Society & Inequality
The Ruin of Magic
This is an edited extract from "The Ruin of Magic" by Kate Holden, published by Black Inc.
See What You Made Me Do: Foreword
This is the new foreword, written by Clare Wright, for the new updated edition of 'See What You Made Do' by Jess Hill
ANU spent $6k on a 'non-significant' meeting. Then why do they pay tutors even less for a semester?
Last year the Australian National University (ANU) was getting some bad press, so they engaged a company called Bastion Reputation to help with the media fallout from restructures and the heavily criticised leadership of its Vice Chancellor, Professor Genevieve Bell. The meeting cost $6,000, which is more than ANU paid me for a full semester of tutoring in 2023. According to a response to an FOI request, the meeting did not warrant any notetaking and was “not significant”.
Faster giving, faster change: billions in philanthropy is moving too slowly to meet the moment
Australia has more than $11 billion sitting in philanthropic funds that have already received generous tax deductions. Much of that money is intended for public good, but only a small portion is required to reach charities each year.
Private health premiums are rising, but is the system working? (spoiler: no)
This is the first of two articles examining the value private health insurance and private healthcare bring to the Australian healthcare system.
Australian universities face a governance crisis - and their communities are already building solutions
Concerns about unaccountable governance, limited transparency, high executive pay, and poor outcomes for staff wellbeing and student safety have put the Australian university sector under unprecedented scrutiny. Historian Hannah Forsyth argued that the solution is to “better connect universities to community, with more democratic internal decision-making systems”. The question is: how? The answer is already emerging from within universities themselves.
Lessons from ANU for Australia’s university governance crisis
The Australian National University (ANU) has spent the past eighteen months in a state of rolling crisis. The headline issues are now familiar. In October 2024, a large projected deficit was announced to staff. This was followed in 2025 by 'Renew ANU', a sweeping cost-cutting program that has reportedly seen over 1,000 staff leave the University.
If YouTube and Meta are ‘addictive drugs’, bans won't work — regulation will
On March 25th, 2026, a Los Angeles jury handed down a world-first decision, holding Meta, (who own Instagram and Facebook), and YouTube (owned by Google), liable for intentionally building addictive social media platforms.
Fuelling inequality: The brunt of a global crisis should not be borne by people in poverty
On 24 March 2020, Scott Morrison took an unprecedented step: at the drop of a hat, he made the activities people on some Centrelink payments are forced to do completely voluntary as the COVID crisis loomed. It was a change that not only protected the community, but one that brought massive relief.
Petrol prices are soaring in sync: collusion or coincidence?
The oil crisis has not only caused petrol prices to soar, it has revealed just how little competition there is among the big oil companies. A couple weeks ago the ACCC announced that it would be looking into uncompetitive behaviour by petrol companies in the rural areas.
