What I've been doing and saying
May newsletter
It was nice to have a run of holiday weekends in April and (in Queensland) for May Day. Along with the election and other things it’s meant a delay in my monthly newsletter, but I have finally got to it
Like most of us, I suspect, I’ve been unable to tear my attention away from the disastrous collapse of US democracy. April started off with Trump’s consitutionally dubious announcement of “Liberation Day” tariffs and only got crazier from there. We will need to break with the US, but it’s going to be a painful process.
Meanwhile, the Australian was totally boring until the stunning results were counted. I haven’t had much to say, as I still need to think through the implications. My own involvement was campaigning for an independent, Francine Wiig, in the electorate of Fairfax, held by leading nuclear advocate Ted O’Brien. O’Brien suffered a big swing, but not big enough, and Labor managed to outpoll the combined total of France and the Greens.
I had a couple of big publications since my last newsletter. The first was a report for the Australia Institute on Reforming university governance in Australia. Key points
Fixing university governance and creating an equitable university sector that treats education as a public service will require:
Creating a national system of university education managed by the federal government
Ending the corporate model of governance and refocussing on education and research
Guaranteeing access to university education
Promoting co-operation, not competition
Federal control over international student admissions
Returning to the collegial model of academic governance
Creating a central system of sector-wide bargaining for the university sector
The second is a bit out of the ordinary. I’m always looking for new and different ways to express my ideas. So, when Sequential Comics approached me with the idea of doing a comic book presentation of a chapter from my book Zombie Economics, I jumped at it. It was quite a long process, but it’s finally done.
The comic traces the experience of a young Australian couple from the beginnings of privatisation in the 1980s to an optimistic version of the near future when this zombie idea has finally been laid to rest. They are initially receptive to the promise of private sector efficiency but soon learn that the only people who benefit are the financiers
You can download it here
But a purely digital comic isn’t really a comic, so I got some copies printed (thanks, Mixam printing!). A
Although this newsletter is free, some readers have been kind enough to pledge payment if I ever offer a paid tier. To thank those of your for your trust in me, I’ll send you a free copy of the comic. Just email me at john.quiggin@icloud.com with your physical address details.
In sporting terms, following injuries and training disruptions, I decided I wouldn’t be able to manage a full marathon in Run Noosa at the end of May. I’m planning to do a half-marathon instead, trying to pace myself for the run leg of the Sunshine Coast 70.3 in September. After barely finishing inside the eight-hour cutoff last year, I was in two minds about this event, but decided to give it one more go.
Even though I’m only doing the shorter distance, I’m as keen as ever to raise funds for the Melanoma Institute. You can support me here. You’ll probably get a reminder just before the event
Media
My April media report is here (password quiggin). Thanks as usual to Alysha Hiluevo for preparing this.
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Absolutely agree with your key points on transforming Universities. From what my grandchildren tell me they’ve degenerated into online distance education services that leave our future professionals with huge debts and disillusionment. I was disappointed with the Greens result in the federal election and flummoxed that the ALP took Green’s seats with LNP preferences. “My enemies enemy…”. Thank goodness they have retained seats in the senate and may be able to claw back some gains on climate change and housing. Although in the past the ALP became pretty nasty when Greens wanted to negotiate better deals for renters. We’ll just have to wait and see whether they will use their mandate to address social equity and climate change, or if hubris over their landslide victory will result in a Trumpian assertion to do more of the same as they please.
Agree with your points on Australian Universities. I fear the current model is undermining the quality of our Universities and they will slip down the list of top world universities therefore reducing their attractiveness for international students. I would add all levels of education from preschool through primary, secondary, TAFE, and Universities should be free for all Australian citizens and permanent residence. Full fees should be charged for International students. I understand the intentional arguments for HECS but HECS has been totally corrupted into becoming a revenue raising vehicle.