutions...

Courts aren’t just there to settle divorces, sentence law-breakers, and resolve corporate disputes. A healthy legal system, one that ensures access, transparency, and accountability, is fundamental to democracy. When the system works, the courts act as a check on government power, holding our politicians and bureaucrats to account. In Courting Power, Isabelle Reinecke, founder of Grata Fund, Australia’s first strategic...

As America’s shoeshine boy in the South Pacific, Australia is accustomed to being told what to do. In the space of a mere five years, the subjugation of Australia’s national interest to that of the United States in provoking China under President Trump led us very quickly into a hostile relationship with the rising power of the People’s Republic of...

In Australia, corruption spends public funds in pursuit of power, rewards favour, and strips support from worthy programmes. It silences journalists and those charged with upholding standards of integrity by depriving them of funding. Grift and stacking are commonplace as those chasing influence infiltrate the structures of power. Corruption rewards loyalty through appointments to office and by preferencing those within...

What is it about the culture and structure of Parliament House that has allowed sexual violence and harassment to flourish? Jenny was a Labour MP for twenty-three years, a Cabinet minister for six years, and now gets to view the parliament through the reflective eyes of someone who is no longer there. I'm in my first term as a Labour...

Depending on who you ask, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is either seen as a feminist icon who was done over by a dud boyfriend, or a political player who did everything she could to cling to power. One thing not in dispute is that she has been at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in NSW political...

Why should we in Australia, or any country, care about poverty, human rights atrocities, health epidemics, environmental catastrophes, weapons proliferation, or any other problems afflicting faraway countries, when they don’t, as is often the case, have any direct or immediate impact on our own safety or prosperity? Gareth Evans’ answer is the approach he adopted when Australia’s foreign minister. He...

Over the past thirty years, the internet has transformed virtually every area of human activity, social and economic. The bulk of these changes have been positive, allowing people to work, imagine, and connect with each other in new ways. The boost to economic activity has been enormous. But along with the benefits have come new risks. Our children can learn...

The exposés in early 2021 of sexism and sexual violence in Parliament House prompted women across the country (and some men) to take to stages, lecterns, and social media to express their rage and demand action. However, while these events highlighted that violence against women is an ongoing issue in our community, in many ways the allegations and incidents should...

Long-term population directions, in terms of both size and age composition, drive the destiny of all nations. While for decades we have worried about global overpopulation, it is far more likely that the period 1950–2050 will be an extraordinary population growth shock, culminating in severe population ageing and then decline. This shock will have four stages aligned with the stages...

The scandal involving the allegations against Dyson Heydon, former justice of the High Court (who emphatically denies the claims), confirmed that the scourge of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces was also to be found in the chambers of one of the seven most senior judges in the country. An unquestioning reliance on the calibre of the fine legal minds appointed...

The Big Teal by Simon Holmes à Court explores a pivotal moment in Australian politics, marked by the May 2022 election. The election signaled the re-engagement of those who felt ignored and patronised on crucial issues such as climate, integrity, and gender equity—particularly women and younger voters who were infuriated by Scott Morrison’s dismissive remarks. The electoral map underwent a...

For some time, Australia’s democracy has been slowly sliding into disrepair. The nation’s major policy challenges go unaddressed, our economic future is uncertain, and political corruption is becoming normalised. It’s tempting, but distracting, to point to the usual list of reasons, from the declining calibre of the political class to the growing polarisation of politics. However, we can’t understand the...

In mid-2023, Australia was rocked by a scandal surrounding the local affiliate of business management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. The crisis raised serious concerns about the role of consultancy and audit firms within our public service and caused governments to re-evaluate their relationships with these agencies. The key question emerged: are the big four consulting firms truly neutral advisers, or do their...

In 2023, debate about an Indigenous Voice to Parliament swirls around us as Australia heads towards a referendum on amending the Constitution to make this Voice a reality. The idea of a ‘First Nations Voice’ was famously raised in 2017, when Indigenous leaders drafted the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It was envisioned as a representative body, enshrined in the...

