Latest news with #Australians'
Sydney Morning Herald
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘A kind of monster': Why does everyone hate universities?
In the lead-up to the federal election, university administrators were chilled by the messages they were hearing from the conservative side of politics: that research was an indulgence, that academics should just focus on teaching, and – a comment said to have been addressed to post-doctoral candidates – that a PhD didn't necessarily confer expertise. 'The hostility was so great,' said one senior administrator. But if they had hoped for a warm embrace from Labor, they haven't got it. The much-hyped University Accord has fizzled. The hikes to humanities fees have not been rolled back. The main funders of research, international students, have been in the government's sights. 'Labor in the last term of government was hostile, too,' said the administrator. 'Not as hostile as the Coalition, but they were hostile.' Universities, it seems, have no friends. Not the government, which sees no votes in tertiary education and seems unwilling to waste political capital on serious reform. Not the Coalition, which uses them as fuel for its culture wars, dismisses their management as overpaid fat cats, and, during the Morrison-Dutton era, seemed to confect a Marx-style class war between the 'quiet [presumably uneducated] Australians' and the intellectual 'elites'. But universities' traditional friends have turned on them too. Tertiary unions are furious about chronic staff underpayment. Academics are leaving, exhausted by stifling workloads and casualised jobs. Students are unhappy; they're paying through the nose for an insipid version of the rich experience their parents enjoyed. Loading We're so busy beating up universities that we forget what a disastrous own goal we're kicking as we do it. The accord was plain about what will happen if Australia doesn't have a healthy tertiary education system – we will not have the skills we need, our economy will suffer, and we will stifle the potential of our children. We need high-quality research too, to keep up with the rest of the world and to protect our sovereign interest. The unis don't deserve all that hate. While they are certainly not helping themselves, they're not the ones who caused the mess, and they're going to need some friends, somewhere, to help them out of it. Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner, who drove the development of cultural and media studies in Australia, has laid out the dire state of the sector in his new book, Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good (to be released on Tuesday). 'I think it is reaching crisis point,' he said. 'It's really affecting the knowledge infrastructure that's available in this country.'
The Age
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘A kind of monster': Why does everyone hate universities?
In the lead-up to the federal election, university administrators were chilled by the messages they were hearing from the conservative side of politics: that research was an indulgence, that academics should just focus on teaching, and – a comment said to have been addressed to post-doctoral candidates – that a PhD didn't necessarily confer expertise. 'The hostility was so great,' said one senior administrator. But if they had hoped for a warm embrace from Labor, they haven't got it. The much-hyped University Accord has fizzled. The hikes to humanities fees have not been rolled back. The main funders of research, international students, have been in the government's sights. 'Labor in the last term of government was hostile, too,' said the administrator. 'Not as hostile as the Coalition, but they were hostile.' Universities, it seems, have no friends. Not the government, which sees no votes in tertiary education and seems unwilling to waste political capital on serious reform. Not the Coalition, which uses them as fuel for its culture wars, dismisses their management as overpaid fat cats, and, during the Morrison-Dutton era, seemed to confect a Marx-style class war between the 'quiet [presumably uneducated] Australians' and the intellectual 'elites'. But universities' traditional friends have turned on them too. Tertiary unions are furious about chronic staff underpayment. Academics are leaving, exhausted by stifling workloads and casualised jobs. Students are unhappy; they're paying through the nose for an insipid version of the rich experience their parents enjoyed. Loading We're so busy beating up universities that we forget what a disastrous own goal we're kicking as we do it. The accord was plain about what will happen if Australia doesn't have a healthy tertiary education system – we will not have the skills we need, our economy will suffer, and we will stifle the potential of our children. We need high-quality research too, to keep up with the rest of the world and to protect our sovereign interest. The unis don't deserve all that hate. While they are certainly not helping themselves, they're not the ones who caused the mess, and they're going to need some friends, somewhere, to help them out of it. Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner, who drove the development of cultural and media studies in Australia, has laid out the dire state of the sector in his new book, Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good (to be released on Tuesday). 'I think it is reaching crisis point,' he said. 'It's really affecting the knowledge infrastructure that's available in this country.'
