Dead Centre
eBook - ePub

Dead Centre

How political pragmatism is killing us: Vantage Point Issue 2

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Dead Centre

How political pragmatism is killing us: Vantage Point Issue 2

About this book

The sensible centre. Evidence-based policy. These are not the same. In fact, they are at odds with each other.

The scientific evidence tells us that building new gas, oil and coal mines will cause catastrophic climate damage this century. Yet politicians describe a call for the end of new mines as extreme. Likewise with online gambling, junk food advertising or incarcerating children: the evidence of harm is clear, but the sensible centre is defined not by evidence but by politics. Media reports on such issues presuppose that there are two sides and a centre to every debate, but evidence shows there is not. The political right thrives in such fear-fuelled, fact-free arenas, where traditional media and subject matter experts struggle to fight fear with facts.

In this essay, economist and Executive Director of The Australia Institute Richard Denniss, explores the contradiction between centrism and evidence that sits at the heart of democratic debate in Australia. He shows that when both major parties oppose reform then the position of the sensible centre becomes indistinguishable from blind support for keeping things as they are.

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Yes, you can access Dead Centre by Richard Denniss in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Political History & Theory. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. The big bluff
  6. A bad map can be worse than no map
  7. Fitting in
  8. Meaningless middle
  9. No more safe seats
  10. Forging a new path
  11. Some maps are worse than others
  12. Centrism and the fight for what is right
  13. Centrism and a captured media
  14. The risks of centrism in a broad church
  15. Emissions evasions
  16. National Anti-Corruption Commission
  17. Fair electoral reforms
  18. The exception that tests the rule: industrial relations reform
  19. Rethinking Australian politics
  20. Endnotes
  21. Acknowledgements
  22. About the author
  23. About The Australia Institute
  24. Back Cover