Research stories
Cabinet papers 1994-95: How the republic was doomed without a directly elected president
By Prof. Frank Bongiorno, ANU School of HistoryNot long after defeat in the 1999 referendum, Malcolm Turnbull, a leading republican who had chaired the Republic Advisory Committee (RAC) appointed by Paul Keating, was licking his wounds.“We must not let the desperate desire not to be ‘elitist’ lead…
Cabinet papers 1994-95: The Keating government begins to craft its legacy
By Prof. Nicholas Brown, ANU School of HistoryIf Labor was surprised by its re-election in March 1993 – the “sweetest victory of them all”, as Paul Keating claimed – there was, for months before the 1996 election was called, much less confidence in government ranks that it could hang on.They were…
Q&A: Dr Andrew Glikson on the Plutocene age
Taken individually, climate change and the threat of nuclear war each hold the potential to change the face of the earth and life on earth as we know it. A new book by earth and paleoclimate scientist Dr Andrew Glikson of the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology projects a scenario in which…
Cars, bicycles and the fatal myth of equal reciprocity
By Dr Ashley Carruthers, Lecturer in Anthropology, ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. Any public conversation about on-road cycling in Australia seems to have only one metaphor for the relationship between drivers and cyclists: equal reciprocity.…
Note to Liberals: on the leadership front, best to keep calm and carry on
By Dr Chris Wallace, Research Fellow (ARC DECRA), National Centre of Biography, ANU School of History. Do politicians read history any more? Liberal MPs who have not read Robert Menzies’ Afternoon Light: some memories of men and events (1967) should get it from the Parliamentary…
Australia doesn’t have a population policy – why?
By Dr Liz Allen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. Australia lacks an overarching population policy or strategy. Over the years, multiple inquiries have recommended such a policy. Population policies the world over typically focus on births and…
What the underground market for ransomware looks like
By Professor Roderic Broadhurst, Professor of Criminology, College of Arts and Social Science, and Fellow Research, College of Asia and the Pacific. The attack of ransomware “WannaCry” has put governments and businesses around the world on edge, but in fact the underground market…