Having displaced religion as the organising framework of American culture, the therapeutic outlook threatens to displace politics as well. – Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, 1979 Since the election of George W. Bush, I have been telling anyone who would listen that the 21st-century Republican Party was unlike any other centre-right political party. As […]

JESSICA HOWARD GROWTH in the tourism industry continues to underpin Tasmania’s economy, with new figures revealing investment of more than half a billion dollars in the pipeline. The Tourism Investment Monitor 2016 report, released by Tourism Research Australia, shows there was $509 million put in Tasmania’s tourism investment pipeline for 2015 – a 47 per […]

LOUISE GRIMMER THINK about the last time you went to lunch, or your latest haircut, or the time you had to call out a plumber to your home. Chances are you supported a small business. Much is reported in the media about the dominance of big business and the predicted death of small enterprises, but […]

A tight victory hurts Malcolm Turnbull’s political authority IT WAS hardly the mandate Malcolm Turnbull had hoped for when he called an early general election, asking for a stable majority. On July 10th, eight days after the vote, Australia’s prime minister was at last able to claim victory for his conservative Liberal-National coalition. But he […]

A general election leaves Australia without a stable government WHEN Malcolm Turnbull sought a second term for his conservative Liberal-National coalition government by calling an early general election, he promised Australians a break from nearly a decade of dysfunctional politics and short-lived national leaders. The prime minister—Australia’s sixth in a decade—asked voters to deliver a […]

Tasmania Richard Eccleston, Professor of Political Science; Director, Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of Tasmania Jacqui Lambie won a Senate quota in her own right. AAP/Mick Tsikas Tasmania was at the front line of the swing against the Coalition that left Malcolm Turnbull struggling to retain government. Polling indicated the races in […]

The University of Tasmania’s expertise in political analysis was highlighted in the lead up to and the continuing fallout from the Federal election. Since January the University’s Institute for the Study of Social Change (ISC) researchers have featured in local and national media with 83 items, informing an audience of almost two million people. Established […]

By Dr Louise Grimmer WOODY Allen once declared: “Eighty per cent of success is showing up”. This pithy piece of advice is pertinent for Tasmanian retailers as research from Microsoft shows that our attention span has diminished to just eight seconds. This is 50 per cent less than it was in 2000. What this means, […]

By Associate Professor Kate Crowley Though Malcolm Turnbull has declared victory in the 2016 election race, it remains unclearwhether he will form a majority or minority government. Australia has a wealth of experience of minority government. While it has only had one national minority government recently, every single state and territory has had a minority […]

By Richard Eccleston AMID the recrimination and soul searching following Saturday’s Federal Election there is a growing consensus that the swing to Labor in Tasmania was fuelled by concerns about Medicare and health funding. Predictably the Liberals have been quick to blame Labor’s dishonest Mediscare campaign. Referring to Medicare and privatisation in the same sentence […]