Sydney Morning Herald
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I do have pants on': The Project says goodbye with teary and funny final episode
In the end The Project delivered what it always promised: news done differently. Axed after 16 years and more than 4000 episodes, Friday night's 90-minute farewell was tear-stained yet joyful, a celebration of everything that made The Project truly different: it gave a voice to 'everyday Australians' without ever being condescending. There was no gotcha journalism, just thoughtful reporting and campaigning that made a difference. It had celebrities and musicians, and a roll-call of Australian talent, many of whom found a home on show. I cried, they cried, and I can only imagine the party going on there now. Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny and comedian Sam Taunton helmed the desk for the final night, with special appearances from original The 7.30pm Project hosts Carrie Bickmore, Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering, who videoed in from New Zealand. Bickmore, who only left two years ago, recalled receiving an enormous bunch of flowers from Oprah Winfrey (her son later broke the vase they arrived in), meeting Brad Pitt while she was bare foot on a boat, and thanked the viewers for all 'the feedback I've received on my looks'. She also reflected on the enormous support her charity Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, which she started in 2015 after her husband Greg died of the disease. 'I wanted to raise a million dollars,' she said. 'I would not have raised over $25 million if it wasn't for you guys at home. When we started, I just wanted to raise awareness and now we have a brain cancer centre with people in clinical trials.' Hughes – perhaps the only person who didn't get teary – also recalled being so nervous on the day they met Brad Pitt, that he introduced himself as, 'Hi, I'm Dave, I'm friends with Eric Banana.' Pickering, meanwhile, said the first episode in 2016 was like 'building the plane while you fly it … somehow we figured it out. ' Loading Regular co-hosts Tommy Little, Susie Youssef and Rachel Corbett popped by. Hamish Macdonald and Lisa Wilkinson also dialled in, with both praising The Project's ability to make genuine change, with Wilkinson naming the uncovering of the 'toxic workplace culture at Parliament House' as a personal highlight.
The Age
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘I do have pants on': The Project says goodbye with teary and funny final episode
In the end The Project delivered what it always promised: news done differently. Axed after 16 years and more than 4000 episodes, Friday night's 90-minute farewell was tear-stained yet joyful, a celebration of everything that made The Project truly different: it gave a voice to 'everyday Australians' without ever being condescending. There was no gotcha journalism, just thoughtful reporting and campaigning that made a difference. It had celebrities and musicians, and a roll-call of Australian talent, many of whom found a home on show. I cried, they cried, and I can only imagine the party going on there now. Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny and comedian Sam Taunton helmed the desk for the final night, with special appearances from original The 7.30pm Project hosts Carrie Bickmore, Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering, who videoed in from New Zealand. Bickmore, who only left two years ago, recalled receiving an enormous bunch of flowers from Oprah Winfrey (her son later broke the vase they arrived in), meeting Brad Pitt while she was bare foot on a boat, and thanked the viewers for all 'the feedback I've received on my looks'. She also reflected on the enormous support her charity Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, which she started in 2015 after her husband Greg died of the disease. 'I wanted to raise a million dollars,' she said. 'I would not have raised over $25 million if it wasn't for you guys at home. When we started, I just wanted to raise awareness and now we have a brain cancer centre with people in clinical trials.' Hughes – perhaps the only person who didn't get teary – also recalled being so nervous on the day they met Brad Pitt, that he introduced himself as, 'Hi, I'm Dave, I'm friends with Eric Banana.' Pickering, meanwhile, said the first episode in 2016 was like 'building the plane while you fly it … somehow we figured it out. ' Loading Regular co-hosts Tommy Little, Susie Youssef and Rachel Corbett popped by. Hamish Macdonald and Lisa Wilkinson also dialled in, with both praising The Project's ability to make genuine change, with Wilkinson naming the uncovering of the 'toxic workplace culture at Parliament House' as a personal highlight.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Income tax out-paced wages as rates and inflation started to bite
Working Australians' tax bills grew faster than their wages in the first full year of the Albanese government, as even the most well-heeled endured a dip in their incomes as the froth came off the nation's property market. Data from the Australian Taxation Office released today, covering the 2022-23 financial year, reveal the hit many people suffered as their wages were eaten away by both inflation and the tax system, especially women who suffered most from the end of the low and middle income tax offset. Across all workers, average income was $74,240, an increase of $1913 or 2.6 per cent over 2021-22. Women did the best with their average income growing by 3.3 per cent or $1992 to $62,046 compared to men whose average lifted 2.2 per cent to $86,199. Much of that increase was eaten up by higher tax, partly due to the end of the low and middle income tax offset. The offset had been super-sized to $1500 by the Morrison government as it sought to cling to power, but it was always due to finish for the 2022-23 financial year. By ending the offset, the average net tax paid by all workers increased by 4.2 per cent, or $946, to $23,562. Women, many of whom had qualified for the low and middle income tax offset, suffered a 5.8 per cent or $1009 increase in their average net tax. For men, their average tax lifted by $1000 or 3.7 per cent to $28,206. Inflation added to the pain, up by 6 per cent through the year. The data precedes the government's re-worked stage 3 tax cuts that started to flow to all workers in the 2024-25 financial year. But it does mark the point at which per capita GDP and household consumption started to fall.
