Fix this text
Uni ken
Fix this textUNSW
Fix this textNo. 426 (No. 5 of 1997)
Fix this textFortnightly
Fix this text11 April 1997
Fix this text• Urban air pollution
Fix this textunder the spotlight
Fix this textPAGE 3
Fix this text• Linking medicine
Fix this textand art
Fix this textPAGE 4
Fix this text• An update on
Fix this textthe arts
Fix this textPAGES 10 & 11
Fix this textNew project to spark debate on
Fix this text‘English-speaking social disease’
Fix this textStephen Bennetts
Fix this textEconomic Rationalism in Canberra, a
Fix this textCambridge University Press
Fix this textbestseller, published by UNSW soci-
Fix this textologist Professor Michael Pusey in 1991,
Fix this textwas characterised by one reviewer as “the
Fix this textmost important political intervention
Fix this textagainst the New Right carried out by an
Fix this textacademic in recent years”.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey is credited as the first per-
Fix this textson to bring the term ‘economic rationalism’
Fix this textinto common currency in Australia.
Fix this textThe book charted the rise of economic ra-
Fix this texttionalism during the eighties to its position
Fix this textas the dominant intellectual philosophy
Fix this textwithin the Canberra political and bureau-
Fix this textcratic establishment.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey is now recognised as per-
Fix this texthaps the foremost critic in Australia of an
Fix this texteconomic doctrine that has become the
Fix this textconventional wisdom on both sides of Aus-
Fix this texttralian politics, and indeed perhaps at the
Fix this textUniversity of which he is a staff member.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey is well advanced on a ma-
Fix this textjor new project that promises to arouse as
Fix this textmuch controversy as his earlier study, as
Fix this textwell as making a major contribution to
Fix this textpublic policy debates into the next century.
Fix this textThe subject of his three year ARC grant is
Fix this textthe transformation of the Australian middle
Fix this textclass.
Fix this textHe claims that the attitudes of Middle Aus-
Fix this texttralia have given stability to our institutions
Fix this textand our political system throughout the
Fix this textpost-war period, but that this segment of
Fix this textsociety is now disintegrating under the
Fix this textpressures of economic restructuring and
Fix this textthe upward redistribution of income in
Fix this textAustralia over the past 20 years.
Fix this textThe Pusey project, entitled Economic Ra-
Fix this texttionalism and citizenship in middle
Fix this textAustralia, is based on questionnaires and
Fix this textinterviews in five states with a sample of
Fix this text400 “middle Australians” from a broad 70
Fix this textpercentage band of middle income earn-
Fix this texters.
Fix this textThe sample is selected from three different
Fix this textsegments of Middle Australia: those whose
Fix this textincomes have risen steeply over the past 20
Fix this textyears, those whose incomes have fallen
Fix this textsteeply over the past 20 years, and those
Fix this textwhose incomes have remained steady. The
Fix this textstudy aims to determine what effects rising
Fix this textor falling income has on people’s economic
Fix this textexpectations, and their feelings towards
Fix this textsocial and political institutions.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey sees citizenship as a key to
Fix this textstudying the cultural impact of the rapid
Fix this textupward redistribution of income.
Fix this text“One point in my research is to check
Fix this textwhether people understand what economic
Fix this textforces are at work - do they understand the
Fix this textnew rules of structural change and alloca-
Fix this texttion? Do they know who the new winners
Fix this textand losers are, and if so, whom or what do
Fix this textthey blame?”
Fix this textProfessor Pusey said Middle Australia is
Fix this textstill adjusting its expectations downwards,
Fix this text“because this is the first economic recovery
Fix this textin memory where there have been no flow-
Fix this texton benefits to the broad population”.
Fix this textThere are a number of objectively measur-
Fix this textable economic changes that are eroding the
Fix this textpost-war middle class - unemployment is
Fix this texthitting Middle Australia as middle income
Fix this textjobs fall away, the real median price of a
Fix this texthouse in Sydney has tripled since 1950,
Fix this textand there are other factors such as the inse-
Fix this textcurity of retirement income, the
Fix this textcasualisation of jobs, the withdrawal of
Fix this textpublic services and the introduction of a
Fix this textuser pays society.
Fix this textTraditionally, public service provision has
Fix this textbeen seen as one of the rights of citizens.
Fix this textThis study aims to determine whether peo-
Fix this textple still hold to those beliefs, or are they
Fix this textmelting away in the face of the current scal-
Fix this texting back of the public sector?
