Past Programs
Community and Society - 2006
The Longest Decade Read Transcript
30/12/2006
Howard and Keating, different in so many ways, share a legacy that has forever changed the way Australia works, plays and thinks of itself in relation to the rest of the world.
That legacy is at the heart of The Longest Decade, the book that George Megalogenis has written, chronicling an era that has come to be defined by John Howard and Paul Keating.
Howard and Keating may well take very different sides of the so-called culture wars, but they are also the twin architects of what can now be identified as an economic and social revolution.
This interview was first broadcast on the 29/4/06.
Walking conference
21/10/2006
Walking is not only good for your wellbeing but it can also be good for your community.
An expert in this field, Dr Rodney Tolley, contends that walking has a number of spin-off benefits that can improve the health of our communities and improve the amenity of our urban spaces.
Ordinary People's Politics
16/09/2006
Where does politics sit in our everyday lives?
Judith Brett, professor of politics at La Trobe University, and her university colleague Anthony Moran found out when they interviewed 22 people in considerable depth for their work, which they've called Ordinary People's Politics.
Malaysia update
09/09/2006
Imagine if the most successful Labor leader in Australian history, Bob Hawke, decided to make a comeback to politics, but with the clear view to make trouble for Kim Beazley.
Well that's essentially what's going on in Malaysia at the moment, where the man who proved such a thorn in Australia's side, Dr Mahatir Mohammed, is standing in the country's national election.
It seems this enigmatic and controversial figure wants to re-emerge as a player in Malaysian politics.
US politics (transcript available) Read Transcript
19/08/2006
Veteran US Democrat senator Joe Lieberman lost his bid to continue to a virtual unknown, Ned Lamont, a successful businessman from a blue-blood Greenwich family.
Lamont campaigned largely on an anti-war platform, whereas Lieberman had supported the war and had sometimes been accused of being far too close to George Bush.
The Wall Street Journal described it as a 'political thunderclap, arguably the most important victory for the American Left since the Watergate route of 1974'.
The New York Times saw it all together differently.
In the lead-up to the November mid-term elections, how significant is this event and is it a portent of what's to come?
Labour mobility in South Pacific
12/08/2006
Can and should Australia open its door for our South Pacific Island workers?
Community leaders and government in the region have long argued for both Australia and New Zealand to allow Pacific Islands workers, especially unskilled ones, to access the markets in the these respective countries. The region sees this as central and crucial to the long-term job creation and development of the South Pacific islands.
For Pacific economists, the issue is seen as an important way of boosting foreign reserves and addressing balance of payment gap between Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island neighbours.
This week, the World Bank will release one of its most comprehensive reports on the issue of labour mobility called 'At home and away'. In it, the World Bank argues that while labour mobility alone will not make Pacific countries prosperous, it will at least provide opportunities for our island neighbours to enhance its economic and social stability.
Changing Times
29/07/2006
For the best part of 20 years, Times New Roman has been the font of choice for Microsoft.
Ever since the arrival of Word in the late 1980's, the world's most ubiquitos software has used Times Roman as its default.
If you wanted to type in another font, you have to choose it.
Well, there is change afoot.
As of next year Times New Roman will be relegated to the general list, and a new typeface called Calibri will appear as the default font in Word.
A response to new generations of computer users, or an attempt to fix something that ain't broken?
Middle East crisis
15/07/2006
The situation around Israel is now as serious as it's been for many years.
Suddenly they have a conflict on two fronts - Israeli bombs are dropping on Lebanon and the Gaza strip - following the capture of Israeli soldiers by both Hezbollah and Hamas.
What does this all mean - have the past couple of days radically altered the equation in the region?
Of course history and geo-politics play a big part in this terrible situation.
Not Buying It
08/07/2006
If it's true that money makes the world go round then shopping, and buying stuff, must be the axis on which it spins.
For better or worse, consumerism and odd notions like consumer confidence now underpin the economic wellbeing of the developed world.
But of course only a fraction of what we buy could be classified as necessary items. Once you've got enough to eat and some clothes to wear, spending on necessities gives way to plain old 'shopping'; luxury goods or goods that an economist might call 'discretionary'.
So what is it that we get out of all this conspicous consumption, and what drives us to spend—is it fear, envy, desire—a combination perhaps?
Rethinking Google
24/06/2006
10 years ago two American university students went in search of funds to kick start a business idea known simply as Backrub.
Today that company is Google, and it's worth more than Amazon, General Motors, Ford and Disney combined.
But is Google as omnipotent and omniprescent as it would appear?
It's certainly had an undeniable impact on the way we search the web, in the US Google claims almost 50 percent of all online searches.
But there are a number of countries, indeed regions around the world where Google is not so dominant.
And global ubiquity is not the only myth that's evolved around this technological juggernaut.
