Asked by:Why does Australia have such a rigid two party political system?
In Australia we’ve got the dominant view that hung parliaments and large cross benches are ‘unworkable’ and ‘feral’. Why? In Europe hung parliaments are normal, and there are often many parties represented in the parliament.
Would we benefit from more diverse parties and viewpoints in parliament?
Asked by:Are words more important than actions?
Asked by:Will there always be a European Union and a UN, or have these kind of collective endeavours lost their way under 21st century individualism?
Asked by:What can western cultures learn from other cultures about the grieving process?
I currently have a family member who is dying from cancer… and I recently had a friend who died prematurely. Our rituals are so brief. Other cultures morn for days, weeks and sometimes months in ritualistic ways. Is it the threat to economic functioning or is it truly better to just get on with it?
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
What are the problems that money solves? Are there other solutions?
Appeals to compassion have had little impact on attitudes to inequality, both internationally and domestically. Is it time to use fear as a catalyst for change?
In the mid 1970’s I heard a bureaucrat [Bob Lansdowne] argue that social change came from shifts in compassion or compulsion-he was discussing our relationship with Indonesia and argued that compassion was in short supply. He was suggesting that huge disparities in income and wealth in an increasingly open and global environment were a recipe for instability and conflict–and that we should be afraid of the consequences of failing to address it. His concern is even more relevant today.
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