Power of the humanities

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Fellow and Professor of Political Philosophy Duncan Ivison argues that the call for a Voice to Parliament is not, as its critics argue, an attempt to insert race-based politics into the Australian Constitution but is instead a democratic claim.

This text is based on his 2022 Annual Academy lecture delivered in Ballarat at the 53rd Annual Academy Symposium. The full video of his lecture can be viewed at the end of this article.

This week’s Five-Minute Friday Read from Janet McCalman, Emeritus Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne, discusses the nature of wealth inequality and examines why a Universal Basic Income is not enough to fix the causes of poverty.

This week saw the release of Ensuring Occupations are Responsive to People with Disabilities, a landmark report by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Social Services. As part of the Academy of Humanities’ support for the project, Professor Bree Hadley provided a study of disability in the arts, creative, and cultural industries for the project, and Professor Gerard Goggin was a member of the Expert Reference Group. In this week’s Five-Minute Friday Read, they explain why disability training needs fundamental reform now.

In response to the current Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and as part of the Five-Minute Friday Read series, Christina Twomey, Professor of History at Monash University, looks at the history of activism to raise awareness of veteran suicide and asks: what does Australia owe its veterans?

In today’s Five-Minute Friday Read, Graham Tulloch, Emeritus Professor of English at Flinders University, explores how the work of Robert Louis Stevenson continues to capture the imagination of modern audiences and why his work is still so relevant in the 21st century.

For the Five-Minute Friday Read and on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Julia Gillard’s ‘Misogyny Speech’, Joy Damousi, Professor of History, Dean of Arts and Director of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University and immediate past President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, discusses the speech’s legacy and what it might mean for the future of women in politics and society.

In today’s Five-Minute Friday Read, Shurlee Swain, Emeritus Professor in the National School of Arts at Australian Catholic University, examines the terrible history of child removal in Australia and its lasting impacts across communities.

In today’s Five-Minute Friday Read, Marilyn Lake FAHA FASSA AO, Professorial Fellow in History at The University of Melbourne, writes about the gender pay gap, the burden of care work placed on women and the vision of historical feminists for a more equal Australia.

In today’s Five-Minute Friday Read, Purnendra Jain FAHA, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Adelaide, examines Okinawa’s strategic and political importance in the Pacific while considering the impacts on the citizens of the islands.

Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian Academy of the Humanities recognises Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of this land, and their continuous connection to country, community and culture.