New Institute ~ Newcastle

The question of the future of the monarchy in Australia, and a possible shift to an Australian Republic has been debated for many years. The evolving perception of Australian identity after the 1988 bicentenary seemed to suggest that it was a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ Australia would change. Even Prince Charles seemed to suggest that it was time to move on.

But then there was prolonged debate leading up the millenium, the ‘Constitutional Convention’ and the unsuccessful referendum. While John Howard was Prime Minister there was obviously no change likely. Since then Malcolm Turnbull seems to have moved on from the issue, and has chosen to remain in public life, serving under Tony Abbot, a self-declared monarchist.

Meanwhile on the Labor side it has not been a major issue, although the significance of the recent change of Prime Ministers is not clear.

• So is the debate really dead, or is it just ‘resting’?
• Is Australia going to remain a monarchy?
• Will King Charles be our future monarch?
• And does it matter anyway? – It is not an issue that seems to resonate with Australian youth.

 To consider these issues and give an insight into what might happen next, we welcome John Warhurst, Professor of Political Science at Australian National University. For many years John has been one of Australia’s most respected analysts of the broad processes, influences and movements within Australian politics. Particular interests have included the political influence oforganised religion, and the role of lobbyists in Australian politics. But he has also been an active ‘player’ in the monarchy/republic debate, and has been a senior office-bearer in the Australian Republican Movement for many years.As such he brings an insightful perspective to this ongoing debate.

  THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

Come along to listen, and to join the discussion!  

VENUE: South Leagues Club, Llewllyn St. Merewether.

 DATE:  Tuesday 13th July 2010

 TIME: 7.00 till 8.30pm

You can use the links on the right to add this to your Facebook, take an RSS feed, or subscribe for email updates.

Following our June event: “Twitter and Social Media: what’s it good for” there was a buzz of interest and a number of people interested to know more.

Maybe you’d also like the opportunity to learn more about Twitter and some of the ways you can use it; or simply how to get started.

Click the Twitter logo to visit a site where you can learn more.

Now have a look at the ‘Coming Up’ page for news about some of the topics coming up.

If you were at the event, or online via twitter, now that a week has passed and thoughts have come and gone, why not click the Comment link and leave us some thoughts about last week. Let us know whether you like the idea of us keeping up a live tweet stream during our events, foe example.

You might have ideas for ways that we can continue to attempt to connect people and ideas; allow opportunities for a variety of people to collaborate and ultimately, to create better futures.

Tuesday, June 8th, 7pm

Unless you come to grips with social media and start thinking about how it may benefit your clients and your business, you are missing all sorts of opportunities. Think again if you believe social media such as Twitter and Facebook are just for kids, writes Trish Carroll in the Australasian Law Management Journal (http://bit.ly/aMsjuW)

Social media is now gaining acceptance as much, much more than an online space for gossip and chatter.  For our June meeting, the New Institute presents a fascinating look at the way that a range of people use social media as a highly important part of their personal and professional lives.

You’ll hear from communications and marketing professionals, bloggers and twitter users.

Local radio presenter, thinker and writer, Carol Duncan, (@carolduncan) will be part of a quartet of presenters who will look at the answers to the question from a range of perspectives.

Craig Wilson, (@mediahunter) from Sticky has some fascinating insights into how Social Media is creating new and exciting opportunities for doing business and harnessing the power of connection.

Pip Cleaves, (@pipcleaves) recognised throughout the digital education revolution community in NSW as an absolute standout in delivering high quality ideas and support will share examples of the ways that Social Media is assisting large numbers of teachers and schools revitalise the way they ‘plan school.’

Gordon Whitehead (@The_Git), also from Sticky, will share some visions for how Social Media has created an opportunity for ongoing dialogue, and the sharing of ideas about creating better futures and having some fun and quality human interaction along the way.  Look out for the New Lunaticks !

There will be time for some Q&A and there’s always even more time afterward to catch up informally.

Social media is providing an ‘always on’ means of being in touch, of finding out information, of providing commentary and sharing.  A broad spectrum of learners is using social media to connect, collaborate and create.

Watchers of ABC’s Q&A will have seen the ‘twitter stream’ during the show.  Join us at our June meeting to see the impact of an event which operates with both a live presentation and an online twitter ‘back channel.’  Following on from some of the themes from  the Hunter Innovation Festival which is currently underway, come along and gain an understanding of the vibrant community of the Newcastle ‘Twitterverse’  If you can’t be here, join us online where we’ll be posting some lead up information and ideas for following the event on twitter.

This meeting is aimed at not only enthusiasts but rather at the ‘anyone’ in the community who remain confused, ignorant or uncertain about what all this twittering is all about – come along and see for yourself!

MEETING OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

VENUE: South Leagues Club, Llewellyn St. Merewether.
DATE: Tuesday 8th June 2010
TIME: 7.00 till 8.30pm ADMISSION: $5
INFORMATION: Roger Pryor – 0422 420 194  or Angie Di Lorenzo 0422 401129

The New Institute

Supporting our Volunteer Groups:

Not Just the “Mad, Sad and Bad”

Tuesday, May 11^th, 7pm

The next meeting of the New Institute coincides with Volunteers Week. Whether it is social and sports clubs, youth groups, churches, service clubs, or voluntary carers, it is clear that Volunteers and Volunteer-based Organisations are part of the fundamental fabric of our society.  Despite their importance, however, many such groups are facing tremendous challenges.  Insurance requirements, OH&S rules, complex regulations, inadequate facilities, child protection, public liability, skills required for secretarial or bookkeeping tasks….the list is long.  Recruitment of committed volunteers is always difficult.  Socio-economic changes, less stable jobs and changes in family roles mean that fewer people seem to have with spare time to give to the community.

