Demand for childcare has soared over the past decade as Australian families seek to reconcile work and care responsibilities. But the cost of care keeps rising, waiting lists in many metropolitan centres are long, and high quality services are not always available.Australia's system of early childhood education and care is fragmented, and the major political parties have failed to take a comprehensive approach to policy development. So what would a good system of early childhood ed...

Even in an international downturn, Australia is a prosperous country. Yet many Australians are working more for less and struggling to meet their basic needs, despite being employed.Living Low Paid investigates the Orwellian vision unfolding, often behind closed doors, in Australia's working heartland. The book challenges the low wage path to national prosperity by exposing the hard realities of living low paid for Australian workers today.In their own words, worke...

Time poverty is a problem for many Australian households and work is the main culprit. Australians start work young, and we are working more, and longer into old age. While maximising our productivity and enhancing our professional skills, we must also raise our children well, care for our aged, be involved in our community and shrink our carbon footprint – a footprint shaped by the patterns and habits of our work, social obligations and households. What is it costing Australians to try an...

Being a woman, raising children, succeeding in a leadership role and living a full life remains a tall order in modern Australia if you don't happen to be extraordinary. Being a woman on a board, running an ASX top –listed company, or running a government department remains an exception rather than the norm. Despite the progress made towards a fairer workplace, in the discussion about the lack of women on boards or the size of the gap between men and women's pay, tired excuses are recycled...

Unpacking inequality in Australia by renowned economist and MP Andrew LeighIs Australia fair enough? And why does inequality matter anyway?From egalitarian beginnings, Australian inequality rose through the nineteenth century. Then we became more equal again, with inequality falling markedly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Now, inequality is returning to the heights of the 1820s. The housing and cost-of-living crises we face are some of the defining issues of our time.

The Western world is in the grip of a consumerism that is unique in human history. We overwork, we spend huge amounts on things we never use, then we chuck them out. The author of the bestselling Growth Fetish pries into our wardrobes, kitchens and backyards, and shows us what choice really means.Our houses are bigger than ever, but our families are smaller. Our kids go to the best schools we can afford, but we hardly see them. We've got more money to spen...

A hard-hitting exposé of the overwork culture and modern management techniques that seduce millions of people to hand over the best part of their lives to their employer.Work has come to increasingly dominate British national life. ‘Job intensification’ affects every shopfloor, office, classroom and hospital, as a cult of efficiency has driven a missionary magnetism of tighter deadlines and more exacting targets in the most exploitative and manipulative work culture developed since...

The world's leading economies are facing not just one but many crises. The financial meltdown may not be over, climate change threatens major global disruption, economic inequality has reached extremes not seen for a century, and government and business are widely distrusted. At the same time, many people regret the consumerism and social corrosion of modern life. What these crises have in common, Diane Coyle argues, is a reckless disregard for the future--especially in the way the economy...

A time of major upheaval now stands between young and old in New Zealand. In 'Ruth, Roger and Me', Andrew Dean explores the lives of the generation of young people brought up in the shadow of the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, those whom he calls ‘the children of the Mother of All Budgets’. Drawing together memoir, history and interviews, he explores the experiences of ‘discomfort’ and ‘disconnection’ in modern Aotearoa New Zealand.

Over 500, 00 people in high-impact businesses such as energy and banking, now use ethicability as the way to make the right decisions in moments of truth. Ethicability helps us to decide what’s right and then find the courage to do it. It is based on a clear, concise and robust model which combines insights from 3, 00 years of moral philosophy with the latest scientific research into human psychology and behaviour. In just 20 questions, ethicability enables us to understand and resolve a w...

How much of what you hear about schools can you trust? Can you believe the marketing hype about unsurpassed facilities, genius teachers and stellar academic achievement? Do you listen to neighbourhood gossip about your local school? Are government statistics the answer? School choice has become one of the most agonising issues of parenthood. Chris Bonnor and Jane Caro have no magic formula, and agree that complex factors come together to make a good school. But drawing on their own experie...

Conventional politics is at a crossroads. Amid recession, depression, poverty, increasing violence and rising inequality, our current politics is exhausted and inadequate. In Red Tory, Phillip Blond argues that only a radical new political settlement can tackle the problems we face.Red Toryism combines economic egalitarianism with social conservatism, calling for an end to the monopolisation of society and the private sphere by the state and the market. Decrying the legacy of both ...