Our government's biggest economic problem

Editor's note

Peter Costello last week accused former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of failing to develop a coherent economic narrative. According to Judith Brett, Costello has a point – and the reason the government does not have a clear economic story to tell is because of climate change denial in its ranks. What’s more, she writes, the government’s stubborn commitment to coal is pulling its economic policy towards the sort of state socialism it’s supposed to abhor, and alienating the government from its natural allies in the business community.

And on a different note, a growing number of parents are making money out of their children by turning them into social media celebrities. As Camilla Nelson writes, the rise of these “mumpreneurs” has been fuelled by technological changes, a neo-liberal ethic of self-help and Western society’s undervaluing of caregiving work.

Amanda Dunn

Section Editor: Politics + Society

Top story

The government’s stubborn commitment to coal is alienating it from its natural supporters in the business community. Wes Mountain/The Conversation

The Morrison government’s biggest economic problem? Climate change denial

Judith Brett, La Trobe University

The federal government's the stubborn commitment to coal is pulling the government’s economic policy towards the sort of state socialism it is supposed to abhor.

Roxy Jacenko and daughter Pixie (centre) at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in 2016. Pixie’s Instagram account has more than 100,000 followers and she has a signature line of hair bows. Dan Himbrechts

Friday essay: family as ‘brand’ – the rise of the digital mumpreneur

Camilla Nelson, University of Notre Dame Australia

A growing number of parents are making money out of their children by turning them into social media celebrities. But the chimera of corporate branding is no antidote for lives lived in precarious times.

Bears like Polly (pictured) are rescued from bear bile farms and sent to rehabilitation centres. BARBARA WALTON/AAP

With the right help, bears can recover from the torture of bile farming

Edward Narayan, Western Sydney University

Bears in Asia are trapped in bile farms, where they are kept in small cages for decades.

Arts + Culture
The resonances between Indigenous art and images captured by microscopes Roger Wepf, The University of Queensland A new exhibition pairs paintings by Indigenous Australian artists with microscopic images captured by scientists. The parallels, as this gallery of pictures shows, are intriguing.

Health + Medicine

From peaceful coexistence to potential peril: the bacteria that live in and on us

Mark Blaskovich, The University of Queensland

Millions of bacteria live on our skin without making us sick. It's when they manage to get through that they can be dangerous – particularly if they're resistant to antibiotics.
More than a habit? When to worry about nail biting, skin picking and other body-focused repetitive behaviours

Imogen Rehm, RMIT University; Judith Stevenson, University of Glasgow

Body-focused repetitive behaviours are related to obsessive compulsive disorder. You can stop the picking, pulling and biting.

Business + Economy

Please don’t dismiss the PC inquiry into mental health as ‘just another inquiry’

Allan Fels, University of Melbourne

The strength of the Productivity Commission inquiry is that it will use an economic rather than a purely health lens.
Vital Signs: the housing market might deflate, but it might pop. Here’s how

Richard Holden, UNSW

The Reserve Bank is worried that a further tightening of lending standards could take the air out of the housing bubble quickly. Here's how.
How to make work menopause-friendly: don’t think of it as a problem to be managed

Kathleen Riach, Monash University; Gavin Jack, Monash University

Menopause at work is about creating a supportive environment for women, not managing menopause.

Cities
Reimagining Sydney: this is what needs to be done to make a Central City CBD work Tooran Alizadeh, University of Sydney Central City 2048 proposes one new rail line, three metro lines and almost 300,000 extra jobs for the new CBD, one of three proposed for metropolitan Sydney. Clearly, the investment needed is massive.

Science + Technology

A Goblin could guide us to a mystery planet thought to exist in the Solar system

Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland; Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland

Whether you call it Planet X or Planet Nine, talk of another planet lurking in our Solar system won't go away. So what does the discovery of a new object – nicknamed "The Goblin" – add to the debate?
How rare minerals form when meteorites slam into Earth

Nick Timms, Curtin University

A meteorite hitting Earth at many kilometres per second puts 'ground zero' target rocks under immense pressure. A shock wave faster than the speed of sound can result – and new materials created.

Politics + Society

Grattan on Friday: Scott Morrison braces for judgement by Malcolm Turnbull’s old voters

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

It's increasingly obvious that as prime minister Morrison will do whatever he thinks it takes – and plumb some dubious depths – to serve his immediate purposes.
Criticism of Western Civilisation isn’t new, it was part of the Enlightenment

Matthew Sharpe, Deakin University

Some today declare that "Western civilisation" is something we should all be simply “for”. But the enlightenment, central to this civilisation, shows how things are rarely so simple.
Calculating the odds of a Trump impeachment: don’t bet the house on it

Tim Trudgian, UNSW

If the Democrats get close to retaking the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, the odds of impeachment are high. But the Senate remains problematic.

Education
15% of students admit to buying essays. What can universities do about it? Jedidiah Evans, Australian Catholic University If we view tertiary education as a commodity rather than an enlightening pursuit, practices such as essay buying will become more common.