EDITORIAL:
discusses the nuclear option and finds that it is unlikely to be
economic in Australia because electricity generation from renewable
sources will probably remain significantly cheaper than production from
nuclear or clean coal sources.
MARK DIESENDORF: says the main barriers to a clean energy
future are institutional together with the political power of the
fossil fuel industry.
BRIAN WALTERS: analyses the Dreyfus Affair and its modern
parallels with the treatment of David Hicks.
JULIE MARCUS: describes how each of the pillars of
Australian democracy – an independent judiciary, responsible and
accountable government, an elected parliament, the rule of law,
well-resourced opposition parties and a free media – have been
undermined.
CHRIS WHITE: points out the right to strike is a basic
human right which has been effectively denied to Australian workers by
the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation.
LANCE COLLINS: describes how the politicisation of
military intelligence undermines society as well as leading to costly
failures in East Timor and Iraq.
CLINTON FERNANDES: records the history of Indonesia’s
involvement in West Papua and argues that the operations of the
Indonesian military are the main reason for indigenous pressure for
Papuan independence.
ADAM HUGHES HENRY: criticises the Howard government for
labelling PNG, the Solomon Islands and East Timor as badly governed
while refusing to apply the same standards to Indonesia where
corruption and civil rights abuse is worse.
RICHARD DENNISS: calculates Australian taxpayers provide
more support for the retirement incomes of high income earners through
superannuation subsidies than for low income earners who must rely on
the age pension in retirement.
GAYNOR MACDONALD: explains how native title legislation
has encouraged an adversarial approach to aboriginal land claims,
creating winners and losers, undermining the spirit of reconciliation
and often causing conflict between aboriginals themselves.
DENIS KENNY: argues the world operates its political,
economic, cultural and religious institutions on the basis of dangerous
and outmoded certitudes – these must be replaced by a new set of
assumptions based on the scientific developments of the 20th century in
order to avoid international conflict and eco-destruction.
FRED ARGY: says that in response to the hardening of
community attitudes to redistributive policies the Left should recast
the focus of the welfare debate from inequalities of outcome to
inequality of opportunity to improve income mobility where it can be
shown that such policies generate substantial economic benefits.
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