Men at Work: Australia's Parenthood Trap: Quarterly Essay 75 by Annabel Crabb

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her pregnancy, the headlines raced around the world. But when Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg became the first Prime Minister and Treasurer duo since the 1970s to take on those roles while bringing up primary-school-aged children, this detail p assed largely without notice. Why do we accept that fathers will be absent? Why do so few men take parental leave in this country? In the last half-century, women have revolutionised the way we work and live. But men's lives have changed remarkably little in that time. Why is that? Is it because men don't want to change? Or is it because, every day in various ways, we tell them they shouldn't?" In this Quarterly Essay, Annabel Crabb deploys political observation, workplace research and her characteristic humour and intelligence to argue that gender equity cannot be achieved until men are as free to leave the workplace (when their lives demand it) as women are to enter it. ...Show more

Secret: The Making of Australia's Security State by Brian Toohey

$39.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Australia is less secure than it has ever been and the greatest threat comes from our elected government. Political leaders increasingly promote secrecy, ignorance and fear to introduce new laws that undermine individual liberties and safety. It is a criminal offence to receive or publish a wide range of information unrelated to national security. Our defence weapons are so dependent on US technical support that Australia couldn't defend itself without US involvement. And comprehensive databases on citizens' digital fingerprints and facial recognition characteristics are being amassed by the Commonwealth. Conspiracy? Paranoia? Read Secret- The Making of Australia's Security State and you decide. Fresh archival material and revealing details of conversations between former CIA, US State Department and Australian officials will make you reconsider the world around you. ...Show more

Fallen: Inside Story of the Secret Trial and Conviction of Cardinal George Pell by Lucie Morris-Marr

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

The dramatic story of the extraordinary trial of the third most senior Catholic cleric in the world for child sex abuse, and the conviction that sent ripples around the world.

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

$19.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'These 128 pages are a brief primer in every important thing we might have learned from the history of the last century, and all that we appear to have forgotten' Observer History does not repeat, but it does instruct. In the twentieth century, European democracies colla psed into fascism, Nazism and communism. These were movements in which a leader or a party claimed to give voice to the people, promised to protect them from global existential threats, and rejected reason in favour of myth. European history shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary people can find themselves in unimaginable circumstances. History can familiarise, and it can warn. Today, we are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to totalitarianism in the twentieth century. But when the political order seems imperilled, our advantage is that we can learn from their experience to resist the advance of tyranny. Now is a good time to do so. ...Show more

Webtopia: The Worldwide Wreck of Tech and How to Make the Net Work by Peter Lewis

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s was a world of limited choice, one where we all watched the same television programs and the household phone was at the heart of allnetworks people belonged to: family, school, church and the neighbourhood. The arrival of the internet promised a utopian, creative and democr atic future that would break down traditional institutions and replace them with exciting collaborative networks. So how did we end up here? In Webtopia, Peter Lewis draws from his own pre- and post-tech experience and conversations with entrepreneurs, politicians, pastors, parents, teachers and journalists to show us that technology is not the problem. We are. If we fix our relationship with technology, it will be easier to fix our relationships with each other in a fragmenting world. Riveting, engaging and wise, Webtopia traces our digital journey to this point and, fearlessly, marks out the best route from here. 'This book is an encounter with a born raconteur. This makes for a highly readable book, but it also reflects something more profound: that people power the web and modern tech is the embodiment of human genius, human folly and every human choice that lies in between.' -- Edward Santow, Australian Human Rights Commissioner   ...Show more

How Powerful We Are: Behind the scenes with one of Australia's leading activists by Sally Rugg

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Even if you're not an activist (yet), at a time when the news is written for clicks and elections are foight with three-word slogans, it's crucial to preserve some record of events that isn't 'fake news' or political spin. In part, this book is my attempt to counter the re-writing of how Australia achie ved one of the most significant social changes in a generation. Sally Rugg is one of Australia's most influential campaigners for social change. HOW POWERFUL WE ARE is her manifesto for championing what you believe is right. In these pages Sally will teach you some of the things she learnt on the marriage equality campaign: how to develop a strategy, how to frame your messages, how to get your campaign to the media, how to build community power. And she'll share with you the much harder lessons learnt: the consequences of campaign decisions; how to weather criticism and harassment from every angle; and how, in mass campaign movements, nothing is black and white. ...Show more

