Tim Soutphommasane contends that the expression of cultural diversity means very little if it is not understood as part of a broader social justice agenda that seeks to ensure all Australians, regardless of their background, receive a fair go. more
Articles tagged: Visions
Social democracy is not enough
Drew Hutton proposes that leftists who care more about the loss of coal mining jobs than reducing carbon emissions can place themselves alongside the climate change denialists, the right-wing think tanks and the fossil fuel lobby as the enemies of sustainability. more
When the music stops
Kenneth Davidson provides some reasons why we need a carbon tax: to make the polluters feel the cost of their polluting; to finance a massive increase in spending on green infrastructure; and funnel aid to developing countries. more
A politics of climate change
Michael Pusey wants climate change to drive a meaningful consensus for new politics, policies and programs. He urges us to ground the narrative in concrete, accessible, and arresting visual images; in real, living memories; in terms that emphasize the interconnections between the problems and also the solutions. more
Less comfortable for some…
David Ritter argues that climate change and environmental degradation have no value-neutral solutions, and that each potential policy prescription is necessarily founded in some broader concept of the ‘good society’. more
Ideologies after the age of progress
David West takes a peep through the ‘sustainability looking glass’ to reveal a brave new world in which today’s conservatives have become the new radicals – wedded to unending and accelerating economic growth, the ceaseless transformation of our lives, capitalism’s ‘permanent revolution’. more
What comes after neoliberalism? Reframing markets
Lindy Edwards suggests that new understandings of the strengths and weaknesses of markets allow progressives to look at economic growth through a new lens – as the product of cooperation. Productive markets thrive on co-operative relationships, trust and ethical behaviour. more
Thinking about a new progressive vision
David McKnight, co-convenor of the New Politics Seminar, makes the case for a new social vision – one that addresses the dearth of alternatives to ‘business as usual’ neoliberalism. Social change requires political ideas embedded in an intellectual and moral framework. more
Diversity – the Republican Perspective
Geoff Boucher examines problems of social cohesion in multicultural societies. He argues that just defending the liberal multicultural model is an inadequate response to the neoconservative (assimilationist) backlash. more