AQ: Australian Quarterly

Has the leopard changed its spots? Has Australia slammed the door on negative, time-wasting, self-interested, two-party politics? Australia is one of the few developed countries that still believe a two-party system is the natural order of democracy. Does Australia really believe that our democracy is better modelled on the political dumpster fire that is the United States’ entrenched two-party system? Or should we be looking to Europe, where multipolar coalition governments are the norm? Framing democracy as a two-horse race has the effect of reducing differentiation between parties and thereby reducing the appetite for big ideas. This results in a focus on character rather than agendas and reduces accountability because both sides have their fingers in the same pie. Yet we have seen a tremendous swing to teal and Green candidates and a…

Through the portal of flames, floods, smoke and masks we’ve also seen glimpses of what is possible For the first time in a long time, it feels like our nation isn’t trying to stop the future. We have, in our leadership, new imagination, will and capacity to rise to meet the big challenge and embrace the big opportunities. Certainly, the past few years of fires, plagues (human, mouse) and floods have rearranged the very furniture of our lives – our everyday ways of being, working, travelling, connecting and caring have been disrupted and transformed. Too many of us have lost our homes and incomes. Too many of us have felt the personal costs of privatisation and years of underinvestment in health and aged care. And though mercifully few by global comparisons, too many…

It was too dangerous to walk the dog and it was no longer a place of enjoyment. Then came the rain. The storms idled over the coast, unleashing deluge after deluge. There was nowhere for the water to go but over the levees and across the valley plains. The flood levels were unprecedented. Houses on high stilts were submerged, entire communities evacuated. And when they returned, the clean up! Watching the chaos unfold around us we thought we were lucky with our lot down by the lagoon. Sure, we couldn’t get insurance for flooding either, but we were sheltered from the large waves and river torrents. But we were starting to notice that the water was coming higher each year, on those really high tides and during some of the storms. The…

Reconciliation is a shared project. It’s about strengthening relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Progress on reconciliation is the glue that binds us and sets the foundation for a more just and equitable nation - a nation that comes to terms with the wrongs of the past, addresses racism, and embraces equality and unity. Our research shows community aspirations are high when it comes to constitutional reform and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples having a say in matters that affect them. Voice Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples have been fighting for a political voice, and structural changes like treaty, for more than 100 years. The Federal Government must support the aims in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including by introducing legislation setting out support, a…

It took decades of neoliberalism to destroy both Australia’s institutions of governance and the public’s expectations of those institutions. And it will take more than one term of office to repair the rot that has set in. But if that repair doesn’t begin soon, and the public do not begin to see rapid returns from that repair, then it’s not inevitable that Australia’s Westminster democracy will last as long as the building it is named after. The simultaneous election of a majority Albanese Government, a record number of Greens and independents in the lower house, and what is likely to be the most progressive Senate crossbench in our history, creates a unique moment in Australian politics. How this moment is used, or stymied, will likely shape Australia for decades to come. While…

The dark side of data is obvious. Fraud, counterfeiting, fake news, misinformation and impersonation are all booming in the digital sphere. Digital now dominates how we interact with the world. But people are left increasingly vulnerable, lacking the customary cues they previously used to establish trust. All they have to go on is data. Bad data is at the heart of all fraud. ‘Card-Not-Present’ payments fraud, for example, uses stolen credit card numbers which are replayed against unwitting merchants. More elaborate impersonations use rich personal data, often harvested from social media profiles, to fool Knowledge-Based Authentication and account-opening processes. Multi-million dollar mortgage frauds are also perpetrated this way. The emergence of deep fakes — high fidelity computergenerated animations that duplicate real persons — has kicked off another security arms race Entirely synthetic identities…