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In Girt By Sea Mungo MacCallum provides a devastating account of the Howard government's treatment of the refugees as well as delineating the factors in Australian history which have worked towards prejudice and those which have worked against it; ranging from Calwell's postwar immigration policy to the recent revelations of beat-ups and distortions in the 2001 election campaign.This is a powerful account of how the government played on what was ultimately the race issue. In an essay which is, by terms, witty, dry and bitingly understated, Mungo MacCallum asks what epithets are appropriate for a prime minister who has brought us to this pass. He also raises the question of whether Australia's contemporary treatment of refugees has anything in common with the sane and decent policies that have characterised the better moments in our history.

In Radical Hope, one of Australia's most original and provocative thinkers turns his attention to the question of education. Noel Pearson begins with two fundamental questions: How to ensure the survival of a people, their culture and way of life? And can education transform the lives of the disadvantaged many, or will it at best raise up a fortunate few?In an essay that is personal and philosophical, wide-ranging and politically engaged, Pearson discusses what makes a good teacher and recalls his own mentors and inspirations. He argues powerfully that underclass students, many of whom are Aboriginal, should receive a rigorous schooling that gives them the means to negotiate the wider world. He examines the long-term failure of educational policy in Australia, especially in the indigenous sector, and asks why it is always "Groundhog Day" when there are lessons to be learned from innovations now underway.This is an essay filled with ideas and arguments and information - from a little-known educational revolutionary named Siegfried Englemann, to the No Excuses ethos and the Knowledge Is Power program, to Barack Obama's efforts to balance individual responsibility and historical legacy. Pearson introduces new findings from research and practice, and takes on some of the most difficult and controversial issues. Throughout, he searches for the radical centre - the way forward that will raise up the many, preserve culture, and ensure no child is left behind.

In Whitefella Jump Up, Germaine Greer suggests that embracing Aboriginality is the only way Australia can fully imagine itself as a nation. In a wide-ranging essay she looks at the interdependence of black and white and suggests not how the Aborigine question may be settled but how a sense of being Aboriginal might save the soul of Australia.In a sweeping and magisterial essay, touching on everything from Henry Lawson to multiculturalism, Germaine Greer argues that Australia must enter the Aboriginal web of dreams.

In The History Question, Inga Clendinnen looks past the skirmishes and pitched battles of the history wars and asks what's at stake - what kind of history do we want and need? Should our historians be producing the "objective record of achievement" that the Prime Minister has called for? For Clendinnen, historians cannot be the midwives of national identity and also be true to their profession: history cannot do the work of myth.For Clendinnen, historians cannot be the midwives of national identity and also be true to their profession: history cannot do the work of myth. Clendinnen illuminates the ways in which history, myth and fiction differ from one another, and why the differences are important. In discussing what good history looks like, she pays tribute to the human need for storytelling but notes the distinctive critical role of the historian. She offers a spirited critique of Kate Grenville's novel The Secret River, and discusses the Stolen Generations and the role of morality in history-writing. This is an eloquent and stimulating essay about a subject that has generated much heat in recent times: how we should record and regard the nation's past."Who owns the past? In a free society, everyone. It is a magic pudding belonging to anyone who wants to cut themselves a slice, from legend-manufacturers through novelists looking for ready-made plots, to interest groups out to extend their influence." Inga Clendinnen, The History QuestionThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 22, Voting for Jesus, from Marion Maddox, Edmund Campion, Peter Jensen, Paul Collins, Tim Costello, Andrew Dunstall, Bill James, Angela Shanahan, Tamas Pataki, and Amanda Lohrey

The Family Court was a progressive reform of the 1970s. Now it is perhaps the most hated institution in Australia. In'Kangaroo Court', John Hirst investigates what went wrong.This is a measured yet unsparing appraisal which interleaves individual cases with compelling legal and moral argument. Hirst takes us deep into the workings of the Court and the domestic apocalypses it sees every day.He explores the Court's fervour to uphold the best interests of the child no matter what and traces its chilling consequence- a court where malicious allegations regularly go unpunished. He notes the Court's enormous power over individual lives, as well as its self-proclaimed status as a 'caring court', and wonders at its ability to overlook the defiance of its own authority. In closing, he considers how to reform an institution that has bred antagonism and extremism and too often entrenched paranoia and despair. Lucid and urgent,'Kangaroo Court'is a cautionary tale about the perils of high-mindedness when it comes to dealing with the breakdown of families.'When Family Court judges talk piously of the 'caring court', I wish they could hear the roar of pain that their piety has caused.' -John Hirst,'Kangaroo Court'This issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 16, Breach of Trust, from Paul Kelly, Paul Bongiorno, Mungo MacCallum, Natasha Cica, Alex Miller, and Raimond Gaita.

