Further information

The New Critic is the on-line journal of the Institute of Advanced Studies.

It aims to present discussion and debate and opinion about matters of interest to us within the University and beyond - the time for an ideas exchange is now.

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Editorial - David Ritter

Keating! The Musical won the Helpmann Award for the best Australian musical of the last year. The musical offers an enjoyable night of nostalgia for audiences which, as more than one pundit has surmised from the applause, tend to be almost entirely composed of Labor supporters...

Don't know much about History: Australian History in schools today - Jenny Gregory

"Don't know much about History"  began the lyrics of a pop song first recorded by Sam Cooke in 1957 and named one of Rolling Stone's top 500 songs of all time. Sadly Australian students still don't know much about History...

Response to The Premier's Climate Change Action Statement - Paul Llewellyn MLC & Giz Watson MLC

The State Government's Climate Change Action Statement, released on 6 April 2007, has some positive features but falls well short of being an adequate response to the climate change challenge...

Carmen Lawrence's Parliamentary Farewell, Perth Town Hall, August 3 2007 - Robert Manne

It seems to me unarguable that Australians today inhabit a significantly different country from the one we lived in when the Howard government was elected eleven years ago. During that time state support for the idea of multiculturalism has collapsed and the quest for reconciliation with the indigenous people has been abandoned...

Beyond Right and Left: rethinking progressive politics in Australia - David McKnight

We meet tonight at a time of hope for those on the progressive side of politics in Australia. At the moment it seems likely that Australia will have a federal Labor government by the end of the year. This is by no means assured but the auspices look better than at any time for 10 years. It's now clear that an element of desperation is creeping into the Howard Government public stance...

A Charter of Rights for Western Australia - George Williams

The State government is asking West Australians whether they want a new law to protect their fundamental rights and freedoms. The process is being chaired by Fred Chaney and will give people a say on their democracy and whether it can be improved...

Regional Development - a Tale of Two Economies - Ben Wyatt

In my first speech to Parliament, I spent some time reflecting upon Aboriginal poverty and Regional Western Australia. I have since had the opportunity to consider this issue in further detail and discuss this issue with various people across the political spectrum. It is my considered view that Aboriginal poverty, and its various social and economic manifestations, are inexorably linked to the overall development of the regions...

Peter Cosgrove, My Story (Review) - Anthony Lepere

In My Story, General Peter Cosgrove AC, MC - previously Commander of the International Force in East Timor, Australian of the Year, Chief of the Defence Force and, perhaps, future Governor-General - purports to write his "personal story, from boyhood to battlefield and beyond", promising "no diatribe or manifesto, but simply the story of a young boy from Paddo who many years later found himself like a kangaroo in the headlights, running hard in order not to get flattened"...