A recent Ipsos poll showing Australia’s support for a republic has ‘steadily declined’ to its lowest levels will no doubt alarm republican lobbyists. In response to the question ‘Should Australia become a republic?’ only 34 percent of respondents said ‘yes’ with 40 percent against – the lowest support recorded by both the Ipsos and Nielsen polls. Most troubling for republicans is that support among 18- to 24-year-old Australians is now the lowest supporting cohort. Only 26 per cent are in favour compared to 34 per cent in all other age groups. Republican claims The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) has always […]

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more,” said the sixth US President John Quincy Adams, “you are a leader.”  It is not typical that we look to politics – especially now, nor as Australians – for ‘inspirational leaders’.  “Politicians aren’t fashionable in Australia,” declared Julia Gillard when stepping down as prime minister in 2013.  As Australians we tend to look to sports stars, philanthropists, great inventors, pioneers and others as providing the inspirational leadership we both understand and respect.  And I sense this is fair enough.  We don’t expect politics – the […]

Leaving school can be a great time for many young people. Some will go into trades, others to university, while others will go straight into jobs or even the defence force. As I reflect on my time leaving school, and taking thirteen attempts to get into university, I didn’t have an exceptional start – at least not to the same level as many of my peers at the time. But on reflection I noticed the patterns that enabled me to stay dreaming, continue to straighten myself out and literally, a decade on, reach every single goal – personal and professional […]