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From all of us at The Conversation, we hope you had a happy and safe New Year celebration. In the coming days, we’ll bring you more expert analysis on the latest NSW and Victorian COVID-19 cases.
In the meantime, the 2000 federal cabinet papers — released today by the National Archives of Australia — reveal a country beginning to wrestle with issues that would become the centrepoint of public debate the following year, particularly after September 11 2001.
As Chris Wallace writes, this was the year before “the year that changed everything”, when the government, and the Australian people, had little inkling of the events to come, and most policy issues — even those with global ramifications — were viewed through a domestic lens.
On climate change, an emissions trading scheme was broadly perceived within cabinet as a likely route by which Australia would eventually fulfil its international environmental obligations. But Senator Nick Minchin stood out against the consensus, the beginning of a hostility to the idea that would prevail with Tony Abbott’s election as Liberal leader in 2009.The papers also reveal serious departmental concerns with the “deterrent” approach on asylum seekers, which would come to a head the following year in the Tampa crisis.
The 2000 papers reveal the gathering pace of a shift to the right in Australian, and global, conservative politics, says Wallace. It would have deep implications for many years to come.
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Amanda Dunn
Section Editor: Politics + Society
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Chris Wallace, University of Canberra
In the Howard government, there was near-consensus in Cabinet that an ETS was eventually likely. A spike in asylum-seeker arrivals stimulated the hard "deterrent’ strategy" that would morph into the "Pacific Solution" in 2001.
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Science + Technology
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Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland; Tanya Hill, Museums Victoria
A poor start for meteor showers in 2021 but things get better with a possible spectacular surprise later in the year. Here's your guide on when and where to look to catch nature's fireworks.
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Health + Medicine
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Christian Swann, Southern Cross University
You might feel you've failed after 'only' recording 9,000 steps when your goal was 10,000. In reality, 9,000 steps might be an achievement. Is it time to ditch specific goals in favour of open goals?
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Katie Lee, The University of Queensland; Monika Janda, The University of Queensland
Home remedies like aloe vera and moisturiser might help you "feel" better. But they won't fix the skin damage in the way antibiotics fix an infection.
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Rebecca Olive, The University of Queensland
Ocean swimmers often wax lyrical about the benefits of a regular dip in the salt water.
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Amanda Barnier, Macquarie University
Memories of past holidays shape this one and ones years in the future.
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Arts + Culture
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Katie Pickles, University of Canterbury
Based on the nostalgic yearning for an imaginary past, Kiwiana should be quietly retired in the face of massive social and political change.
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Siobhan McHugh, University of Wollongong
The best podcasts take you inside another person's head and heart. Here are some summer listens to get you started.
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Lydia Edwards, Edith Cowan University
With protection underfoot and ventilation on top, the thong is the perfect summer shoe for Australian conditions. Pity it's not really Australian.
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Cities
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Norman Day, Swinburne University of Technology
People love to connect with nature and that's possible with vertical gardens on high-rise developments. But gardens need a gardener to keep things under control.
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Alexander Mitchell Lee, Australian National University
Some of our coastal defences are in desperate need of preservation and could be transformed into tourist attractions.
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Business + Economy
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Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne
Economists have provided guidelines for what to do. The pandemic has expanded what's possible.
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Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
From money creation to COVID to uncertainty to the end of rapid economic growth, Peter Martin's summer reading list is unsettling and uplifting.
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Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
All sorts of transactions are "two-way value exchanges" in which it isn't clear in which direction the money should flow. The proposed media bargaining code is one of them.
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Politics + Society
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Hugh Breakey, Griffith University
A collapse in political legitimacy means people think the normal rules don't apply anymore, making the world a more difficult and even dangerous place for all of us.
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Education
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Gregory Houseman, University of Leeds
The residential hall for international and local university students equipped them for a globalised world, more than anything they could learn in a class.
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Environment + Energy
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Julie Barbour, University of Waikato; Nicola Daly, University of Waikato
Indigenous languages around the world are declining at a rapid rate, but linguists can help language revival by working with communities of native speakers.
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Chris Wacker, University of New England
Once thought to occur only in birds and mammals in the Northern Hemisphere, due to the more pronounced winters, we now know torpor is widespread in small Australian mammals.
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Featured jobs
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Featured Events & Courses
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Level 21, 15 Broadway, Ultimo, New South Wales, 2007, Australia — University of Technology Sydney
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Online, AEDT, Victoria, 3000, Australia — Australia New Zealand School of Government
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