Welcome to my first blog posting for 2010. I’ve now entered my third calendar year as a blogger. For me, the GFC was a rich source of blog topics. As the GFC is now largely past tense, I need to cast a broader net to find some interesting topics for this year. That search started while I was on Christmas vacation.
Beverley and I travelled to New Zealand and spent a week in Queenstown. As always, I took a few good books away with me. One of the most interesting was Australia’s Population Challenge. The book is an anthology of the presentations made at the National Population Summit in Melbourne in 2002. For some time, I have wanted to post a blog on THE POPULATION DEBATE and will do so next week.
The population debate is closely linked to THE CLIMATE DEBATE and I will post a blog about climate change on Monday week. As with the population debate, the climate debate is replete with mixed messages and contradictions overlaid by vested interests and claims of disingenuous statements. A good book on the subject is Poles Apart: Beyond the Shouting, Who’s Right About Climate Change?
Along with climate change and population, another contentious issue in public policy is welfare. There is concern that an increasing number of people are seeking a hand-out rather than a hand-up creating a welfare state. On Monday, 1 February I will publish a blog titled THE WELFARE DEBATE. Meanwhile a useful paper to read is Money for nothing? Australia in the global middle class welfare debate.
It is my hope that my debate trilogy will inform and not offend. Population, climate and welfare are important issues for all Australians and genuine discourse invariably produces the best policies. Indeed, the openness and extent of civil participation in public debate is central to the quality of democratic governance.
While we don’t have to agree with each other, we must respect everyone’s right to freedom of expression. This is our most cherished right in Australia and I hope that in raising these urgent questions I can facilitate reasoned discussion about issues which are of critical importance to all of us.
Regards
Paul J. Thomas
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