A note to readers and contributors about the roundup
Over the last three years, as readers may have noticed, I have focused the roundup on the Commonwealth government’s corruption, cronyism, incompetence and moral opportunism. In my assessment, and that of many independent Australians whose considered opinions I respect, the government headed by Scott Morrison was leading Australia down a dismal and dangerous path. We were facing a future of economic stagnation, entrenched inequality in wealth and opportunity, and bitter identity-based divisions.
As Martyn Goddard, a frequent contributor to the roundup states, with a change of government we cannot expect Nirvana. The government will make mistakes, will compromise on principles, and will fail to meet many people’s expectations – that’s the nature of public administration in a democracy. As citizens in a democracy we should keep it under scrutiny, but so long as it does its best to govern in the public interest there won’t be the imperative for people concerned for Australia’s future to dedicate their efforts to seeing it removed from office.
From here on, hopefully, these roundups will be shorter. I will continue to cover public policy matters overlooked by our media, particularly long-term issues that don’t manifest themselves in headline-grabbing events but which go on quietly in the background. With help from readers who send links, I will also be drawing attention to emerging public ideas – ideas that help us break out of the compartmentalized ways that often constrain our thinking about public policy. And there will still be plenty of graphs!
Please keep up with those links – my e-mail is ian at the domain ianmcauley.com.