More than 80% of Australians and over half of the world’s population now live in cities: cities that are responsible, directly or indirectly, for nearly 75% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the design and operation of our cities is a critical challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Our success or failure to transform our cities over the next 20 years will be a key legacy to future generations
Words are powerful. They can forge bonds of mutual respect and understanding, as they did when a nation apologised to all Indigenous Australians for the profound grief, suffering and loss exacted by the mistaken policies of past governments.They can rouse a nation to action, as they did when, in our darkest hour, a defiant John Curtin called on all Australians to fight for our imperishable traditions
My idea for the past twelve years has been to develop an enjoyable program suitable for all Australian primary schools, with the aim of positively influencing children’s attitudes and behaviours about food
It is finally dawning on private and public sectors that information and communications technology (ICT) is an enabling technology. ICT is relevant to companies — whether making drugs, mining coal, building a bridge or providing banking services — and government agencies, such as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), operators of an urban railway systems and (obviously) Social Security and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DTSO)
Much of our agricultural land is presently straining under the ‘worst drought in living memory’: 80% of Queensland is drought declared. This drought comes upon the heels of the Millennium Drought, the longest drought in the living memory of those who colonised this country. Stocking rates are down and impacts will continue to be felt as any debt to restock will be heavy when it rains. Markets have been distorted. Towns and communities are affected. Nature and humanity are distressed
You are being followed. Not by a person — by the 800-odd cookies dropped by websites on your own machine, by GPS and the apps that use it from your own phone even when you are not using them, by your own purchases on cards and on devices, and by the algorithms used to parse all that data for behavioural patterns — patterns that are then used to personalise your media content
It’s Saturday morning, which means pancakes. After a long drive out to the quiet suburbs of regional Victoria, I arrive too late for the pancakes — but I am where I need to be. Down a wide street, past an oval with cricketers, is the home of Sandra and her family. Underneath a precious family portrait, one of Sandra’s ‘short kids’ smiles to welcome me. I’m taking Sandra out to lunch to discuss how she and her family became known to medical specialists the world over, and how her remarkable story has made it into this book
I was born into a culture that has a tradition of storytelling. Indigenous cultures across Australia have cultural on “Dreamtime” stories that explain our relationship to each other and to our land and also teach us about the standard of behaviour that are expected of us. These stories are like “law stories” or morality tales
We live in a world forever changed by the terrorist attacks in New York City on 11 September 2001 that made people feel vulnerable in a way that they hadn’t imagined that they were. Rather than providing us with a vision of hope and an alternative future, we have seen parties from both sides of the political divide seek to utilise the increased fear amongst the population
The concept of sustainability has always been central to indigenous cultures. Native Americans believe that you have to consider the impact of your actions on the next seven generations. And in Australia there is a world view among Indigenous people that says that you do not inherit land, you hold it on trust for future generations