Op-Ed in The Weekend Austrian 26/02/11 by Tim Soutphommasane
RATCHETING concerns about the cost of living confirm one thing: we are living in an age of abundant anxiety. For all that we may be enjoying economic prosperity, this might not translate into a better quality of life. Our politicians haven't yet demonstrated they know how to deal with this undercurrent of angst. Available evidence suggests there is little basis for feeling worried. Last November, the UN's Human Development Index ranked Australia as the second most developed country in the world behind Norway.
Read the whole post here.
The full paper can be found at http://bit.ly/eqE4Ad . Video: http://bit.ly/hRT04x
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Australians need to get a grip on quality of life anxiety
Despite widespread complaints about the cost of living and population growth, the Australian quality of life remains strong and any crisis is purely imagined. That is the conclusion of More than just lifestyle: quality of life anxiety and wellbeing, a report published by the think tank Per Capita.
According to Dr Tim Soutphommasane, a senior project leader at Per Capita and author of the report, public concern about quality of life does not accord with official pictures of Australian liveability. Studies such as the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index 2010 ranked Australia the second most developed country in the world.
“By every measurable standard, Australians enjoy one of the world’s highest quality of life. That many Australians imagine otherwise reflects misplaced middle-class angst and insecurity about a sunkissed, suburban Australian lifestyle,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
More than just lifestyle, the first publication in Per Capita’s Quality of Life research program, offers a confronting critique of Australians’ understanding of quality of life. It contends that quality of life must be more than just a lifestyle concern.
The report argues that a cultural understanding of quality of life leads Australians to miss the connections between quality of life, wellbeing and freedom. Living well and the good life cannot be reduced to enjoying the material comforts of suburban lifestyle.
“It is important to understand quality of life in terms of an ethical conception of wellbeing. Politicians today still haven’t found the right register in which to speak to Australians about their desire not only for prosperity but sustainability, community and fulfilment,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
The full paper can be found at http://bit.ly/eqE4Ad . Video: http://bit.ly/hRT04x
According to Dr Tim Soutphommasane, a senior project leader at Per Capita and author of the report, public concern about quality of life does not accord with official pictures of Australian liveability. Studies such as the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index 2010 ranked Australia the second most developed country in the world.
“By every measurable standard, Australians enjoy one of the world’s highest quality of life. That many Australians imagine otherwise reflects misplaced middle-class angst and insecurity about a sunkissed, suburban Australian lifestyle,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
More than just lifestyle, the first publication in Per Capita’s Quality of Life research program, offers a confronting critique of Australians’ understanding of quality of life. It contends that quality of life must be more than just a lifestyle concern.
The report argues that a cultural understanding of quality of life leads Australians to miss the connections between quality of life, wellbeing and freedom. Living well and the good life cannot be reduced to enjoying the material comforts of suburban lifestyle.
“It is important to understand quality of life in terms of an ethical conception of wellbeing. Politicians today still haven’t found the right register in which to speak to Australians about their desire not only for prosperity but sustainability, community and fulfilment,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
The full paper can be found at http://bit.ly/eqE4Ad . Video: http://bit.ly/hRT04x
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Home-grown values a multicultural triumph
by Tim Soutphommasane
The trouble is the word multiculturalism can mean different things to different people. Perhaps ironically, supporters of multiculturalism have been as much to blame as its critics for any ambiguity. Rather than defending multicultural policy in muscular liberal terms, they chose flaccid cosmopolitanism; diversity became celebrated for its own sake and not as part of the contract of citizenship. This is one of the contradictions of Australian multiculturalism. For all its liberal, nation-building genius, it is misunderstood, including by many who see themselves as its champions.
Read the whole story here
The trouble is the word multiculturalism can mean different things to different people. Perhaps ironically, supporters of multiculturalism have been as much to blame as its critics for any ambiguity. Rather than defending multicultural policy in muscular liberal terms, they chose flaccid cosmopolitanism; diversity became celebrated for its own sake and not as part of the contract of citizenship. This is one of the contradictions of Australian multiculturalism. For all its liberal, nation-building genius, it is misunderstood, including by many who see themselves as its champions.
Read the whole story here
Monday, February 14, 2011
Public intellectuals a real community benefit
"Public intellectuals a real community benefit" writes Tim Soutphommasane on 12/02/11 in The Australian. "Every now and then, we are reminded that intellectual power is capable of serving public purposes and can rightly assume partisan forms.
Think of the impact Milton Friedman had on Ronald Reagan, or the impact Friedrich von Hayek had on Margaret Thatcher.
Intellectuals implicated in the affairs of state? It will always be thus. We gain little from precious lamentations about scholars losing their political virginity.
Politics, after all, is nothing if not a contest of ideas. It would be enriched if more men and women of ideas proved capable of entering the public conversation."
Read the whole article here
Think of the impact Milton Friedman had on Ronald Reagan, or the impact Friedrich von Hayek had on Margaret Thatcher.
Intellectuals implicated in the affairs of state? It will always be thus. We gain little from precious lamentations about scholars losing their political virginity.
Politics, after all, is nothing if not a contest of ideas. It would be enriched if more men and women of ideas proved capable of entering the public conversation."
Read the whole article here
Vote for a sweeter weekly household budget
Tim Soutphommasane wrote over the weekend in The Australian "IT has become an iron law of Australian politics that leaders must pledge to ease the cost of living. ...But why must governments be responsible for ensuring that people can live with a mortgage and a pattern of consumption that they can't actually afford? Read the whole article here
Monday, February 7, 2011
Per Capita on ABC24's The Drum
Tim Soutphommasane, Senior Project Leader at Per Capita will appear tonight, Monday 7th February 2011, on The Drum, ABC News24, at 6pm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)