The lingering commitment to austerity of leading Western politicians in the face of impending economic tragedy is beyond belief. The dismal science is a sobriquet often wrongly applied to economics, but…
Does politics affect the integrity of economic forecasting?
K
The Melbourne Institute’s recent “Intergen +10” workshop was a retrospective on Australia’s pioneering Intergenerational Reports, an outgrowth of the fiscal responsibility legislation put in place by the…
Generation Nothing: Spanish protestors against austerity in Cadiz.
Aleksandra Hadzelek
This week marked the first anniversary of the 15-M movement, a precursor of Occupy movements worldwide.
15-M again mobilised its supporters for a 4-day long program of street protests culminating in a…
A woman drinks using a robotic arm, something she hasn't been able to do with her own arms for 15 years.
Nature
The world of brain-machine interfacing (BMI) has a new posterchild. A study on people with tetraplegia, published in Nature, has shown participants were able to control a robotic arm and hand over a broad…
In today's world, businesses have to find new ways to tackle wicked problems.
luxamart
Obesity. Climate change. Brain drain. Tax havens. War in Afghanistan. All have been described as “wicked problems”.
UC Berkeley scholars, Rittel and Webber, coined the term in 1973 when they were reacting…
Stuck in Botany Bay: Greenpeace activists celebrate the Danish government's decision to halt Orica's plans to ship toxic waste to Denmark.
AAP
Are sustainability-dependent executive bonuses the answer to saving the planet? Research recently conducted by the Centre for Corporate Governance at the University of Technology, Sydney, examined whether…
Celebrate neighbourhood re-use! (But try not to stock up on clutter…)
Steve Taylor
Garage sales have long been a fixture of Australian suburban culture, with people selling their unwanted things in their yard or garage, usually at token or negotiable prices. In the past, sales were usually…
Toyota's decision to escort redundant workers off-site using security guard caused "undeserved harm" and may also have undermined morale and potentially affected productivity.
AAP
UPDATE: Workers for transport company 1st Fleet were handed redundancy notices when they arrived for work this morning, after the company ceased trading.
Are we seeing something of this same attitude…
The combination of energy drinks and alcohol is a potent mix.
ryawesome/Flickr
Manufacturers of energy drinks are coming under pressure from governments and regulatory bodies following concerns about the health impacts of their products on teenagers and other at-risk groups.
Typically…
Persuading tourists to return to Japan has become a national mission for the country's officials.
AAP
In a highly symbolic move, the World Tourism Summit this week opened in Sendai, Japan, the area most affected by last March’s tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown.
Hosting the Summit, which…
The way tourism companies in the Blue Mountains engage in corporate social responsibility changes depending on whether they are owner-managed or not.
Flickr/nosha
“Corporate social responsibility” (CSR) isn’t just a term used by blue chip corporations to give them a more caring image. It’s a principle being adopted by thousands of small and medium-sized tourism…
Flat earth approach: the tax burden on housing accounts for much of the financing cost of a new home.
AAP
A fundamental truism of economics is that if you tax something, you get less of it. Tax is thus a good place to start in seeking to explain why Australia’s housing market is chronically under-supplied…
Drug hauls are not a sign of successful drug policy.
AAP/Lee Besford
It’s 1974 again.
I am 25 and a member of Lionel Murphy’s national Drug Advisory Council. Occasionally I am a drug educator with my mate, psychologist Simon Haselton, for the NSW Health department.
As…
Cycling in inner-city Sydney is up, thanks to better bike paths.
William Feuerman
Just outside my bedroom window a sliver of the Bourke Street Bicycle Route passes by; a slice of Sydney’s network of cycleways which is continuing to grow, branching, meandering and extending throughout…
The productivity of parents should not be the main driver for childcare.
AAP
The Productivity Commission is an inappropriate adviser on how best to fund nannies – because many of the problems of the current child care funding model is a result of its market focus.
Good services…
Cosmetic surgery is ubiquitous and increasingly acceptable but it still makes many people wary.
AAP
The Medical Board of Australia has just released draft supplementary guidelines for cosmetic, medical and surgical procedures. Overall, they’re condescending towards recipients of cosmetic surgery and…
Manure is a great source of phosphorus, but we've largely removed it from agriculture.
Flickr/Amy Alana Star
By Stuart White, University of Technology, Sydney and Dana Cordell, University of Technology, Sydney
Without phosphorus we cannot produce food. Yet even as pressure mounts on this critical non-renewable resource, there is a startling lack of global governance of its use and supply. If no one takes responsibility…
Some 67% of organisations offer no training on social media use.
Phillie Casablanca
Almost half of all businesses and organisations in the private and public sector in Australia and developed Asian countries are now using social media, according to research by KPMG. A new term – “the…
The new Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon needs to commit to more serious reforms of human rights in Australia.
Flickr/Takver
While Australia makes much of its human rights standards in international dialogues, its own track record is variable to say the least – human rights concerns around the Northern Territory intervention…
Healthy food needs to promote long-term health, so must consider environmental impact.
Mark Lawrence
By Jane Daly, University of Technology, Sydney and Sandra Murray, University of Tasmania
When eating for health and the environment, not all foods are created equal. The consumption of seafood has led to the over-exploitation of three quarters of the world’s oceans. Meat and dairy foods require…
Getting it off her chest: a protester reinforces her message at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January.
AAP
When the great and the good dutifully traipsed to the Swiss Alps for the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in late January, they were equally dutifully followed by hordes of media and…
The residents of Bagram were furious at reports that US troops had burned a Qu'ran.
EPA/S. Sabawoon
The only thing surprising about yesterday’s riots outside of Afghanistan’s Bagram air base is that these things don’t happen more often.
What is fascinating about Afghanistan is how its infrastructural…
Apple has been the target of protests over working conditions in China.
AAP
Over the last few weeks, what was the juiciest development for those that cannot get enough of gossip about tech giant Apple? Was it “when will the iPad 3 debut and will it have a retina display?“ Or…
How do you stop young Australians from participating in risky activities overseas?
Flickr/vampirogordo
Australians love to travel the world. In 2011 more than 7.5 million Australians (or more than one third of all Australians) travelled outside the country. Of course, most Australian travellers abroad have…
Whales have become a synecdoche for nature in contemporary society’s debate over how to use the resources of the planet. This has only escalated in recent years with the hotting up of debate between Australia…
