Improving the Well-Being of Canberrans

Every six months in Canberra, the wealth of the richest ten per cent of the population increases by the total wealth of the poorest ten per cent. For most people, wealth and wellbeing are correlated; increase a person’s wealth, and, more often than not, their wellbeing will increase. It follows then, that the fastest way for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government to increase the wellbeing of Canberrans would be to implement policies which address the obscene disparity of wealth in the community. Read More …

Gendered Housing

Today, the housing ‘market’ is never out of the news. Affordability, availability, development, investment, interest rates: the ever-cranking machinery of casino capitalism where the chips ‘flipped’ are investment properties and no longer the suburban dream home of the past. In the 21st century, the Australian Read More …

Book Excerpt: Democracy may not Exist, but We’ll Miss it When it’s Gone

Typically, democracy is considered to consist of one person, one vote, exercised in periodic elections; constitutional rights; and a market economy. On paper at least, there is no shortage of states that conform to this rather limited conception — by some estimates, 81 countries moved from authoritarianism to democracy between 1980 and 2002. Yet recent studies reveal that democracy, defined by the preceding attributes, has weakened worldwide over the last decade or so. Read More …