Fix this textProfessor Pusey argues that economists as-
Fix this textsume humans are infinitely plastic, and
Fix this texthave an infinite capacity for adjusting be-
Fix this texthaviour to markets and prices. But this
Fix this textcould be wrong and it may well be that
Fix this texteconomic adjustment runs into some rela-
Fix this texttively hard limits, such as the need to hold
Fix this textfamilies together and to maintain social co-
Fix this texthesion.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey and other commentators
Fix this textsuggest that the move towards greater in-
Fix this textcome disparities in Australia is likely to
Fix this texthave clear implications in the Australian
Fix this textpolitical arena.
Fix this text“Insecurity is biting hard into Middle
Fix this textAustralia and generating the kind of social
Fix this textresentments epitomised by Pauline
Fix this textHanson’s supporters, or even the rejection
Fix this textof the Keating government in the last elec-
Fix this texttion. The ethnic lobby has been
Fix this textparticularly concerned about the Pauline
Fix this textHanson phenomenon, because it is uncom-
Fix this textfortably reminiscent of the situation in
Fix this text1930 s Germany and of some parts of Eu-
Fix this textrope today where politicians were able to
Fix this textfocus resentment caused by genuine social
Fix this textand economic hardship onto racial
Fix this textscapegoating.
Fix this text“It is ironic that middle class resentment is
Fix this textbeing directed at the poorest and most un-
Fix this textderprivileged people in our society, since it
Fix this textis the large corporations that have been the
Fix this textonly winners in the past 15 years,” Profes-
Fix this textsor Pusey said.
Fix this textProfessor Pusey has a bleak projection for
Fix this textthe future.
Fix this text“The economic rationalist trajectory we
Fix this texthave taken is towards what has been called
Fix this textthe 30/30/40 society - 30 per cent unem-
Fix this textployed, 30 per cent in insecure part-time or
Fix this textcasual work and 40 per cent in properly
Fix this textpaid full-time jobs.”
Fix this textContinued on page 4
Fix this textNew International University Association established
Fix this textThree leading Australian universities,
Fix this textUNSW, Melbourne, and Queens-
Fix this textland, are founding members of a
Fix this textnew group ng of major international re-
Fix this textsearch-based universities formed to work
Fix this texttogether to enhance their functions, status
Fix this textand capabilities.
Fix this textMembership of the new association, to be
Fix this textcalled Universitas 21, will be limited to not
Fix this textmore than 20 institutions.
Fix this textThe founding members include the three
Fix this textuniversities from Australia, four from the
Fix this textUK, three from Canada, one from the
Fix this textUnited States, one from Singapore, and
Fix this textone from New Zealand. Universities from
Fix this textthe United Kingdom are the Universities
Fix this textof Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and
Fix this textNottingham. Universities from Canada are
Fix this textthe Universities of British Columbia and
Fix this textToronto and McGill University. Other
Fix this textmembers are the National University of
Fix this textSingapore, the University of Auckland,
Fix this textand the University of California at
Fix this textBerkeley.
Fix this textInvitations to join the founding group will
Fix this textalso be extended to leading universities in
Fix this textthe Peoples Republic of China and Hong
Fix this textKong, and the United States of America.
Fix this textThe new association will assist the capa-
Fix this textbilities of its members to become global
Fix this textuniversities and to advance their plans for
Fix this textinternationalisation. It will provide a frame-
Fix this textwork for exchanging best practices and
Fix this textbenchmarking of performance of its mem-
Fix this textbers in areas including administration and
Fix this textteaching.
Fix this text... , .. . . , , f
Fix this text11 wlll als ° assl f development o ar-
Fix this textrangements for student and staff mobility
Fix this texta "d establish a program of Umversitas 21
Fix this textfellowships.
Fix this textA Umversitas 21 f secretariat will be estab-
Fix this texthshed, and will be based at the University
Fix this textof Melbourne for the first three years until
Fix this text2000.
Fix this text,
Fix this textThe three Australian vice-chancellors agreed
Fix this textthat the new association was a significant
Fix this textstep in equipping universities to meet the
Fix this textchallenges of the 21st century, and in meet-
Fix this texting the imperative for Australia to retain its
Fix this textshare of world class universities.
Fix this textI nside
Fix this textLetters 2
Fix this textProfile 5
Fix this textDiary 8
Fix this textBooks 12
Fix this textProfessor Pusey ... pictured in part of ‘Middle Australia’ in Kensington.
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254124224
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved June 5, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254124224
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 5 June 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254124224>
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 5 June 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254124224
{{Citation
| author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
| author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
| title=Uniken.
| year=1975
| section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
| issn=0312-7877
| issue=1997, no. 5 (11 Apr., 1997)
| location=Kensington, N.S.W
| publisher=University of New South Wales
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254124224
| id=nla.obj-254124224
| access-date=5 June 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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