Read about how the trail of David McBride has unmasked a terrible situation for Australia's democracy. It would appear that our armed forces must act against the public interest if ordered to do so by our foreign sovereign or his or her Executive.

Read the abridged version here in Pearls and Irritations.

Read the full article here in The State of Australia Newsletter on Substack.

Listen to a reading here.

Listen to Episodes 37, 38 & 39 of the Australia Together Podcast containing an audio recording of the answers to Senator Thorpe's questions to Bronwyn Kelly. This also includes a detailed answer to a key question about democracy in Australia from the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Mr Josh Burns MP.

Listen to Episodes 37, 38 & 39 here.

Read the full transcript here.

Listen to the full appearance of ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on 28 September 2023, in which she argued for the need to secure human rights in the Constitution. 

Listen to the full hearing and MPs responses on The Australia Together Podcast.

Listen to the interview to find out how Australia's democracy is failing us and how it can be revived. Thanks to Evelyn Santoro for this podcast.

Listen to the full interview here. 

Read about why Australia needs a Constitution that protects our human rights. It's now a matter of life and death.

Read the full article here.

Michael Lester interviews ACFP's Bronwyn Kelly, author of The People's Constitution, on Radio Northern Beaches about how constitutional enshrinement of an Indigenous Voice is a model for empowering all Australians. Michael praises the book as "ambitious, wonderful and thought provoking". The interview covers questions about the three major constitutional changes proposed in the book: Values, Rights and Voices.

Listen to the full interview here.

Read about how a Human Rights Act is desirable but that it will not suffice to protect the human rights of Australians. Nothing less than constitutional enshrinement of human rights will prevent their abuse by governments.

Click here for the summary of ACFP's submission to the Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework.

The 2022 federal election was the first to be accompanied by an independent report on the performance of the outgoing 46th parliament in building a better Australia - The State of Australia 2022. Read about how at the 2025 election all Australians will have access to a report which gives them enough accurate data to hold the 47th parliament to account for any failure to support the national interest and to offer the incoming government an agenda capable of meeting that interest over the coming decade.  Read the full article.

Read ACFP's submission to the Defence Department's proposals for reform of defence legislation. The Department's "Guiding Principles for Reform" of defence laws run counter to the values of Australians. The review should be shelved in favour of a fully inclusive strategic planning process in which Australians can participate to define the nation’s strategic interests and acceptable paths towards the maintenance of those interests.

Read the full submission to Defence from ACFP here.

ACFP’s Founder Bronwyn Kelly discusses Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ commitment to hold conversations on the economy. She looks at how Australians can chime in and suggests that there are three important conversations that should be established between the government and Australians at large if we are to succeed as a nation in building the sort of economy the government wants – one that promotes inclusion, equality and the values of Australians.

Read the full essay here.

Listen to the full essay here on ACFP's YouTube podcasts.

Read ACFP's submission to Treasury's call for comment on what Australia should be measuring about its wellbeing. ACFP has introduced Treasury to the Australia Together National Wellbeing Index - a new way of measuring what matters most to Australians now and for the future. This is a very different measurement framework to the OECD framework preferred by Treasury which does not measure what is important to Australians. Read the full submission to Treasury from ACFP here.

The sixth issue of the starting draft of Australia Together is available here. It adds 7 new Targets and Strategies to help Australia towards a better future by 2050 or sooner. Issue No. 6 brings the total Targets and Strategies for Australia Together to 273. This issue contains ambitious Strategies on population control, humanitarian aid and women's health and safety . View the full plan.

This is Part 1 of ACFP's video series summarising the findings of The State of Australia 2022. The focus here is on the state of Australia's economy. The finding is that Australians are definitely not progressing towards the sort of economy they want, due to the failure of neoliberal economic policies that have prevailed in Australia since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Australians are moving towards the polar opposite of their preferred economy. View Part 1 of The State of Australia 2022 here (approx. 45 minutes).

​The State of Australia 2022 is a major new report on Australia's wellbeing, security and preparedness for the future at the end of the term of office of the 46th parliament of Australia. It provides detailed and summary results on our performance as a nation over the last two decades in making a better Australia. This comprehensive, evidence-based review shows clearly that the dominant policies of the last ten years have let Australians down badly. Find out exactly how strong and healthy we are as a nation and what we can do to get back on track towards the Australia we want. Click here to read The State of Australia 2022.  

