Redback

A blueprint for the nation after the boom. Australians have just lived through a period of exceptional prosperity, but, says influential economist Ross Garnaut, the Dog Days are on their way. Are we ready for the challenges ahead? In Dog Days, Garnaut explains how we got here, what we can expect next and the tough choices we need to make to survive the new economic conditions. Are we clever enough – and our leaders courageous enough – to change what needs to be changed and preserve a fair and prosperous Australia? This is a book about the future by a leading adviser to government and business, someone with a proven record of seeing where the nation is going. Both forecast and analysis, it heralds a new era for Australia after the boom. 'This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with the economic and social future of Australia. Garnaut brings to the task one of our most penetrating economic minds in an astringent analysis of the challenges facing us. He presents a wide-ranging and detailed set of policies to meet those challenges successfully. The book is lucid, compelling and unburdened by political bias.'-Bob Hawke 'a brilliant guide to the future of the Australian economy'-Max Corden 'the nation's most prophetic economist'-Ross Gittins 'Garnaut's new book … is full of good sense, subtle insight and discriminating courage from one who knows from the inside what it's like for governments facing difficult decisions.'-Tim Colebatch, the Age Ross Garnaut AO is one of Australia's leading economists and thinkers. He is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Australian National University and a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He was a key economic adviser to the reforming Hawke government. Garnaut has held senior roles in government and business, including as Australian ambassador to China and climate change adviser to the Rudd and Gillard governments.

In modern Australia, productivity is all that matters, our leaders tell us. Economic growth above all else. But is this really what we, the people, want? Does it make our lives and our communities better? If the high priests of economics want the credit for Australia's economic growth over the last three decades, they must also wear the blame for the social destruction that has accompanied it – the devastation of once prosperous industrial centres and the suburbs they sustained, as factories closed and workers were forced to abandon their trades. The social costs of this 'economic modernisation' have been immense, but today are virtually ignored. The fracturing of communities continues apace. An Economy Is Not a Society is a passionate and personal J'accuse against the people whose abandonment of moral policy making has ripped the guts out of Australia's old industrial communities, robbed the country of manufacturing knowhow, reversed our national ethos of egalitarianism and broken the sense of common purpose that once existed between rulers and ruled. Those in power, Dennis Glover argues, must abandon the idea that a better society is purely about offering individuals more dollars in their pockets. What we desperately need is a conversation about the lives, working conditions, jobs and communities we want for ourselves and our families – and we need to choose a future that is designed to benefit all the Australian people, not just some.

Economics is like a tyre lever: it can be used to solve a problem, or to beat someone over the head. What is econobabble? We hear it every day, when politicians and commentators use incomprehensible economic jargon to dress up their self-interest as the national interest, to make the absurd seem inevitable or the inequitable seem fair. This book exposes the stupid arguments, bizarre contradictions and complete lack of evidence upon which much 'common sense' about the economy rests in Australia. Econobabble is for those who, deep down, have never believed that it makes sense, economic or otherwise, to help poor people by slashing public spending on the services they need. It's for those who have a sneaking suspicion that it would be cheaper to avoid the effects of climate change than to let them happen and then 'adapt'. And it's for those who think pitting public health and aged care against the economy is a false dilemma, one that's short-sighted, callous and potentially dangerous. In this new edition, Richard Denniss demolishes the tired and misleading arguments of right-wing economic 'experts' with humour and precision, empowering you to cut through the babble and reach the truth. 'The best guide you'll find to the literal non-sense that usually passes for economic debate in this country.' -Ross Gittins

For fifty years, Australia has schemed to deny East Timor billions of dollars of oil and gas wealth. With explosive new research and access to never-before-seen documents, Kim McGrath tells the story of Australia's secret agenda in the Timor Sea, exposing the ruthlessness of successive governments. Australia did nothing to stop Indonesia's devastating occupation of East Timor, when – on our doorstep – 200,000 lives were lost from a population of 650,000. Instead, our government colluded with Indonesia to secure more favourable maritime boundaries. Even today, Australia claims resources that, by international law, should belong to its neighbour – a young country still recovering from catastrophe and in desperate need of income. Crossing the Line is a long-overdue exposé of the most shameful episode in recent Australian history. 'Revelatory, extraordinary and compelling – an absolute must-read.' -Peter Garrett 'Crossing the Line is an unassailable exposé of Australia's ruthless pursuit of resources in the Timor Sea. A timely and definitive book.' -José Ramos-Horta 'Kim McGrath has trawled the national archives to produce the smoking gun on Australia's callous betrayal of the people who supported our commandos in World War II, and on the immoral and unlawful appropriation of their oil.' -Paul Cleary 'Tigerishly researched, this book exposes the economic interests underpinning Australia's diplomacy towards East Timor.' -Professor Clinton Fernandes, University of NSW

A country that makes no room for the young is a country that will forfeit a fair future. This must not become Australia. Today's young Australians are the first generation since the Great Depression to be worse off than their parents. And so, just as we have seen the gap between rich and poor widen over recent decades, we're beginning to see young and old pull apart in ways that will wear at our common bonds. It's time to decide what kind of future we want for this country. Will it be one where young Australians enjoy the same opportunities to build stable, secure lives as their parents and grandparents had? And can we do right by the elderly without making second-class citizens of the young. Urgent and convincing, Generation Less investigates the life prospects of young Australians. It looks at their emotional life, their access to credit, education and fulfilling jobs, and considers whether they will ever be able to buy a house. A wake-up call for young and old alike, Generation Less is a smart, funny and ground-breaking blueprint for a fairer future. 'A bold and original work. Jennifer Rayner is one of the most important new voices in Australia today.' -George Megalogenis Jennifer Rayner was born into the aspirational suburbia of the Hawke years, and came of age in the long boom of the Howard era. Her lifetime has tracked alongside the yawning inequalities that have opened up across the Australian community in the past 30 years. She has worked as a federal political adviser, an international youth ambassador in Indonesia and a private sector consultant, and holds a PhD from the Australian National University.