In this issue:
Hospital Management: Is Local (Always) Better?;
Food, Energy and Urban Living;
Hospital Management: Is Local (Always) Better?;
Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott are both eager to accentuate policy differences, but they share an enthusiasm for returning power to local communities in reforming the health system. Their appeal to the local no doubt resonates with a public that feels alienated from the centralized bureaucracies characteristic of contemporary society. But as Philip Davies points out, we need to be careful in choosing what to manage locally.
Let the Growth Games Begin
Is a billion dollars to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast a good investment? Karyn Brinkley, enlivened by the recent Queensland Growth Management Summit, thinks it is.
Food, Energy and Urban Living
Of the many challenges posed by climate change, the organisation of cities and towns is near the top of the list. And there are many ideas around about how to redesign our urban environment. In this article, Juris Greste argues for the “good sense of an older urbanism” whose guiding principle was “proximity”.
Disadvantage in Queensland
There is nothing wrong with economic growth, but there is a problem with the belief that it will “trickle down” and benefit the whole community. Persistent disadvantage, as Greg Mackay writes, requires a specific set of policy responses.
Conserving Conservatism
The principle of conservation lies at the heart of the philosophy of conservatism. It is a principle whose relevance has become plain to see with the spectre of climate change. Why, then, has conservatism not become a more powerful political force? Martin Leet argues that the tenets of conservatism have been crying out for political expression for a long time.