How to Defend Australia by Hugh White

$34.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

A brilliant and important book about Australia's future. Can Australia defend itself in the Asian century? How seriously ought we take the risk of war? Do we want to remain a middle power? What kind of strategy, and what Australian Defence Force, do we need? In this groundbreaking book, Hugh White cons iders these questions and more. With exceptional clarity and frankness, he makes the case for a reconceived defence of Australia. Along the way he offers intriguing insights into history, technology and the Australian way of war. Hugh White is the country's most provocative, revelatory and yet realistic commentator on Australia's strategic and defence orientation. In an age of power politics and armed rivalry in Asia, it is time for fresh thinking. In this controversial and persuasive contribution, White sets new terms for one of the most crucial conversations Australia needs to have. ...Show more

Andrew Bolt, the Far Right and the First Nations by Steve Mickler

$24.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Gun Control: What Australia Got Right (and Wrong) by Tom Frame

$34.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

In the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996 - when a gunman murdered 35 people and injured another 23 at a popular Tasmanian tourist attraction - John Howard, a conservative prime minister who had been in office for just six weeks, surprised his colleagues and startled the nation by mo ving swiftly to transform Australia's lax firearm laws. The National Firearms Agreement, produced just twelve days after the massacre with support from all levels of government and across the political divide, is now held up around the world as a model for gun control.Gun Control analyses whether the Australian Government achieved its intention and what it might have done in response to the massacre, and didn't. ...Show more

Quarterly Essay 74: Prosperity Gospel: How Scott Morrison Won and Bill Shorten Lost (The 2019 Election) by Erik Jensen

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

What went wrong for Labor and how did Scott Morrison achieve his remarkable victory? In this dazzling report from the campaign trail, Erik Jensen homes in on the insecurities that drive Bill Shorten and the certainties that helped Scott Morrison win. He considers how each man reflects, challenges and co mforts the national character. Who are Morrison’s “quiet Australians”? What did Shorten Labor fail to see? And will fear always trump hope in politics? The Prosperity Gospel sheds new light on the politics of a divided nation. “Arthur Sinodinos says the election is a crapshoot. He’s in a car park in Nowra, waiting for Morrison. ‘The momentum has been with us at different times, especially in Queensland,’ he says. ‘Central Queensland, even the outer suburbs of Brisbane. It’s a narrow pathway to victory, with the odds going the other way. But it ain’t over until it’s over.’ Despite everything, Arthur Sinodinos has an honest face. He does not look confident.” ...Show more

Quitting Plastic: Easy and Practical Ways to Cut Down the Plastic in Your Life by Clara Williams Roldan; Louise Williams (As told to)

$19.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: 4 non fiction

How to reduce plastic in your everyday life, starting with changes that are small and easy to make, and working up to bigger changes to your daily routine.

Refugee Rights Policy Wrongs A Frank, Up-To-Date Guide by Experts by Jane McAdam; Fiona Chong

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Everyone has the right to seek asylum under international law, but public discourse in Australia about refugees is dominated by scare-mongering and political point-scoring. The government seeks to `stop the boats' whatever the cost, be it human, economic, moral or legal. In this new book, Jane McAdam an d Fiona Chong find that Australia's policies towards refugees have hardened since their previous bestselling book was published five years ago. Now, Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs provides a wholly updated account of Australian refugee law and policy. Clearly and carefully, they explain who a refugee is, what rights refugees have under international law, and whether Australia's policies on offshore processing, detention, boat turnbacks and so on violate Australia's obligations under international law. The book also outlines what a human rights-based protection framework might look like and how Australia could show greater global leadership on refugee issues, so as to expand the protection space available to refugees in the Asia-Pacific region. McAdam and Chong trace the ways in which draconian domestic laws enacted over recent years blatantly contravene international law -obligations that Australia has voluntarily signed up to. People seeking asylum, especially those held indefinitely on Manus Island and Nauru, have been broken as a result. The crucial information and depth of understanding this book offers has never been more urgent. ...Show more