This paper looks at how Australia can work more closely with Indonesia on the issue of Gaza. Indonesia strongly supports the rights of Palestinians, based on its history, values and commitment to international law. Australia, while closely tied to the United States, has a chance to show leadership in the region by supporting peace and humanitarian efforts in Gaza. The paper suggests that Australia can take a balanced approach – supporting Indonesia’s humanitarian stance without harming its relationship with the US. This would help Australia build trust in the Indo-Pacific region, improve its international reputation and show that it stands for fairness and human rights.

The problem of disinformation has grown in prominence in recent years, and cityscapes occupy the frontline in efforts to manage the thorny issues raised by this development. This policy brief considers how disinformation challenges city governance in a democracy. More specifically, it addresses five key questions: What is disinformation? How are cities affected by it? How does disinformation spread in cities? What kinds of responses are cities taking to counter disinformation? What are the cutting-edge questions in this area that we urgently need to know more about? While engaging with these questions, a Policy Brief in this domain of rapid change must have modest goals. To be precise, our purpose in pulling together this brief is to provide a succinct overview of the characteristics of disinformation and the problems that it poses in the city context, and to highlight potential lines of inquiry where more extensive research could make a valuable contribution.

This briefing paper outlines our key findings and suggests ways in which truth-telling could be supported. It proposes a set of principles which the research indicates could enhance the power and impact of truth-telling and makes recommendations about how truth-telling could be progressed in the light of the research.

This paper focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on CALD communities, the challenges they face, why they are particularly vulnerable in such crises and how service providers are similarly affected.

Without safe pathways to protection, approximately 8 million refugees in the Asian region are stuck in states that do not recognise their special status under international law. Refugees are vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, police crackdowns, arbitrary detention, and refoulement. These conditions have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Australia’s policies contribute directly and indirectly to a humanitarian tragedy in the Asia Pacific region. A different policy approach is urgently needed.

COVID-19 has dramatically altered the state of fertility treatment worldwide and has intensified existing legal, regulatory, and social challenges. While data collection on the impacts of COVID-19 on fertility care remains limited, an intensifying economic recession and recent news of Australians unable to complete cross-border arrangements present policy questions that demand urgent attention.

Education about diverse worldviews, including religious and non-religious perspectives, has great potential to develop intercultural understanding in our communities, as well as help to prevent hate-related incidents and violent extremism and foster greater social harmony.

The collapse of the traditional business model for public interest journalism in Australia has been, in part, blamed on the ascendant digital landscape, notably the rise of social media and digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google. These new players are perceived as gobbling advertising without the ongoing responsibility of providing reliable, credible information and public interest journalism in Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic has only hastened this collapse, as advertisers have pulled key investment from regional and rural news outlets. Governments need new forms of intervention to save rural and regional news.

When people die, they increasingly leave behind not just physical assets but digital ones too. How to dispose of or preserve these ‘digital remains’ presents significant challenges for individuals, families, corporations and governments. Emerging technologies also make it likely that these digital remains can be ‘reanimated’ through artificial intelligence, posing looming new threats, including inappropriate reuse and exploitation of the dead.

Young people use the internet, digital and social media, and mobile technology as their primary means for social and civic connection and everyday political participation. The COVID-19 pandemic and the global Black Lives Matter movement are accelerating this change. Traditional boundaries between, for instance, politics and entertainment are fading. Australia’s political and civil society institutions have not adapted to this shift.

In Australia and across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant increases in racist and xenophobic sentiments, including a resurgence of ‘old-fashioned’ forms of racism. This disproportionately affects migrants and other minority racial/ethnic groups socially, economically and in terms of health. In Australia, early data show that racism and ethnic disparities are amplified by COVID-19. However, these findings have yet to receive an adequate policy response.