This is Part 1 of Episode 2 in ACFP's video series, Snapshots from Australia Together. This series showcases suites of Targets and Strategies in Australia Together that deal with particular issues. This first Part focuses on Targets necessary for a new, strong, sustainable Australian economy and Strategies essential for an equitable recovery from the pandemic recession including Strategies for:

• an Accord on Wealth, Welfare and Wellbeing,

• reversal of neoliberalism, and for

• introduction of a social wage for all Australians.

Watch Part 1 of Episode 2 here.

The fourth issue of the starting draft of Australia Together is available here. It contains 12 new Targets and Strategies to help Australia towards a better future by 2050 or sooner. Issue No. 4 brings the total Targets and Strategies for Australia Together to over 230. This issue contains ambitious Strategies and Targets for economic reform and equality. View the full plan.

This open letter to the Prime Minister shows how the Morrison government still has an opportunity to lead Australia with decency. Read the Open Letter, including the petition demanding that Australia lead the world at COP26 to stop global heating.

This is Episode 1 in ACFP's new series, Snapshots from Australia Together. This series showcases suites of Targets and Strategies in Australia Together that deal with particular issues. This first episode focuses on Strategies to fix climate change. Watch the full episode here.

In this series ACFP explains how National IP&R works to help Australians build the most wonderful future. In Episode 1, we show:

• why National IP&R is necessary at this critical time in Australia,

• how it can help us organise our plans and tell leaders what we want, and

• how it is a game changer in the way power is shared in democracy.

By watching this series, Australians can begin to master this easy process for taking more control of our lives and futures and leaving a better world for future generations. View Episode 1 here: 30 minutes.

In this last part of Episode 2 of "What is National Integrated Planning & Reporting?", Dr Kelly explains the last three elements of National IP&R:

• Element No. 6 - open and transparent communication channels,

• Element No. 7 - the Australia Together National Wellbeing Index, and

• Element no. 8 - the End of Term Report.

These are the elements that allow us to integrate our Strategies so that they speed us safely to our preferred future. They are also key to our ability to:

• ​form a new social contract with future generations and with elected leaders, and

• hold governments to account for delivering what matters most to us in all our diversity.

View Episode 2, Part 3 here: 47 minutes.

The second issue of the starting draft of Australia Together is available here. It contains 21 new Targets and Strategies to help Australia towards a better future by 2050 or sooner. Issue No. 2 brings the total Targets and Strategies for Australia Together to over 200. View the full plan.

Read the starting draft of Australia's first long term national plan for a better society, environment, economy and democracy.

View ACFP's supplementary submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. This News Media Bargaining Code can expose the Commonwealth to significant legal risk.

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 7 which covers Issue 17 on Australians' declining health and safety at home, Issue 18 on declining educational attainment , Issue 19 on the decline in our quality of life and social cohesion and Issue 20 on declining wellbeing and happiness.

View ACFP's written submission here. Find out how the media concentration in Australia can get worse under the ACCC's News Media Bargaining Code, how we can prevent this and how Australia can take world-leading role in community engagement for collaborative development of a regulatory framework for the information market in the digital age.  

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 4 Part 1 which covers Issue 9 - Unethical governance.

Click here to view this article on how federal policy on climate change is creating a huge hole in Australia's budget, crippling our capacity to repay our Covid-19 debt and ruining our future economy.

Click here to view Episode 2 which covers the first five issues Australia needs to resolve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050: Issue 1 - Growing inequality; Issue 2 - Growing Poverty; Issue 3: Loss of the fair go for all; Issue 4 - Growth in racial and religious conflict; and Issue 5 - Indigenous exclusion.

Read about how Australia's democracy is under threat because the successive federal executive governments have been assaulting the parliament and the courts.

Read the full article here.

Listen to a reading here.

Read Bronwyn Kelly's answers to Questions on Notice from Senator Lidia Thorpe after Dr Kelly testimony before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in its Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework.

