Australia Under Construction
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Australia Under Construction
nation-building — past, present and future
Table of Contents
Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Nation-building in Australia: a discourse, iconic project or tradition of resonance?
2. The unfinished business of nation-building
Abstract
Why ‘Nation-Building’?
A contested term
Nation-building and the settler narrative
An Australian story
More than bricks and mortar
A nation-building doldrums
From back burner to front burner
The Rudd ascendancy
Nation-building — a revival?
References
3. In the wake of economic reform … new prospects for nation-building?
Abstract
Introduction
1. National politics
2. The Canberra bureaucracy and the federal structure
3. Our national political culture
Preliminary conclusions
Acknowledgements
4. The challenge of teaching Australian history
Abstract
Introduction
History for the future
Historical literacy
‘Doing’ history in the classroom
How do you learn history best?
Conclusion
References
5. A passion for white elephants: some lessons from Australia’s experience of nation building
Abstract
Introduction
‘A capacity for independent judgment’
‘The nineteenth century equivalent of city walls’
Australia’s Great White Elephant
Disaster and social change
New white elephants
6. Populate, parch and panic: two centuries of dreaming about nation-building in inland Australia
Abstract
Introduction
Part 1 — Raising the ghost of Bradfield
Part 2 — Bradfield’s ‘hydraulic dreaming’
Part 3 — ‘First parch, then panic!’
Conclusion
7. Australia’s fiscal straitjacket
Abstract
Introduction
The medium term fiscal straitjacket
First myth — that ‘higher taxes are bad for economic growth’
Second myth — that a ‘public debt freeze is the key to sound public finance’
Third myth — that ‘the private sector is always a more efficient owner-manager of infrastructure than government’
Fourth myth — that ‘government borrowing for infrastructure investment puts upward pressure on inflation and interest rates’.
Fifth myth — that ‘if a particular infrastructure project cannot be sensibly financed by the private sector, revenue can fill the gap’
Sixth myth — that ‘there is no evidence that the fiscal straitjacket has impeded infrastructure investment’
Seventh myth — that ‘running structural fiscal surpluses is good for national productivity’.
Eighth myth — that 'the community prefers lower taxes and does not like the idea of governments borrowing’.
Why the present fiscal stance needs a rethink
A proposed new fiscal stance
References
8. The ‘Building Better Cities’ program 1991-96: a nation-building initiative of the Commonwealth Government
Abstract
Introduction
The issues at stake
The Commonwealth’s interest stirred
Consulting the States
The ‘Yellow Book’
The funding decision
Getting the program started
Seeking State and Territory bids
Selection of Area Strategies
Getting implementation going
The Phase 2 initiative
Continuing activity and impacts
Conclusions
Appendix 1
Funding Allocation, Victorian Area Strategies
Appendix 2: A Better Cities Area Strategy
Area Strategy — Plenty Road — Victoria
Appendix 3: An example of a Better Cities Area Strategy from each State. Prepared by Pem Gerner
NEW SOUTH WALES
VICTORIA
QUEENSLAND
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
TASMANIA
Appendix 4: Reviews of the Better Cities Program (list provided by Pem Gerner)
9. Stumbling towards nation-building: impediments to progress
Abstract
Introduction
References
10. Broadbanding the nation: lessons from Canada or shortcomings in Australian federalism?
Abstract
Introduction
The Australian way of ‘doing’ communications policy
The influence of history on nation-building concepts
The persistence of the single national solution in the broadband era
Lessons from Canada
Reinvigorating federalism
References
11. Re-imagining the Australian state: political structures and policy strategies
Abstract
Introduction
The changing dynamics of opinion formation
Three symptoms of a corrupted policy-making system
Public trust and confidence
Representational patterns
The policy-making structure in practice
An augmented system?
Conclusion: is political change likely?
New parties
Executive initiative
References