Volunteering is becoming seen as an activity for ‘active retirees’ and others without ‘busy jobs’.  Perhaps less kindly, it is seen as an activity only for the passionate enthusiast, the lonely, or those who seek personal aggrandisement or other rewards – the ‘Mad, Sad and Bad’.  Paradoxically, some volunteers are being proactively organised to fill necessary roles that would otherwise require paid employees – the volunteers are being exploited as free labour.

Volunteer’s Week is an appropriate time to celebrate the importance of both voluntary people and activities.  It is also a time to ask how the challenges to the volunteering fabric of our society could be better addressed.  This discussion will be opened by Tony Ross, Manager of the Hunter Volunteer Centre.  He will be joined by a panel bringing a wide range of perspectives including:- Louise Duff, Community assistance Co-ordinator at Newcastle City Council;  David Eland, CEO of Northern NSW Football; Gordon Patrick, Manager of Trees in Newcastle;  June Cameron, Chief Commisioner of Guides for the Asia-Pacific; and Leone Woolnough, long-standing volunteer worker for a number of community groups, including Lifeline and Palliative Care in western Lake Macquarie.

The panel will workshop ideas aiming to identify potential new solutions to the challenges of volunteering and voluntary organisations. New Institute subscribers, friends, and the general public are requested to submit their thoughts (by email before the Forum). How could the Community, Governments, or Employers better help voluntary organisations? How could legal/Insurance constraints be addressed?  Where is the line between voluntary support and cheap labour?  Would better training for voluntary organisations be useful?

The ideas and discussion will be assembled into an aggregated report for further distribution to the media and relevant groups such as local and state governments.

SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION – fdiloren@bigpond.net.au

Or, maybe you’d just like to make an online comment?  Click the word Comment above

MEETING OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC (subject to etiquette: see overleaf)

VENUE: South Leagues Club, Llewellyn St.  Merewether.

DATE: Tuesday 11th May 2010  TIME: 7.00 till 8.30pm  ADMISSION: $5

FURTHER INFORMATION:  Angie Di Lorenzo  0422 401129

The New Institute

A Strong and Effective Voice for the Hunter:-

Strategies and Structures

Tuesday, April 13th, 7pm

There has long been a belief that the Hunter Region is poorly served by the structure of Local and State governments, and that the ability of the region and its people to have a real say in decision-making, achieve appropriate resource allocation, and influence politics and public affairs more broadly, suffers as a result.

There have been various times in the region’s history when powerful and effective alliances have achieved great things by working together strategically.  At other times, division and disputation has resulted in lost opportunities, institutions and resources, so the whole region has suffered.

To explore these issues further, the April forum of the New Institute will consider the existing structure of government in the Hunter.  There are questions to be asked. Is it really a problem? How could it be better?  Is it worth thinking about mergers of local government bodies, or is this just a fanciful distraction?   Do we need more marginal seats?  Would stronger development of regional organisations be effective?  What about non-government bodies such as community organisations and lobby groups?  And is the idea of a Hunter Region separate from the Sydney Megalopolis now just historical tradition, fading in significance?

Whatever the answers to these questions, it is worth considering what could be done now, within current structures, to increase the Hunter’s ‘voice’ in State and National politics, and to secure more resources for the Region.

We welcome Howard Dick, Professor of Management at Newcastle and Melbourne Universities, and Brett Derwin, President of the Hunter Business Chamber to lead this discussion.  The forum will be moderated to ensure that a broad range of opinions are shared, aiming for constructive engagement around this contentious but important issue.

THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

VENUE: South Leagues Club, Llewellyn St.  Merewether.

DATE: Tuesday 13th April 2010  

TIME: 7.00 till 8.30pm

ADMISSION: $5 or more (donation to the New Institute)

FURTHER INFORMATION:  Angie Di Lorenzo - 0422 401129.

The New Institute
First Meeting for 2010

Obama’s first year: -A record we can believe in?

Tuesday, March 9th, 7pm

To great international fanfare, Barack Obama won the White House in 2008 promising Americans change they could believe in. But now, little more than a year into his presidency, conventional wisdom suggests that Obama has failed to change much at all and that his whole agenda is in serious jeopardy.

To open the New Institute’s program of public forums for 2010 we welcome back Dr Michael Ondaatje, local expert on American history and politics, to review the first year of the Obama presidency – and expectations for the next year.

Surveying the ups and downs of Obama’s first year in Washington, his lecture cuts through the media spin to offer a fresh and historically-informed assessment of the president’s early record in both domestic and foreign policy. Looking beyond simple analysis of Obama “the man,” he also scrutinizes the wider American political culture, considering how different groups and institutions have responded to the President and what their responses reveal about power and society in twenty-first century America.

Dr. Michael Ondaatje is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle. He is a prize-winning teacher and author, whose recent book – Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America – was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in December 2009. He is currently busy writing a book about Barack Obama for UWA Press. Michael is also a regular commentator on American history and politics for ABC radio and The Herald newspaper.

THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

VENUE: South Leagues Club, Llewllyn St. Merewether.

DATE: Tuesday 9th March 2010

TIME: 7.00 till 8.30pm

ADMISSION: $5 or more (donation to the New Institute)

FURTHER INFORMATION: Angie Di Lorenzo 0422 401129.

Welcome to the Newcastle New Institute website.

This site will contain information about activities coming up and much more.