The Longest Decade Read Transcript
29/04/2006
Howard and Keating, different in so many ways, share a legacy that has forever changed the way Australia works, plays and thinks of itself in relation to the rest of the world.
That legacy is at the heart of The Longest Decade, the book that George Megalogenis has written, chronicling an era that has come to be defined by John Howard and Paul Keating.
Howard and Keating may well take very different sides of the so-called culture wars, but they are also the twin architects of what can now be identified as an economic and social revolution.
The Solomons crisis
22/04/2006
If the past few days have reminded us of anything, it's that the ideals of democratic order are sometimes much easier to imagine than they are to achieve.
Three years after the Australian Government initiated its Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands – RAMSI – the embattled Pacific nation is once more at a cross roads.
Earlier in the week the Solomons went to the polls for the first time since RAMSI commenced its program of democratic reforms, a program predicated on the broad theme of 'good governance'.
By the end of the week much of the commercial precinct in Honiara had been razed to the ground, amid rioting and looting that has now led to as many as 300 additional Australian peacekeepers being deployed to the islands.
The catalyst for the violence was the election of Snyder Rini as the new prime minister – a man connected to a corrupt regime of the past, a man representative of everything that RAMSI was focused on helping the Solomons move away from.
But is it a failure of RAMSI or simply a stark reminder of how democracy, as Australians understand it, is a very different beast to the one that so often defines politics in the Solomons – indeed across much of Melanesia?
Timor-Leste
15/04/2006
It's been four years since Timor-Leste, formerly known as East Timor, gained full independence from Indonesia. And according to a recent World Bank assessment in Dili, this tiny nation of 1 million inhabitants is one of the only post-conflict countries that has been able to maintain peace and stability during that period.
But so far this stability has not translated into an economic one. But how do you build a nation's economy from scratch?
Affordable housing
15/04/2006
The housing boom that defined much of the late 90s through to about 2003, changed for ever the face of home ownership in Australia.
It was a boom that created great wealth, but it's also left millions of Australians wondering if they'll ever own their own home.
And that economic cycle has also redefined the role of public and community housing – accommodation models that generations of Australians have come to depend upon.
A double whammy of rising land values and a decline of government housing stock has put the future of low cost housing in Australia at a crossroads, and at a time when demand has never been greater
So what are the alternatives?
Could concepts such as social, community and affordable ever be successfully married to the corporate bottom line?
What role might business – in partnership with community and NFP organisations – play in delivering new supplies of low cost housing?
East Asia regional update
01/04/2006
Eight years ago the Asian economic crisis wreaked financial and social havoc across much of East and South East Asia.
But the strong rates of economic growth the region is experiencing right now are not a precursor to a repeat of that cycle of boom and bust.
According to my next guest, there is now a level of financial and structural maturity driving the economic machinery of emerging nations such as Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and, of course, China.
And as we're about to hear, this extended period of economic sunshine appears to be having a dramatic impact on poverty reduction.
Indeed, the latest World Bank East Asia Update says throughout the region the number of people living on less than two US dollars a day has fallen by about 50 million people per year for the past five years.
Culture of the new capitalism
25/03/2006
The new industrial relations legislation has provoked a vigorous debate about paid employment. Working conditions and the relationship between the employer and the employees have all been under the microscope.
Richard Sennett has some provocative new ideas about the changing nature of work and its effect on our culture and politics, and on our fundamental sense of self. He calls it the culture of the new capitalism.
China Candid
25/03/2006
China Candid is a unique book which gives voice to the ordinary people and how they have fared in the turmoil of China's economic reforms. Artists, politicians, teachers, computer geeks, hustlers - they all speak with frankness and candour about the realities of life in contemporary China.
The Freecycle Network
25/03/2006
Technology and the environment haven't always been the most comfortable of bedfellows.
Indeed the built-in obsolescence of many goods, particularly computers, is proving a huge challenge for how we manage waste and landfill in the 21st century.
But in the case of the Freecycle Network the ubiquitous computer is at the front line of efforts to, not only reduce landfill, but to provide people with a whole host of useful household items – and all for free!
Chris Cuffe
18/02/2006
Radical changes in career are something many of us consider but few ever really manage.
Chris Cuffe is one person who decided the time had come, and the choice he made sparked a good deal of public interest.
The reaction to his decision was somewhat more positive than the last time he switched jobs.
Three years back the formerly anonymous investment funds manager made headlines for a multi-million dollar payout he received upon resigning as CEO of Colonial First State Investments.
But as we found out there was a lot more to that story, one which at the time saw him hung out to dry by the press as representing all that was wrong with corporate salaries.
This move was well away from what might be described as the big end of town – Chris Cuffe is leaving Challenger Wealth Management to team up with the not-for-profit microfinancier Opportunity International Australia.
