New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme favour big farming and industrial emitters over households and small businesses, argue academics Geoff Bertram and Simon Terry.In a plain language guide that demystifies the complex world of emissions trading, they contend that New Zealand has a wealth of options for cutting emissions more equitably but courageous political leadership is needed.

Piketty’s book is a bombshell, promising a Kuhnian scientific revolution. Geoff BertramPiketty erects a floodlight that illuminates the shadows ignored by economists for too long. Hautahi KingiFew books have had the global impact of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. An overnight bestseller, Piketty’s assessment that inherited wealth will always grow faster, on average, than earned wealth has energised debate. Hailed as ‘bigger than Marx’ (The Economist) or dismissed as ...

Power Trip shows the making of Kevin Rudd, prime minister. In Eumundi, where Rudd was born, David Marr investigates the formative tragedy of his life: the death of his father and what came after. He tracks the transformation of a dreamy kid into an implacably determined youth, already set on the prime ministership. He examines Rudd's years as Wayne Goss's right-hand man in Queensland, his relentless work in federal Opposition – from Sunrise to AWB – and finally his record...

Praise for Swan's handling of the economy'One of the most impressive economic policies I have seen, ever.' - Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate'Wayne Swan's judgment and decisiveness, in international terms, must rank a high distinction.' - Paul KeatingA very personal account of an extraordinary period in Australian politics.Despite the divisions within the Labor Party as the Rudd government fell into disunity and as Julia Gillard was undermined by disloyalty f...

Tony Abbott is the most successful Opposition leader of the last forty years, but he has never been popular. Now Australians want to know: what kind of man is he, and how would he perform as prime minister?In this dramatic portrait, David Marr shows that as a young Catholic warrior at university, Abbott was already a brutally effective politician. He later led the way in defeating the republic and, as the self-proclaimed "political love child" of John Howard, rose rapidly in the Li...

Most Australians despise what Pauline Hanson stands for, yet politics in this country is now orbiting around One Nation.In this timely Quarterly Essay, David Marr looks at Australia’s politics of fear, resentment and race. Who votes One Nation, and why? How much of this is due to inequality? How much to racism? How should the major parties respond to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim voices? What damage do Australia’s new entrepreneurs of hate inflict on the nation?

A broad, concise and inclusive vision of Australia and Australians by one our most renowned historians.After a lifetime of research and debate on Australian and international history, Geoffrey Blainey is well-placed to introduce us to the people who have played a part and to guide us through the events that have created the Australian identity: the mania for spectator sport; the suspicion of the tall poppy; the rivalries of Catholic and Protestant, Sydney and Melbo...

In this urgent essay, George Megalogenis argues that Australia risks becoming globalisation’s next and most unnecessary victim. The next shock, whenever it comes, will find us with our economic guard down, and a political system that has shredded its authority.Megalogenis outlines the challenge for Malcolm Turnbull and his government. Our tax system is unfair and we have failed to invest in infrastructure and education. Both sides of politics are clinging defensively to an old mo...

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS, BIOGRAPHY BOOK OF THE YEARPaul Keating: the big-picture leader is the definitive biography of Australia’s 24th prime minister, and the first that Keating has cooperated with in more than two decades.Drawing on around 15 hours of new interviews with Keating, coupled with access to his extensive personal files, this book tells the story of a political warrior’s rise to power, f...

The divide between New Zealand’s poorest and wealthiest inhabitants has widened alarmingly over recent decades. Differences in income have grown faster than in most other developed countries.New Zealand society is being reshaped, stretching to accommodate new distance between those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have not’. Income inequality is a crisis that affects us all.A diverse gathering of New Zealand scholars, journalists, researchers, business leaders, workers, students and parents share...

A comprehensive, relevant, and accessible look at all aspects of Indigenous Australian history and cultureWhat is The Dreaming? How many different Indigenous tribes and languages once existed in Australia? What is the purpose of a corroboree? What effect do the events of the past have on Indigenous peoples today? Indigenous Australia For Dummies, 2nd Edition answers these questions and countless others about the oldest race on Earth. It explores Indigenous...

By any measure, New Zealand must confront monumental issues in the years ahead. From the future of work to climate change, wealth inequality to new populism these challenges are complex and even unprecedented. Yet why does New Zealand’s political discussion seem so diminished, and our political imagination unequal to the enormity of these issues? And why is this gulf particularly apparent to young New Zealanders?These questions sit at the centre of Max Harris’s ‘New Zealand project...