People have been predicting the end of capitalism since at least the early 19th century, but few have had the same mainstream appeal as Yanis Varoufakis. The academic economist, bestselling author and former Greek finance minister spruiked his new book Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism at the National Press Club on Wednesday, with…
The way the public service communicates with the public was a front-of-mind issue for leaders at The Mandarin’s Trust and Integrity Conference. Given the independent feedback they’ve received in recent months, that’s not surprising. Government services Minister Bill Shorten told an audience of senior public servants failure to consult across…
A lot hinges on the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) fulfilling its brief, including general public attitudes about the competence and trustworthiness of government institutions. And commissioner Tom Rogers makes no bones about it. People often talk about democratic machinery and resilience as though they are components of a processing line…
A thesaurus search offers the following synonyms for the term fearless: ‘daring’, ‘heroic’, ‘audacious’, ‘bold’. One might think, therefore, that to provide frank and fearless advice, public servants need to exhibit this kind of daring and courage in the face of political pressure and toxic senior leaders. In 2023, the APS…
It is no small undertaking to be an ethical leader. Ethical leadership is a personal commitment to navigating yourself and others through social contracts and norms, decisions and judgments, trusted relationships and self-interest, duties, responsibilities and accountabilities. Ethical leadership is always personal. And, if we subscribe to the idea that…
I’m not against the ‘Big Four’ — they have things to offer. They just shouldn’t be offered everything. Setting aside the egregious behaviours of a few, the bigger problem is their extraordinary exclusionary access and influence. It has created an oligopoly across the public sector, federal and state, of a…
Every debt has to, eventually, be repaid. Right now, the day of reckoning is fast approaching for one of the most crippling — but least discussed — debts burdening government across Australia … technology debt. Technology debt is the cost of generations of incremental investments in legacy technologies to tease…
The Albanese government came to power promising a refresh and a rethink of Australia’s international policy. In just under 15 months in office, this has manifested in three major reviews across the main domains of Australian statecraft: the defence strategic review (released in April 2023), the new international development policy…
As we recently pointed out, the current ACCC inquiry into bank deposits reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of banking – and deposits. The inquiry, therefore, is not off to a good start. If the ACCC continues on its current course, the inquiry findings will not be well-founded and the recommendations will…
The way we do politics is all wrong, and the Voice highlights how bone-headed our system is. As the political scientist and my former co-director Ian Marsh said: ‘Firstly, political incentives undercut bipartisanship. Secondly, since the primary channel for the leaders is the media, there is no systemic ability to…
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties is considering a defence cooperation and status of visiting forces agreement with Timor-Leste. It is designed to enable Australia to participate in more frequent and sophisticated bilateral military activities in areas such as maritime operations, military training, logistics support and humanitarian assistance and disaster…
Early Chinese immigrants to the United States brought a lot with them, including medicines. One of their most popular — and effective — treatments was a liniment for arthritis and joint pain derived from fats found in the Chinese water snake. Eventually, an enterprising white showman took to selling his…
The lead-up to Saturday’s meeting between Australia’s defence and foreign affairs ministers and their US counterparts was low-key, as were the expectations. But optics and substance are not always perfectly matched with Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), and of course, it’s never entirely clear what goes on behind closed doors.…
In Part 3 of our series on productivity, Sean Innis explains why the power of GDP to describe what we (really, really) want may be waning and what this means for the future. Gross Domestic Production is not a term that rolls easily off the tongue. It sounds like what…
In Part 2 of our series on productivity, Sean Innis explores the surprisingly interesting history of the most important piece of political arithmetic in the world today – GDP. Australia’s productivity growth languishes. For the past two decades, growth in productivity has sat well below its 60-year average. In the…