Around the world, democracies have seen a decline in social and political trust. Australian Social Attitudes IV: The Age of Insecurity is an in-depth look at the economic and geopolitical uncertainty that pervades Australian public discourse. In the decade following the Howard administration, Australian politics has been defined by growing uncertainty, instability, and the emergence of popular disaffection with the political class, similar to what has been seen in the United States and Britain. Featuring contributions from Australia’s leading social scientists, this book explores the connection between insecurities and disaffection, and the ways in which they have manifested ­– in populist voting patterns, suspicions about climate science, and hostilities to immigration. A fascinating insight into what Australians think about contemporary political and social issues, this book is designed to present the public, media, and policymakers with up-to-date analysis of public opinion about important topics confronting Australian politics and society.

This book emerges from a three-year Australian Research Council-funded study that asks how the formation and (d)evolution of leadership has impacted on public environmental debate. To do this, it draws on extensive news text analysis and public opinion survey data, as well as qualitative interviews with Australian and international movement actors. The volume investigates environmental leadership in a period of rapid political and media change by examining the nature, variety and scope; specifically, how it is understood and generated and how it changes over time. For the first time, the interconnected roles of leaders and media in constructing environmental issues are researched together, providing new evidence-based understandings of the people and processes driving public debate on environmental futures.

This book investigates Australia’s relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest over time and place, from its first screening on SBS in 1983 to Australia's inaugural national selection in 2019. Beginning with an overview of Australia’s Eurovision history, the contributions explore the contest’s role in Australian political participation and international relations; its significance for Australia’s diverse communities, including migrants and the LGBTQIA+ community; racialised and gendered representations of Australianness; changing ideas of liveness in watching the event; and a reflection on teaching Australia’s first undergraduate course dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest. The collection brings together a group of scholar-fans from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives — including history, politics, cultural studies, performance studies, and musicology — to explore Australia’s transition from observer to participant in the first thirty-six years of its love affair with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Four decades ago, faced with a series of economic, political and social crises, business and government leaders in Australia and many other nations were convinced by a well organised ideological insurgency of the need for what at first was presented as a series of technical changes in economic policy. However, neoliberalism quickly became a revolutionary agenda for re-ordering the social democratic state. Captured: How neoliberalism transformed the Australian state directs attention to the central role of state power not just to remake markets, but also to remake a broad swathe of political life, social policy and citizenship. In seeking to undermine the power of organised labour and “unleash” market capitalism, neoliberalism promised a surge of competition, productivity and common prosperity. For the wealthy few, this has indeed been an historically unprecedented time of capital accumulation, but for most, the results have been profoundly disappointing. Today, neoliberalism is in crisis. We are living through an age of great instability, disillusionment and despair. Inequality of income and wealth has been rising; a majority of workers have experienced long-term declining relative living standards; corporate political and market power has reached historic levels; and younger generations are increasingly giving up the expectation of attaining the living standards of their parents. The status of prevailing neoliberal ideas and policy is in increasing disarray. But without a coherent understanding of the ideas and interests driving neoliberalism, many people have turned to incoherent populism for an explanation and salvation and, failing that, even to forms of nihilism. Disillusion and anxiety constitute the dominant mood among the economic and policy elites, within Australia and internationally. Captured presents a series of case studies from leading public policy experts, building critical new insights into the malaise that has characterised the neoliberal era. This book tells the story of how a small group of economists and lobby groups with a universalising agenda of radical change used neoliberalism to transform the state, and of the destructive effects of those policies on everyday life. Captured includes critical accounts of neoliberal policy and speculates on the likely future of neoliberalism as a form of political power and governmentality in Australia.

Australian Universities: A conversation about public good highlights contemporary challenges facing Australian universities and offers new ideas for expanding public good. More than 20 experts take up the debate about our public universities: who they are for; what their mission is (or should be); what strong higher education policy entails; and how to cultivate a robust and constructive relationship between government and Australian universities. Issues covered include: – How to change a culture of exclusion to ensure all are welcome in universities, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as those from low socio-economic backgrounds. – How "educational disadvantage" in Australia often begins in school and is still the major barrier to full university participation. – The reality that funding for research and major infrastructure requires significant additional funds from non-government sources (e.g. international student fees). – A lack of policy recognition that international university students increase Australia’s social, cultural and economic capital. – Pathways to making policy decisions wide-ranging, consultative, inclusive and inspired rather than politically partisan and ideologically driven. – The impact of COVID-19 on universities, and particularly how the pandemic and governmental responses exacerbated extant and emerging issues. Australian Universities rekindles a much-needed conversation about the vital role of public universities in our society, arguing for initiatives informed by the realities of university life and offering a way forward for government, communities, students and public universities – together – to advance public good.

