Editor's note

Senate estimates hearings have evolved into a key tool for holding the Australian government to account for how it spends taxpayers’ money. This coming week’s hearings will attempt to get to the bottom of some of the biggest issues of Australian politics today.

What did Australia and the US sign up to in their refugee resettlement deal? What does ‘clean coal’ policy mean for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian Renewable Energy Agency?

What are the plans for the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the ABC and the airport and rail link to be built in western Sydney? And, by the way, how did Australia Post chief’s $5.6 million pay come to be secret?

Today, The Conversation brings you a guide to some of the issues being put under the microscope in the week ahead.

John Watson

Editor

Asylum seekers and the US refugee deal

Malcolm Turnbull responded to the Washington Post story at a glass factory in Melbourne’s south on Thursday. Joe Castro/AAP

Grattan on Friday: Malcolm Turnbull should walk away from the refugee deal

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Malcolm Turnbull should walk away from the deal he struck for the US to take refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

Australia provides permanent protection to thousands of refugees every year. Khalil Ashawi/Reuters

Explainer: how Australia decides who is a genuine refugee

Mary Anne Kenny, Murdoch University

The term 'genuine refugee' is thrown around often, yet few know the complicated process of how someone is deemed to be one.

Clean energy

The World Bank has highlighted steps to improve sustainable energy investment.

Global clean energy scorecard puts Australia 15th in the world

Alan Pears, RMIT University

Australia is near the back of the pack of rich nations when it comes to policies for clean energy. But there are things we can do about it.

Solar thermal technology is still an outside bet - and not the kind of investment the CEFC was set up to make. WorleyParsons/AAP Image

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is meant to back winners, not minnows

Craig Froome, The University of Queensland

Environment minister Greg Hunt wants the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to focus on new technologies, not wind and solar. But that's not what it was set up to do, and Australia already has an agency for that.

Australia Post

Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour earned $5.6 million in 2015-16. AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Australia Post salary scandal highlights our nation's growing wage inequality

Carl Rhodes, University of Technology Sydney

It’s not just that Ahmed Fahour earns a lot of money. Australia Post had, until this week, been able to keep its CEO's salary top secret.

High-speed rail

China has the most extensive high-speed rail network in the world, which has helped reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Jason Lee/Reuters

High-speed rail? At $200 billion we'd better get it right

Peter Newman, Curtin University

High-speed rail is now a well-established technology and Australia needs it, as long as the project ticks all the boxes needed to deliver both private and public benefits.

Are we there yet? Mattinbgn/Wikimedia Commons

Delays at Canberra: why Australia should have built fast rail decades ago

Peter Newton, Swinburne University of Technology

A fast rail link between Sydney and Melbourne was first proposed in 1984. So why haven't we done it yet?

Murray Darling Basin

The Murray-Darling is a complex freshwater ecosystem. Murray River wetlands image from www.shutterstock.com

Latest Murray-Darling squabble sheds light on the plan's flaws

Lin Crase, University of South Australia

Tempers have flared once again over the long-term plan to return water to the Murray-Darling River and improve its health.

Public broadcaster

That the ABC is too big and too expensive for an affluent democracy such as Australia is nothing but a myth. AAP/Tracey Nearmy

Does the ABC deliver Australians good bang for their buck?

Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology; Adam Swift, Queensland University of Technology

Due to Australia’s small population and high concentration of few media voices, public broadcasters play a pivotal role in shaping the media ecosystem and cultural landscape. With the ABC and SBS under…

 

Featured jobs

Manager, Graduate Research

Australian Catholic University — North Sydney, New South Wales

Executive Assistant

University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria

Senior Lecturer in Midwifery

Southern Cross University — Bilinga, Queensland

Senior Technician (Laboratory)

University of Western Australia — Perth, Western Australia

More Jobs
 
 
 
 
 
 

Featured events

The French Australian Conversations (FAC)

UNSW , Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia — UNSW

Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Research Network Conference 2017

CSIRO, 3-4 Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tasmania, 7004, Australia — University of Tasmania

Sydney Ideas - Human Rights or Revolution: towards a history of Palestine solidarity


Law School LT 106, Law School Annex, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia — University of Sydney

Enterprising Partnerships Talk: Future Industries

55 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia — University of South Australia

More events
 

Contact us here to list your job, or here to list your event.

For sponsorship opportunities, email us here