In 1996, the first independent national report on the state of Australia’s environment found that we faced serious problems. With increasing urgency, five subsequent reports declared those problems were all getting worse, each calling for immediate action to protect our future. The 2021 report determined that, “Overall, the state and trend of the environment of Australia are poor and deteriorating...

Rarely is the public taken deep into the inner sanctum of major news organisations. In this extraordinary book, award-winning journalist John Lyons goes to the heart of how the media reports—or does not report—one of the biggest stories of our time: the conflict in the Middle East. He looks at the power of lobby groups and shows how they determine...

Disregard the critics. Australia’s ABC, at ninety years of age, is demonstrably more valuable to Australians now than it has ever been. The ABC’s home-grown Managing Director, David Anderson, gives us a rare insight into the ABC he knows intimately: a cultural powerhouse where Australian identity is celebrated, democracy is defended, and a very Australian brand of creativity is encouraged...

Successive governments have claimed that despite (or because of) Australia’s ‘droughts and flooding rains’, we are a world leader in water management. They have highlighted such successes as the 2004 National Water Initiative, robust water rights, ‘highly efficient’ irrigation infrastructure, basin planning, and the delivery of ‘safe’ drinking water to urban Australia. However, the NWI barely mentions climate change; hugely...

These days, barely a week goes by without pointed media stories about the trans community, usually targeting trans women. They are likely to have a sensationalist headline and a salacious tone, and the writing is often ill-informed and vilifying. Favoured topics include women in sports, bathrooms, where prisoners are housed, and health care for trans and gender-diverse children and young...

In March 2020, schools and childcare centres across Australia were forced to close to control the spread of the recently arrived novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Families and carers suddenly had to adjust to long periods of home-schooling, disparities in the availability of technology, loss of social connections with friends and relatives, and an exhausting new balancing act of work, home and...

Every year, Australians break sporting world records through a combination of ingenuity, grit, and teamwork. Sport is a source of personal and national pride for millions. In this book, economist, politician, and triathlete Andrew Leigh argues that sport can embody both achievement and egalitarianism. On the starting line, what matters isn’t athletes’ wealth or connections but their hard work. In...

As Australia comes to grips with accusations that some of its elite soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan, a catchcry for certain commentators is that the ‘fog of war’ explains, justifies, and possibly excuses the alleged atrocities that have come to light. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one’s own capability, the adversary’s capability, and intent. However, the...

A strong higher education system is fundamental to civil society. The building of knowledge and the dissemination of information are vital to the proper functioning of our democracy. At the economic level, higher education is in the top three of our export industries; international students have become central to the hospitality, retail, and agricultural economies; and the country desperately needs...

Violence against women and children is a national crisis. Nearly a decade has passed since family violence was first declared a national emergency in 2015, and yet communities are still taking to the streets to demand greater leadership and action. The media continues to report on women killed on a weekly basis. An upscaling of commitment, funding, and action commensurate...

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the digital disruption of business by the information and communications sectors, is well underway in Australia and around the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the pace of change. We are witnessing a proliferation of new platforms and new markets, with AI replacing human expertise. We are seeing the transformation of the firm, how we...

Australia became a republic many years ago—culturally, if not yet constitutionally. We’ve long stopped identifying as subjects of the British Crown, relying on UK military and trade relationships, and looking to London as our lodestar. We’ve long stopped allowing the UK Parliament to override our laws, accepting imported vice-regal representatives, and even hearing from our governor-general on days of national...

Authenticity. Vulnerability. Humility. Transparency. These are some of the 21st-century virtues proselytised by mindset gurus, paraded (if not practised) by big corporations, and lauded by professionals on LinkedIn. The quest for authenticity, for example, is central to progressive campaigns for greater diversity and inclusion, while our political and business leaders are highest praised if they appear to be humble. But...