Australia’s higher education sector was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Student and staff numbers declined, and the government assistance afforded to other sectors was all but missing for universities. In a callous example of abandonment in an hour of need, Australia’s international students were similarly ignored by the federal government. International Student Policy in Australia: The welfare dimension tells the story of how successive governments have chosen a conscious form of what is effectively policy inaction on international student welfare since well before COVID-19. The politics of policy during the pandemic is a significant part of the narrative, but it only tells part of the story. International Student Policy in Australia examines the policies and laws that regulate the lives of international students in Australia. Professor Gaby Ramia examines the political, policy, governance and regulatory contexts within which international student rights and welfare are determined in Australia and interrogates specific thematic areas – including racism, discrimination and violence, health and wellbeing – and the means by which students have dealt with crisis situations over the past 20 years. International Student Policy in Australia: The welfare dimension provides an analysis of international student welfare amid questions of policy action and inaction in the management of multiple crises, within an era of massified international education, drawing implications for policy and legal reform and providing a revised policy agenda for a post-pandemic future.

‘If we are to understand global capital, neoliberalism and the state in meaningful ways, we must understand them as they operate in, and on, particular places and people.’ Amanda Walsh Globalisation is an inescapable term in the 21st century, but its real meaning is often difficult to pin down. This book sheds new light on the political and economic implications of globalisation by examining the lived experience of a particular region: the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales, where two iconic Australian industries – dairying and manufacturing – struggled to survive in the face of global competition. Drilling down through layers of theory, policy and politics, Amanda Walsh surveys how globalisation has played out in regional Australia. Using industry case studies, she explores how decisions made at a national level have affected regional communities, and considers the role of the state in promoting and mediating globalising forces.

As the strategic rivalry between the United States and China rapidly deepens, growing distrust and fears of China are once again shaping Australian media coverage and public discourse, with potent implications for Australia’s China policy. At this crucial historical moment, Engaging China offers a full-throated defence of engagement. This volume brings together a diverse set of Australia’s seasoned diplomats, experienced journalists and renowned scholars to assess the current state of Australia–China relations and offer pragmatic advice for how Australia can restore a healthy and stable relationship with China. Over the past five decades, Australia’s engagement of China has facilitated a deepening economic relationship alongside expanded cultural, educational and people-to-people exchanges, fostering greater understanding between the two countries and populations. The contributors to this volume share a common vision: Australia and Australians should continue to engage with China and Chinese people for mutual benefit. The chapters take stock of past achievements, identify recent challenges and offer practical suggestions for how the Australian government and Australian firms, institutions and individuals can proactively, productively and securely engage with China. Australia’s rich and diverse relations with China extend far beyond the political and economic interactions that tend to dominate news headlines. In explaining how and why an engagement strategy continues to serve Australian interests, Engaging China offers a timely alternative to the prevailing public and policy discourses on Australia’s most challenging bilateral relationship.

In the face of escalating water scarcity, effective water management has become a central concern globally. The Murray–Darling Basin, spanning over a million square kilometres across four states and one territory, is a lifeline for Australian agriculture and rural communities. Cultivating Community: How discourse shapes the philosophy, practice and policy of water management in the Murray–Darling Basin dissects the prevailing environmental discourses shaping water policy in the Murray–Darling Basin and assesses their implications for both the environment and for farming communities. Drawing on five months of extensive field research among farmers and Murray–Darling Basin Authority officials, Dr Amanda Shankland presents a nuanced understanding of farmer perspectives within the broader policy discourse. By examining the interplay between environmental discourses and farmer knowledge, Shankland sheds light on how different ideologies shape policy decisions and, subsequently, impact water management practices. Central to the book’s contribution is the identification and analysis of four key environmental discourses prevalent in the Murray–Darling Basin: administrative rationalism, economic rationalism, democratic pragmatism, and green environmentalism. Against the backdrop of looming water scarcity and the declining health of the Murray–Darling Basin, Cultivating Community challenges these dominant discourses by highlighting a new perspective, community centrism, which emphasises community-based cooperation and engagement in water management. By amplifying farmer voices and advocating for a more inclusive approach to policy deliberations, Cultivating Community paves the way for alternative futures in water management that prioritise social values alongside economic and environmental considerations. Cultivating Community is a timely and indispensable resource for charting a path towards a more resilient and equitable water future in the Murray–Darling Basin and beyond.