Big Ideas

Lockdowns are ending, travel and quarantine restrictions are lifting. After nearly two years of the pandemic, life is returning to a kind of normal. Well, ‘covid-normal’, anyway.

But not everyone is celebrating. Covid-19 fatalities, and hospitalisations, are still mounting, and some people remain vulnerable. Paul Barclay speaks with three contributors to the Griffith Review’s “Hey Utopia!” edition about the big questions that remain unresolved. And the toll covid 19 has taken.

The freedom to speak your mind is important in a democracy. But does that mean you should have the right to say anything you like? Social media platforms are now urged to block hate speech and misinformation. Is this fair enough or the death of free speech?

Opinions trump facts and truth is no longer absolute. Science is under attack in a world where misinformation thrives, fake news can go viral and conspiracy theories are more popular than ever. How have we arrived at this place of mistrust and what can we do to stand up for science? Why should we trust scientists? Or perhaps more tellingly, what does it mean if we can’t?

When was the last time you went into the centre of your capital city or regional town? Almost every service is now available online or at a big suburban shopping mall. And Covid lockdowns have turned the CBDs into ghost towns. So will the CBD and city lifestyles be the same after the restrictions lift?

Construction is the second most male dominated industry in Australia, after mining. Sexism persists, and discrimination against women in the workplace is rife. The gender pay gap is over 26%, and growing. Yet the industry faces a skills shortage - a shortage that could be filled by increased female participation. How do we abolish gender bias in the Australian construction industry?

In the past several years China has become more assertive, and its diplomats have again used sharper language — it’s been called ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ and has a long history. Peter Martin discusses China’s diplomacy today and its impact; describes the motivations behind wolf warrior diplomacy and how diplomats are being rewarded for their aggressive rhetoric and posture.

Australians consume 17 million eggs every day which is pretty good going for a country of 25 million people. When you buy eggs do you think about those hard-working hens? And does it matter to you if they’re in a cage or out in the paddock?

What is the future of religion? Many see the declining number of ‘traditional believers’ as a clear sign that religion has no future. Others resist any idea that our established religions might adapt to new cultural trends. But religions come and go. Always have and always will. The latest shift of religion is not secularism, but atomisation into individual believes.

The biggest tertiary reforms in decades are taking shape in our universities. Are students attracted to cut-priced STEM courses and rejecting humanities subjects that have doubled in price? Insiders suggest another possibility: cash-strapped universities could create more places in higher fee courses.

How many houses, schools, pensions, and skilled workers will we need in the next decade? The answer to that requires a handle on the size and shape of our population. Demographers give governments a snapshot but the modelling contains guesswork about fertility rates , life expectancy and immigration policy. Could we do more to make Australia an attractive destination for skilled migrants?