A politician thinks of the next race, a statesman of the next generation.
-James Freeman Clark (1810-1888)
Experts predict that by 2050 Australia will be a radically different society to the one we see today Falling birth rates: A nation of empty playgrounds?
Children are the new focus between the haves and the have-nots Hell on two legs - the Tiny Generation
Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Sex: Delivering the Headlines Worth Talking About
For demographers and social scientists, the Locke sisters and their generation of women represent a portent of profound, long-term change. Theirs is a post-feminist generation - one that has had more contraceptive and reproductive choice than before; a group that has revelled in, not reviled, singledom, and has embraced education, career and work. Child-bearing is delayed, and when it is chosen, it is often juggled with the demands of work
If Australia's birth rate keeps declining, even massive immigration cannot save us from a population slide and a future dominated by old people ... Selfish young adults and "unimaginative men" will have to go if Australia is to produce more children, Can we make the family cool again?
Like a growing proportion of Australian couples, neither Taylor nor her husband, Matthew, want to have children of their own. I’d make love to him cause there’s no-one better at the party, but I wouldn’t want to have his child
• To have or have not ... Where have all the babies gone? [The GST has always been a political troublemaker. Paul Keating discovered this back in 1985 when his comrades publicly rejected the young federal treasurer's proposal for a consumption tax, an early incarnation of the GST. John Hewson's GST proposal helped him lose the unloseable election in 1993, ruining his political career. The GST has given John Howard severe political heartburn, especially in the 1998 election, and may have permanently tarnished Peter Costello's image in the eyes of many voters. Even Kim Beazley has suffered at its hand when his GST Rollback proved to be a damaging political dud in the 2001 election campaign. GST just makes the federal-state squabble worse ; Casting stones: it doesn't hurt to ask for forgiveness NSW accuses Costello of hiding $700m windfall ; Costello hopes GST brawl is nearly over ]
• · It seems we already have the incentive, we just need to change our priorities Ponder higher taxes at your leisure ; Why is it topical? After establishing the Virgin Blue budget airline, the British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has set his sights on superannuation. Australian super industry is classic Virgin territory, being absolutely rife with funny stuff Virgin Superannuation
• · · Safeguarding the land is in everyone's interest, write Anthony Albanese and Craig Smith Let's create a high-value environment ; A few are wealthier, but all are wiser five years after the dotcom crash The highs and the lows: When we went pop!
• · · · Spying has gotten a lot more sophisticated since John Paul II was elected in 1978, the year Gitka was sacked from teaching profession by the communists. Computer hackers, electronic bugs and supersensitive microphones threaten to pierce the Vatican's thick walls next week when cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to name a papal successor. Foiling Spies at the Vatican ; The charming reporter, Natasha Bita, is in Florence among the movers and shakers Italian paper backs Pell for pope; David Starkoff’s blog McHugh the curmudgeon ; I believe institutions perform best when their roles, tasks and objectives are clear rather than muddied and muddled by politics aimed at social engineering Tension as search for judge narrows ; I heard a minister the other day talking about the great injustice and evil of the men in white robes, the Ku Klux Klan, that roamed the country in the South, and they did great wrong to civil rights and to morality. And now we have black-robed men, and that's what you're talking about. James Dobson compared Supreme Court justices to the KKK
• · · · · The woman who would be the state's first female treasurer, Peta Seaton, is a one-time television commercial producer and a protegee of the former Liberal premier Nick Greiner Seaton's spin at treasury's wheel puts a jingle in state's purse ; Out of the Shadow A few surprises, but none that nasty, in Brogden's remix
• · · · · · Can federalism and democracy be combined? Or are they incompatible? Can federalism enhance the democratic legitimacy of a political system? These major questions will be at the very centre of the debates on the theme of federalism and democratic legitimacy. Federalism is often presented as an efficient method for preventing conflicts, in particular those arising from ethnic, linguistic or religious tensions Tough Power Struggles: Reflections on Australian Federalism ; America's first national park, Yellowstone, sits atop one of the largest volcanoes on Earth. We don't want to be sensationalist about this, but it's going to happen Supervolcano: Just When You Think It's Safe ... ; Medical Boards Let Physicians Practice Despite Drug Abuse Weak Doctors