A dazzling and insightful look at the Australian federal election 2019.What went wrong for Labor and how did Scott Morrison achieve his remarkable victory? In this dazzling report from the campaign trail, Erik Jensen homes in on the insecurities that drive Bill Shorten and the certainties that helped Scott Morrison win. He considers how each man reflects, challenges and comforts the national character.Who are Morrison's "quiet Australians"? What did Shorten Labor fail to see? And will fear always trump hope in politics? The Prosperity Gospel sheds new light on the politics of a divided nation."Arthur Sinodinos says the election is a crapshoot. He's in a car park in Nowra, waiting for Morrison. 'The momentum has been with us at different times, especially in Queensland,' he says. 'Central Queensland, even the outer suburbs of Brisbane. It's a narrow pathway to victory, with the odds going the other way. But it ain't over until it's over.' Despite everything, Arthur Sinodinos has an honest face. He does not look confident." -Erik Jensen, The Prosperity GospelThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 73, Australia Fair, from Susan Carland, James Walter, Carol Johnson, Travers McLeod, Isabelle Reinecke, and Rebecca Huntley

Are Australian schools safe? And if they're not, what happens when kids are caught in a bleak collision between ill-equipped teachers and a confected scandal? In 2016, the Safe Schools program became the focus of an ideological firestorm. In Moral Panic 101, Benjamin Law explores how and why this happened. He weaves a subtle, gripping account of schools today, sexuality, teenagers, new ideas of gender fluidity, media scandal and mental health.In this timely essay, Law also looks at the new face of homophobia in Australia, and the long battle for equality and acceptance. Investigating bullying of the vulnerable young, he brings to light hidden worlds, in an essay notable for its humane clarity."To read every article the Australian has published on Safe Schools is to induce nausea. This isn't even a comment on the content, just the sheer volume … And yet, across this entire period, the Australian - self-appointed guardian of the safety of children - spoke to not a single school-aged LGBTIQ youth. Not even one. Later, queer teenagers who followed the Safe Schools saga told me the dynamic felt familiar. At school, it's known as bullying. In journalism, it's called a beat-up." -Benjamin Law, Moral Panic 101

Where were you when America elected Barack Obama?Kate Jennings was in New York, eyes wide open, completing her take on an amazing time- 'the run-up to the election . . . a time when every day felt like a year and we became slightly crazed from worry but also mesmerised, unable to switch off the cable news stations, obsessively tracking the DOW, VIX, LIBOR spreads, polls in red states. So much at stake.'American Revolution is a dazzling and perceptive look at the United States between hope and despair- an election-year kaleidoscope. Jennings describes how and why the US economy fell off a cliff and how an apparently endless run of primaries and an increasingly rancorous campaign culminated in a world-changing victory. She surveys the characters - Obama, Palin, McCain and the Clintons - and conveys the concepts - derivatives, bailouts and moral hazard. This is an essay that shows America in fascinating flux- it is witty and poetic, acute and evocative.'The television networks are justifiably in raptures about the historic election of an African-American as the president. All the same . . . to reduce Obama to a label, to 'African-American,' does him - and us - a disservice. He wasn't elected for the colour of his skin; he was elected because he offered the hope of a wise, steady and healing leadership to a country bullied and battered in the name of patriotism, plundered and pillaged in the name of free markets, neglected and abandoned in the name of small government.' -Kate Jennings, American RevolutionThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 31, Now or Never, from Peter Cosier, Richard Branson, David Foster, Geoff Russell, Alanna Mitchell, Ian Lowe, Barney Foran, Barrie Pittock, Gwynne Dyer, and Tim Flannery.

Award-winning journalist Margaret Simons journeys through the troubled Murray-Darling Basin exploring the politics of water, drought and food.The Murray-Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and it's in trouble. What does this mean for the future - for water and crops, and for the people and towns that depend on it?In Cry Me a River, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons takes a trip through the Basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity.Her essay is both a portrait of the Murray-Darling Basin and an explanation of its woes. It looks at rural Australia and the failure of politics over decades to meet the needs of communities forced to bear the heaviest burden of change. Whether it is fish kills or state rivalries, drought or climate change, in the Basin our ability to plan for the future is being put to the test."The story of the Murray-Darling Basin ... is a story of our nation, the things that join and divide us. It asks whether our current systems - our society and its communities - can possibly meet the needs of the nation and the certainty of change. Is the Plan an honest compact, and is it fair? Can it work? Are our politics up to the task?" Margaret Simons, Cry Me a RiverThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 76, Red Flag, from Amy King, David Walker, John West, Richard McGregor, Henry Sherrell, Wanning Sun, Caroline Rosenberg, Sam Roggeveen, and Peter Hartcher

Australia is on the brink of momentous change, but only if its citizens and politicians can come to new terms with the past.In this inspiring essay, Mark McKenna considers the role of history in making and unmaking the nation. From Captain Cook to the frontier wars, from Australia Day to the Uluru Statement, we are seeing passionate debates and fresh recognitions. McKenna argues that it is time to move beyond the history wars, and that truth-telling about the past will be liberating and healing. This is a superb account of a nation's moment of truth."The time for pitting white against black, shame against pride, and one people's history against another's, has had its day. After nearly fifty years of deeply divisive debates over the country's foundation and its legacy for Indigenous Australians, Australia stands at a crossroads - we either make the commonwealth stronger and more complete through an honest reckoning with the past, or we unmake the nation by clinging to triumphant narratives in which the violence inherent in the nation's foundation is trivialised." -Mark McKenna, Moment of TruthThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 68, Without America, from Ely Ratner, Michael Green & Evan S. Medeiros, Patrick Lawrence, David Shambaugh, John Fitzgerald, Merriden Varrall, Andrew Shearer, Kim Beazley, and Hugh White.