Offshore detention: Australians have a right to know what is done in their name

Johan Lidberg (Monash University) explains that the consequence of the Government's fortress of secrecy about offshore detention is that Australians don’t know what is being done in their name on Nauru and Manus Island. It also means the refugees are dehumanised—suffering children and families become numbers instead of human beings.

A comparison of monetary and fiscal expansion

Phil Lewis (University of Canberra) compares the options available to stimulate a sluggish economy.

Water in northern Australia: a history of Aboriginal exclusion

Liz Macpherson, Erin O'Donnell, Lee Godden, Lily O'Neill (University of Melbourne) explain that, to give Aboriginal people fair representation in northern water development, they must be accorded a fair share of the water. And experience recovering environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin has taught us that it is much easier to set aside a share of water while resources are still plentiful than embark on a process of buyback.

China will be the winner if US backs out of the TPP

Nicholas Ross Smith (University of Auckland) writes that, if Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump make good on their pledge to torpedo the Trans-Pacific Partnership if elected, the United States will not only miss an opportunity to consolidate its position in Asia-Pacific, it will also allow China to emerge as the uncontested trade power there.

There are bright spots among the world’s coral reefs – the challenge is to learn from them

Joshua Cinner (James Cook University) argues that investments that foster local involvement and provide people with ownership rights to their marine resources can help people develop creative solutions and defy expectations that reefs will just continue to get more degraded.

High-speed rail? At $200 billion we’d better get it right

Peter Newman (Curtin University) proposes some principles to make high-speed rail and urban development happen in a way that benefits Australian cities and towns.

Policies to make cities work better

Marion Terrill (Grattan Institute) proposes new approaches to infrastructure that will improve the productivity of our cities.