Read the full response here.

Read Bronwyn Kelly's article on the occasion of the defeat of the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. It was a very sad day for Australia but it may also be the start of  a journey towards a democracy of equals.

Read the full article here.

Listen to Dorothea Mackellar's iconic poem set to music here.

On 28 September 2023, ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly spoke as a witness in the Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework.

Read the full address and supporting material here.

Read about how constitutional enshrinement of human rights is essential if Australians are to ensure a better future for their kids in the age of climate change

Read the full article here.

Read about how Australians have expressed values that are compassionate, life-affirming and inclusive. 

Read the full article here.

The federal government has sought submissions on Australia's legal arrangements for human rights. ACFP has submitted a federal Human Rights Act is long overdue but it will not provide sufficient protection for the rights of Australians. Human rights can only be secured by constitutional enshrinement. .

Read the full submission here.

ACFP’s Founder Bronwyn Kelly is now on Substack with a newsletter on

The State of Australia. Subscribe for regular updates, articles, videos and podcasts at this link.

https://bronwynkelly.substack.com/

Read or listen to the first article here.

Read independent commentary by former University Lecturer in finance and Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development, Ian McAuley, in his Weekly Roundup column for Pearls and Irritations. In this Roundup article Ian summarises ACFP Founder Bronwyn Kelly's essay in reply to Jim Chalmers on Australia's economy. As McAuley says, Bronwyn "presents three dimensions of a people’s economy" and suggests how Australians might have conversations about this with Treasurer Chalmers.

Read Ian McAuley's article here.

Read about how we need a people's constitution if we want an Australia worth celebrating.

Read the full article in Pearls and Irritations here.

Read The People's Constitution here.

Read The People's Constitution on Kindle here.

Read Bronwyn Kelly's article in the Commonwealth Journal on Local Governance on National Integrated Planning & Reporting. This is the first peer reviewed journal to recognise the potential of National IP&R to help communities work with national governments to build a better future. Read the full article here.

The video (approx. 17 minutes) summarises the results of the Better Futures Commitment Index for Election 2022. The Index shows how much each of the three major parties - Liberal, Labor and the Greens - is committed to making the Vision for Australia Together a reality. View the video here to see the difference between the major parties in their commitment to the nation's better future. The difference is substantial. Read the full Election 2022 report here and make your own choice.

This is Part 2 of ACFP's video series summarising the findings of The State of Australia 2022. The focus here is on the impact of policies for women, gender diverse Australians, the natural environment, climate change, corruption, and foreign relations on our wellbeing and security as a nation. The results are not good. They show Australia is a nation in decline. But Part 2 also discusses Australia's strengths and how we can use those to reverse the trend of decline. View Part 2 of The State of Australia 2022 here (approx. 40 minutes)..

The fifth issue of the starting draft of Australia Together is available here. It adds 33 new Targets and Strategies to help Australia towards a better future by 2050 or sooner. Issue No. 5 brings the total Targets and Strategies for Australia Together to 265. This issue contains ambitious Strategies on preparedness for natural disasters, women's safety and equity, defence capability, reconciliation with First Nations and protection of democracy through equitable taxpayer funding of elections. View the full plan.

In this second part of Episode 2 in ACFP's video series, Snapshots from Australia Together, ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly takes viewers through more of the Strategies in Australia Together that are necessary for an equitable recovery from the pandemic recession and for establishment of a new, sustainable economy - one fit for 21st century markets. It covers Strategies for:

• greater involvement by Australians in how public money is spent,

• institutional reforms for a new economy,

• a re-vitalised public sector,

• wider economy productivity gains, and

• restored fairness in how public funding is raised.

Watch Part 2 of Episode 2 here.

This article sets out four essential sets of strategies for a federal government to deal with climate change. None of them are about relying on technology to allow us to continue to use fossil fuels. We will never reach net zero with Scott Morrison's plan. His is not "the Australian way". Read the full article here. And find details of the Australia Together plan for fixing climate change here.

This article explains how the Murdoch media is attempting to perpetrate a new fraud on Australians about climate change. It also shows that the world needs to adopt a carbon emissions budget because we are perilously close to climate catastrophe. Read the full article here.

The COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November is a make-or-break meeting for climate change. Negotiators need a new framework to share responsibility fairly for keeping temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius. And Australia needs to shift from being among the least cooperative nations to being a leader in stopping global heating. We can do this. Sign the petition here.  

Episode 2 of "What is National Integrated Planning & Reporting?" comes in three parts. In this first part we look at the origins of Integrated Planning & Reporting, introduce its eight elements and explain the first four elements:

1. Open genuine community engagement,

2. A Vision for Australia Together;

3. Safe Directions towards the Vision, and

4. Integrated Targets and Strategies.

See how these form the basis of a long term national plan that Australians can build together. View Episode 2, Part 1 here: 37 minutes.

In this third and final episode of "What is National Integrated Planning & Reporting?", Dr Kelly shows how we can get efficiencies and opportunities from long term integrated planning that we cannot get from any other activity within our election cycles and democratic processes.She sets out how it can help us rise above politics and set our own powerful agenda for the nation's future and she discusses why we should grab the opportunity of National Integrated Planning & Reporting before it's too late. View Episode 3 here: 51 minutes.

View the full article as it appeared in Pearls and Irritations. Hint: the secret is to get together and develop an inclusive, integrated plan for the nation we want to become and use it to instruct our politicians on what we want and how we prefer to get it. That plan is called "Australia Together".  Check out the starting draft of the plan here. 

View the full article as it appeared in Pearls and Irritations. Hint: the list of twelve things we can do to save quality journalism does not include the ACCC's ill-conceived News Media Bargaining Code. 

View Dr Kelly's speech to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee and the supporting kit. This legislation for a mandatory Code puts consumers and democracy last and media moguls first.

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 4 Part 2 which covers Issue 10 - Fractious International Relations.

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 4 Part 3 which covers Issue 11 - Corporate Irresponsibility.

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 3 which covers Issue 6 - Our outmoded and failing Constitution; Issue 7 - Loss of rights, open governance and transparency; and Issue 8: Declining participation in democracy. 

Click here to view Episode 6 Part 2 which covers Australia's climate policy failures and our options for arriving safely in 2050 with minimal climate damage and the strongest possible economy.

Click here to view Episode 1 which outlines the top twenty issues Australia needs to resolve by 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050 with an acceptable degree of wellbeing and security.

Listen to Episodes 40, 41, 42 & 43 of the Australia Together Podcast containing an audio recording of Bronwyn Kelly's four-part essay on Saving Australian Democracy and Sovereignty by Building a New Constitution

Listen to Episodes 40, 41, 42 & 43 here.

Read the full transcript here.

Read about a key lesson from the Voice referendum - unless human rights are established in the Constitution, other constitutional reforms are unlikely to succeed.

Read or listen to the full article here.

Read how a Yes vote in the Voice referendum will speed up Australia's inevitable transition to a democracy of political equals. A No vote will slow it down.

Click here for the audio and script of the article.

Read about how with a No vote in the referendum on the Indigenous Voice we stand to lose the chance for everyone to have a voice as political equals, and how the loss doesn't stop there.

Read the full article here.

Read about how Robodebt displays the dangers of a Constitution which does not protect human rights.

Read the full article here.

Read about how a Human Rights Act is desirable but that it will not suffice to protect the human rights of Australians. Nothing less than constitutional enshrinement of human rights will prevent their abuse by governments.

Read the full article here.

Click here for a summary of ACFP's submission to the Inquiry into Australia's Human Rights Framework.

The Australia Together Podcast is now launched from Substack and will be available on other podcast platforms. 

The first episodes will feature the full audio version of the new book by ACFP Founder Bronwyn Kelly, The People’s Constitution: the path to empowerment of Australians in a 21st century democracy.

Listen to a complete reading of The People’s Constitution in weekly instalments.

Purchase The People's Constitution here in paperback or on Kindle.

Read about a Human Rights Act will improve access to rights for Australians but will not be enough to secure peace. We need constitutional enshrinement of human rights .

Read the full article here.

Read about why Australia has come so close to a disastrous future and how we might evade it with a people's constitution.

