Cover art detail from issue #51
If ever a publication should be compulsory reading for practising politicians, this is it.
A galaxy of mostly well known and respected people has contributed to this edition of the Griffith Review and we are reminded of some of the causes of Australia’s current problems and presented with a range of solutions that would help to solve many of the most pressing.
Carmen Lawrence points out that the politicisation of the civil service, with a shift in power away from government departments to political advisers, has caused severe memory loss, which is compounded by the short lives of governments and the pressures of the social media cycle.
Chris Wallace bemoans the absence of the ‘occasional’ politician – one who can get over his or her objection to reasonable compromise and accept that a change of mind can be appropriate when circumstances alter.
Vishaal Kishore – the author of a book on the flawed case for free trade – points out that the ‘drive for simplification in policy discourse has led to a triumph of Economics 101 over 301, of simple tropes over sophisticated new analyses’.
Many of the contributions deal with Indigenous affairs. In Megan Davis’s essay ‘Listening but not hearing’, she indicates that five years after the Report of the Expert Panel Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution was first published, very few decision-makers are yet to read it. In spite of this, she ends her piece on an optimistic note. Not so Dawn Casey, who says that all Australians – not only our Indigenous people – are suffering from the entrenched short-termism practised by our politicians.
Martin Parkinson provides a masterful range of insights into the complexities of foreign affairs, describing the shift in power resulting from various socio-economic developments and how they may affect Australia. He offers no policy solutions for Australian leaders other than suggesting that they accomodate to these changes – perhaps because there are no other solutions.
Students of the suffragette movement of the early 20th century will be familiar with the contribution made by Vida Goldstein. Clare Wright revisits some of Goldstein’s achievements and ends with the hope that ‘Australia can reassert its erstwhile youthful exuberance and once again be proud to call itself a trailblazing leader, a nation where justice serves as the foundation of its moral constitution’.
Klaus Norman and Julian Burnside recount, each in their personal style, some of the occasionally deplorable history of Australia’s immigration policy. Norman as an historian and Burnside from personal experience remind readers of our inhumanity to our fellow human beings. In spite of this there is an echo of Wright’s optimism here, with Burnside concluding that we are still fundamentally a decent country – although he adds that someone should convey this to our politicians.
Classified as ‘reportage’, Ann Arnold’s article serves as a stark reminder of some of the failures of our criminal justice system and makes a strong case for rehabilitation. And the contributions by the joint editors – Julianne Schultz on our unwillingness to ask the right questions and Anne Tiernan on leaders unwilling or unable to learn from the experience of others – are both very worthwhile.
Given that this edition of the Griffith Review stretches to well over 300 pages, a review this necessarily brief can barely do it justice. Consequently, not all contributions to this edition have been singled out for mention even though almost all are well worth reading, although perhaps some of the fiction less so. Overall, however, it is clear that this is a publication not to be missed.
4.5 stars out of 5
Griffith Review 51 – Fixing the System
Edited by Julianne Schultz and Anne Tiernan
Text Publishing, Jan 2016
Paperback, 264pp, RRP $27.99
Also available as an e-book
