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Australians don’t need to look far to see how devastating COVID can be once community transmission takes off. And how we have been so incredibly fortunate, especially compared to countries like the United Kingdom and United States.
But when it comes to our vaccination program, has our luck run out? Our political leaders promised so much with the rollout — and have delivered so little. On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he hoped “first doses” would be done by Christmas, and added there would be no new targets because of the “many uncertainties”.
Today, Australian National University professor Mark Kenny takes a detailed look at the political playing field for Morrison and the Coalition in the wake of the latest — and arguably most significant — vaccine set-back last week.
As he writes, there are now serious dangers for Morrison, as voters see other countries surging ahead with their rollouts, “tempting the fate of another outbreak, and delaying the economic recovery dependent on vaccination”.
Along with vaccines, the other big story of the weekend in Australia has been the death of Prince Philip, aged 99.
Manchester Metropolitan University historian Jonathan Spangler provides a fascinating account of how the queen and Philip’s marriage — bringing together two royal houses of Europe — was one of the last of its kind. The connection of these two bloodlines which descended from Queen Victoria, “also renewed a kinship tie between Britain and Denmark that had been joined together numerous times, from Canute and Aelfgifu in 1015 to Edward VII and Alexandra in 1863.”
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Judith Ireland
Deputy Editor, Politics + Society
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Mick Tsikas/AAP
Mark Kenny, Australian National University
This year is a whole new ball game for pandemic politics. For a prime minister not accustomed to pressure, Scott Morrison is proving far less equipped.
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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on his last official engagement in 2017.
Yui Mok/PA Archive/PA Images
Sean Lang, Anglia Ruskin University
Born into post-World War I European royalty, the Duke of Edinburgh came to represent the archetypal English aristocrat. Along with those 'gaffes'.
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European fairytale: the uniting of the royal houses of Britain, Greece and Denmark in 1947.
Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo
Jonathan Spangler, Manchester Metropolitan University
The marriage of the future British queen and her consort was part of an ancient tapestry of royal intermarriage in Europe.
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Backbencher Tim Wilson.
Dan Himbrecht/AAP
Brendan Coates, Grattan Institute; Will Mackey, Grattan Institute
Allowing Australians to use their super to buy homes would most benefit those with the most super. They're the least in need.
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GettyImages
Apisalome Movono, Massey University; Anna Carr; Emma Hughes, Massey University; Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, University of South Australia; Jeremy William Hapeta, Massey University; Regina Scheyvens, Massey University; Rochelle Stewart-Withers, Massey University
Mainstream academic publishing presents many obstacles to Indigenous authors, especially the conventional peer review process — but there are ways to overcome this.
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Shutterstock
Barbara Spears, University of South Australia
We often hear of sexual harassment and bullying of a sexual nature being perpetrated by men/boys against women/girls. But it happens within groups too
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Shutterstock
James Ha, Grattan Institute
Electricity emissions can be cut to net-zero while keeping the lights on and prices down. But achieving that quickly means keeping gas around, for now.
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Health + Medicine
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Simon Quilty, Australian National University; Catherine Pendrey, Australian National University
It's hard enough to attract and keep health workers in the Northern Territory as it is. Now climate change is threatening to make things worse.
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Hassan Vally, La Trobe University
How do we reasonably and accurately balance the risks of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the benefits? Conceptualising risk can be tricky, but the government's latest advice is sensible.
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Mark Hanly, UNSW; C Raina MacIntyre, UNSW; Ian Caterson, University of Sydney; Louisa Jorm, UNSW; Oisin Fitzgerald, UNSW; Timothy Churches, UNSW
We'll need mass vaccination hubs and expanded GP vaccination clinics to deliver jabs to millions of Australians.
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Adrian Esterman, University of South Australia
This shift in focus away from AstraZeneca to the Pfizer vaccine has serious impacts on the timing of the rollout and public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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Nikki Turner, University of Auckland
Even with the highest possible rates of vaccination, New Zealand will need to keep up public health measures, or consider letting go of the concept of elimination and focus instead on disease control.
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Science + Technology
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Alice Gorman, Flinders University
It's 60 years since Gagarin's world-first return from space. The cosmonaut never did make it to Australia, but his huge feat was celebrated here by many, despite tensions with the USSR.
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Politics + Society
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
Recent polls have shown a disparity between men and women's support for the prime minister in the wake of horrendous stories about the treatment of women. How can the data help us understand that?
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
This week's unwelcome medical advice about the AstraZeneca vaccine is the latest setback to the rollout and the Morrison government.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
It's been another hectic week in politics, with the recommendations for the AstraZeneca vaccine changing, and the government's keenly-awaited response to the Respect@Work report.
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Benjamin Reilly, University of Western Australia
New research examines how recent federal elections would have been affected if optional preferential voting had been used. The results were not favourable to Labor.
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Arts + Culture
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Julian Meyrick, Griffith University
The Chichu Art Museum, on the Japanese island of Naoshima, is a breathtaking place to rethink the relationship between nature and people.
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Environment + Energy
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Luke Jeffrey, Southern Cross University
Scientists are learning trees can emit methane, which could be a big problem for global warming. But a world-first discovery of methane-eating bacteria in paperbark can help moderate this.
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Katherine Aigner, Australian National University
The thinking behind the idea of a dump near Whyalla goes back 60 years.
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Cities
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Jan Golembiewski, University of Technology Sydney
Remaking aged care in Australia starts with embracing people-centred design. Instead of the institutional model with its focus on restraint, we need to understand and design for people's needs.
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Featured Events & Courses
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Parkes Place, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2600, Australia — National Library of Australia
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Level 21, 15 Broadway,, Ultimo, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney
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Online, Free webinar, Victoria, 3068, Australia — Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG)
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