Read the full article here.

The People's Constitution offers Australians a safe path towards their empowerment in democracy by showing how they can add their voices to their votes. It shows how they can dramatically but efficiently increase their influence in their own governance by creating clear terms of trust with those they elect to positions of power. It also shows how, in the process, they can secure a far better future for every Australian.

Read The People's Constitution here.

Read The People's Constitution on Kindle here.

Read about what non-Indigenous Australians will lose if we legislate an Indigenous Voice instead of enshrining it in the Constitution. We will lose a lot. Read the full article here.

The report shows how much each of the three major parties - Liberal, Labor and the Greens - is committed to making the Vision for Australia Together a reality. It incorporates the inaugural Better Futures Commitment Index.

​Find out the differences between the major parties in their commitment to the nation's better future. The difference is substantial. Read the full Election 2022 report here and make your own choice.

This article shows how ACFP's Australia Together National Wellbeing Index and our new comprehensive report on The State of Australia 2022 can help Australians see through the lies of politicians. View the full article here. View The State of Australia 2022 here.  

This article sets out how important it is for Australians to accept the invitation from First Nations to enshrine their Voice in the Constitution and to walk with them in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. Let's say yes before it is too late.

In this third part of Episode 2 in ACFP's video series, Snapshots from Australia Together, ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly sets out how a social wage could work for the benefit of all Australians and how it would stimulate the Australian economy fairly, affordably and equitably. Watch Part 3 of Episode 2 here.

This article shows how close we are to planetary catastrophe from climate change - perhaps as close as three years away. Read the full article here.

This video explains how close the world is to irreversible climate change and how adoption of a global carbon budget of 235 billion tonnes is likely to give the world its last chance to stop global heating. Watch the video to find out how at COP26 we still stop global heating by 2030.

The third issue of the starting draft of Australia Together is available here. It contains 17 new Targets and Strategies to help Australia towards a better future by 2050 or sooner. Issue No. 3 brings the total Targets and Strategies for Australia Together to over 220. This issue contains ambitious Strategies and Targets for climate change prevention. View the full plan.

In this second part of Episode 2 of "What is National Integrated Planning & Reporting?", ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly explains how we can use National IP&R to plan the long term financial sustainability of a major part of our national economy - taxation revenues and expenditures. This covers element No. 5 - long term national financial planning with community involvement, which gives Australians their first opportunity to have a say in how their taxes are raised and spent. It gives them a say in building the federal budget so that we can finance a wonderful future at the lowest long run cost. View Episode 2, Part 2 here: 40 minutes.

View the full article as it appeared in Pearls and Irritations. National IP&R can give our public servants a much needed helping hand.

View this introduction to what Australia Together is. It’s Australia’s first national community-driven plan for a better future. It explains how we can build it together.

​

51 minutes on YouTube.

View the full video of ACFP's Founder, Dr Bronwyn Kelly, in appearance before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on 1 February 2021.

​

Check out the kit of evidence provided to senators showing that news businesses are not in crisis in Australia and that there is no bargaining power imbalance held by Google and Facebook over news businesses.

View ACFP's written submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee here on the Government's Mandatory Code to make Google and Facebook subsidise the Murdoch and Nine news businesses. The Code is not designed to support a healthy diversity of news businesses or journalism in Australia. 

ACFP's submission to the Senate Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia is presented by its Founder, Dr Bronwyn Kelly. She explores the facts about how far the Morrison government has gone to favour Murdoch by introducing an anti-competitive News Media Bargaining Code and how this attacks our democracy. Watch the video submission here. 

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 6 Part 1 which covers Issue 15 - Environmental Decline.

This videocast series covers twenty of the critical issues Australians need to solve before 2030 if we are to arrive safely in 2050. Click here to view Episode 5 which covers the economic issues: Issue 12 - Economic decline; Issue 13 - Loss of public ownership of assets and services; Issue 14: Inertia in transition to decarbonisation. 

Click here to read ACFP's Founder Bronwyn Kelly's essay on Prospects for journalism, the free information market and democracy in Australia under the ACCC's News Media Bargaining Code

Click here to view the video launch of Australian Community Futures Planning.