I am writing a book with the working title of Australia after socialism that explains the Australian intellectual left since the early 1990s. Tim Rowse in a review in Arena Magazine No. 4 of Meaghan Morris Ecstasy and Economics, described her approach thus: Unlike those who practice political biography, she holds no brief for […]
Conservatism and authority in industrial relations
Work leaves me little time to blog. However Qantas dispute and the revival of conservative anti-unionism are of note. It represents the latest manifestation of a liberal-conservative tradition in Australia which I discuss below in an extract from a paper of mine under review. This tradition is hostile to unions on conservative grounds that they […]
Abbott and Chifley, Salisbury & Spencer
Two comments about the Great Depression by one future Prime Minister and one aspirant to be Prime Minister. In 1944 Ben Chifley declared: In my electorate, I witnessed the freedom that was enjoyed by 2000 men outside a factory in an attempt to secure the one job that was offering…the freedom to starve and live […]