Making Australia Right : Where to from here? edited by James Allan

Making Australia Right : Where to from here? edited by James Allan

with contributions from: Judith Sloan, Brendan O’Neill, Gary Johns, Jim Molan, Roger Franklin, Rebecca Weisser, Graeme Haycroft, James Allan, Kerryn Pholi, Jeremy Sammut, Lorraine Finlay, Peter Kurti, Steven Kates, Alan Moran

Binding:  Paperback
Pages:  212 pages
Price:  $29.95
ISBN:  9781925501353
Published:  December 2016

What you will find is a variety of treatments on some of the most important issues facing this country.  True, the overall tone is not one of bubbling optimism.  How could it be with the current state of the Liberal Party in this country?  But it does constitute, with the variety of views and approaches of the authors, a sort of handbook for how the right side of politics might get back on track in this country – at least for those of us who do not think that acting as the pale imitation of Labor is the way to go.

The line-up for this book is as follows.  Judith Sloan considers the economy; Brendan O’Neill tackles political correctness; Gary Johns writes on inequality; Jim Molan surveys defence; Roger Franklin goes more big picture and explains the causes for his anger at the Liberal Party; Rebecca Weisser examines the media in this country; Graeme Haycroft does the same with industrial relations; James Allan at the state of play in our universities; Kerryn Pholi writes on Aboriginal Australia; Jeremy Sammut discusses health; Lorraine Finlay takes on law-making; Peter Kurti delves into religion and the new sectarianism; Steve Kates scrutinizes interest rate policy; and Alan Moran finishes  the collection off by looking at energy policy. So fourteen chapters in all, and each one approached in a different way.

What you have here are top people in their fields giving you something you will not find on the ABC, namely an outlook and an analysis that is something other than the bog-standard left-wing perspective that dominates so much of the airwaves, the newspaper columns, what you find on social media – and these days, alas, even what some Liberal MPs will voice inside the party room.
-- James Allan, from the Introduction

Chapters:

The Economy - Judith Sloan

Political Correctness - Brendan O’Neill

Inequality as the Means of Progress - Gary Johns

The Provocation of Weakness - Jim Molan

The ABCs of a Conservative’s Anger at the Liberal Party - Roger Franklin

Classical Liberalism, the Australian media and the ghost of Governor Darling - Rebecca Weisser

Industrial Relations Reform Must Follow the Money - Graeme Haycroft

The State of our Universities - James Allan

Aboriginal Australia - Kerryn Pholi

Health – Opt-Out of Medicare and Opt-In for Personal Health Savings Accounts - Jeremy Sammut

Getting Back to Basics: Law-Making - Lorraine Finlay

Religion and the New Sectarianism: Countering the Call for Silence - Peter Kurti

Interest Rate Policy - Steven Kates

Australian Energy Policy: the undermining of the nation’s interests - Alan Moran