Many historians are interested in the progress of social movements, some of which are dubbed inevitable. However, that ducks the question of timing.
Becoming a republic and same-sex marriage are said to be inevitable in Australia. But why have they not happened already?
Despite the defeat in the 1999 referendum, 62 per cent of Australians in 2001 still favoured a republic. In 2012, after the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, 58 per cent wanted to retain the monarchy. And this week the Australian Republican Movement announced that 51 per cent of Australians — a …

People were puffing away on cigarettes for hundreds of years before anyone twigged to the dangers. In the West, we initially weren’t smoking that much but, as the 20th century progressed, so our ­tobacco habit increased.
By the middle of the century most Australian men smoked but few women did.
Although it had been suspected cigarette smoking was harmful, the seriousness of this risk was ­unconfirmed until researcher Richard Doll in Britain conducted his landmark 1952 study.
The importance of Doll’s study into the risks of smoking was quickly recognised. Iain Macleod, then …

Despite bipartisan Labor and Liberal Party support, the highly respected president of the Victorian upper house, Bruce Atkinson — a long-serving member of the Liberal Party — voted against the Victorian Criminal Organisations Control Amendment (Unlawful Associations) Bill 2015. Nonetheless, it was passed on Thursday, October 8, in the Legislative Council of Victoria.
So why did this senior Liberal MP stand with Fiona Patten from the Australian Sex Party and members of the Greens to oppose this law?
Atkinson’s position was akin to crossing the floor, but many saw it for what …

I have just returned from the continental US, and from New York in particular. As a result I can confirm — unambiguously and once and for all — that the US economy is back with a vengeance.
Unemployment in the US sits at just above 5 per cent. Most countries in the world would kill to have that jobless rate.
Jobs have been created in the US in every month on a net basis for the past five years. This is a huge achievement
US consumer spending is up — and that’s a …

Art tends to imitate life in the latest novel featuring one of the most shambolic and hilarious figures in Australian fiction.
Grafton Everest, the protagonist (we can’t say hero) of a string of satires by historian and novelist Ross Fitzgerald is loved and loathed in equal measure.
In Fitzgerald’s new book, ‘Going Out Backwards : A Grafton Everest Adventure’, co-written with comedy legend Ian McFayden, Professor Dr Grafton Everest. the bumbling Mangoland academic has been elected to the Australian Senate, without really knowing why and he finds himself …

A satirical writing duo offers this sardonic take on a certain well-known TV panel show
Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen
“Good evening and welcome to QED, Roger began with great verve. “Tonight, two controversial issues that are currently a headache for the government — education and the environment. And so commenced the discussion.
Although Professor Dr Grafton Everest found QED tedious to watch, he discovered that being on the show was like being on a runaway train. Every time you formulated something to say on a topic, the discussion moved on to something …

What to do about e-cigarettes is currently an extremely controversial issue in the areas of public health and addictions policy.
There is no doubt that Action on Smoking and Health Australia (ASH) and some tobacco control advocates, who were remarkably effective in reducing smoking in Australia, have been deeply traumatised by Big Tobacco’s unscrupulous behaviour.
Although ASH Australia, a national health group established in 1994 to reduce diseases, disabilities and premature deaths caused by tobacco products, closed in 2013, it continues to rally support through its website.
In May this year, Celeste Poulton, …

As someone involved in academia for a number of decades, I hold our universities to the highest standards. And we all should.
Universities have existed for hundreds of years representing the very best of human civilisation. They represent research. They represent learning. They represent fundamental human values.
The decision of Sydney University to divest stocks in resource companies is, at its worst attacking one of Australia’s most successful industries. At best, it is rank hypocrisy.
The Australian National University kicked this so-called “ethical divestment” of resource companies policy off last year, and Sydney …

The hypocrisy of federal Labor in recent weeks is breathtaking.
For years in government, Labor talked about the importance of free trade. The party told us free trade wasn’t just a desire but a necessity — and, most important, it told Australians that, because of our geographic location, we must embrace free trade, not fear it.
It said we were living in the Asian century and we should take advantage of it.
Oh, how times have changed.
The behaviour of the puppet masters — the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Electrical …

Abortion is an issue that deeply divides many in the community. To put it in proper perspective, it divides the less than 20 per cent of people who do not support abortion from the more than 80 per cent who do.
The recent introduction of an abortion-related private member’s bill in the Victorian Parliament brought forth some interesting strategies and alliances. At the same time, it demonstrated the changing nature of gender politics.
The bill was introduced into the Victorian Parliament by Sex Party MP Fiona Patten. It …

Smoking rates are declining in Australia, but not in one community — our prison system. As well as being used for their mood-altering effects, tobacco and other drugs are also widely used as currency in our prisons.
As well as prisoners, other disadvantaged groups are overrepresented among smokers, in particular indigenous people, the mentally ill, and alcohol and drug-dependent people.
While most prisoners already have serious physical and mental health problems, in Australia 85 per cent of prisoners also smoke, even though at least half would like to stop, especially when released …