Another standout is Anne Summers’s excellent essay on the notion of the “lucky country” – a phrase [...]]]> A review in the Sun-Herald today describes my essay ‘On Luck’ as “brilliant”.  The essay is now included in an ‘On-nibus’ collection of eight of the “little books on big themes” essays published by Melbourne University Press in 2008.

Another standout is Anne Summers’s excellent essay on the notion of the “lucky country” – a phrase that was intended as an insult but which we have somehow transformed into a national epithet.

From the high-minded to the masses

The ON-nibus
(Melbourne University Press, $29.99)
Reviewed by Johanna Leggatt

Few book editors would be game enough to pitch a collection of intellectual essays at the mass market, well aware that most readers prefer to sit down with that year’s Booker Prize winner rather than wade through an earnest assortment of ideas. Like the short story and poetry, dense erudition has struggled to find shelf space in an industry reliant on the airport bestseller to stay afloat.

MUO’s Little Books on Big Themes series is the stark exception; largely because publishing chief Louise Adler knew that in order to sell the books their intellectual rigour would have to be couched in attractive display cases and slick sleeve designs. She kept the word count down – 10,000 for each book – and relied on a host of celebrity writers to bring in the readers: Germaine Greer, Don Watson, David Malouf and Barrie Kosky, among others.

Thankfully, MUP’s tricks of design and display have not altered the quality of the content and the books are, for the most part, an outstanding collection of ideas.

The ON-nibus reproduces the first eight essays of the successful 2008 series – from Greer’s seething treatise on the state of Aboriginal affairs (On Rage) to Blanche d’Alpuget’s riposte to years of gossip about her affair with a former prime minister, whom, curiously, she refers to only as “M” (On Longing).

The authors were given free rein to write about subjects close to their hearts and the essays are as impassioned as they are informed. Most favour the personal approach over the didactic.

Greer’s essay is the more scholarly of the collection, tracing the dysfunction in many Aboriginal communities to the rage felt by Aboriginal men, whom, she argues, have been systematically emasculated and degraded since white settlement.

Aboriginal rage, Greer argues, has been denied its proper hearing and it has turned on itself with shattering consequences: “Often homeless, jobless, illiterate, with neither driver’s licence, birth certificate, nor Medicare card, the young Aboriginal male has virtually no chance of staying on the right side of the law. Lawless behaviour is the nearest he can come to resistance.”

Another standout is Anne Summers’s excellent essay on the notion of the “lucky country” – a phrase that was intended as an insult but which we have somehow transformed into a national epithet.

Australians, Summers argues, are easily seduced by the idea of luck and the notion making a quick buck – either from the land or poker machines. She points to our obsession with gambling as evidence of this flaw in the national psyche and astutely notes that governments are equally at the mercy of Lady Luck, with their coffers full of poker machine taxes and their love of a natural resource.

The problem with latter, Summers says, is that there is no skill or planning involved and lapping up the benefits of bountiful resources without proper economic management is a flawed approach.

It’s one of the many brilliant essays that deserve to be widely read in the collection and if there is one book that can persuade us to become a nation of essay readers, this is it.

The collection, an omnibus, is a real bargain: only $30 for the eight original essays, among [...]]]> My essay “On Luck” which was published as a separate little book in 2008 has now been reprinted as part of a collection of 8 of the original “On” (Little Books on Big Subjects) series published by Melbourne University Press.

The collection, an omnibus, is a real bargain: only $30 for the eight original essays, among them works by Germaine Greer, David Malouf, Blanche D’Alpuget, Don Watson, Gay Bilson and others.  (When they were published separately they were $20 each, although they were gorgeous, high production hardcovers).

This is a great present for Christmas or any other occasion for your thinking friends. Click here to find out more.

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AN ARTIST LOST: REDISCOVERING CONSTANCE STOKES National Gallery of Australia, 17 November, 2009

DCA DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP BRIEFING Review of EOWA and State of Play for Women at Work, Melbourne, Wednesday 25 November 2009

SWB 2009 OPENING Opening Address, Serious Women’s Business Conference, Melbourne Convention Centre, Tuesday 10 November, 2009

THE STORY OF THE STORY Talk [...]]]> I have posted some of my recent speeches:

AN ARTIST LOST: REDISCOVERING CONSTANCE STOKES
National Gallery of Australia, 17 November, 2009

DCA DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP BRIEFING
Review of EOWA and State of Play for Women at Work, Melbourne, Wednesday 25 November 2009

SWB 2009 OPENING
Opening Address, Serious Women’s Business Conference, Melbourne Convention Centre, Tuesday 10 November, 2009

THE STORY OF THE STORY
Talk to the Annual Dinner of the Copyright Council, Sydney, 15 October, 2009

THE NEW GFC: THE GENDER FAIRNESS CRISIS
Address to Victorian Premier’s Women’s Summit, Melbourne, 8 September, 2009

You’ll also find these and older speeches available to read on the Speeches page.

This situation is bad for the economy, bad for national productivity, and bad for women.

It is also a shocking waste of [...]]]> Australian women have one of the lowest labour market participation rates in the OECD, are underrepresented in the leadership ranks of public companies and continue to receive only 82.5 per cent of what men earn.

This situation is bad for the economy, bad for national productivity, and bad for women.

It is also a shocking waste of resources.

Australia ranks equal No 1 in the World Economic Forum gender index of women’s education, yet is only No 41 in women’s workforce participation.

In other words, all the money spent on education is being wasted if women are unable to find – or retain – rewarding and worthwhile employment.

The federal government’s current review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in Employment Agency (EOWA) and the legislation it administers, (EOWW) provides an opportunity to redress these imbalances.

It is important to tell the federal government that change is needed – so women are an integral part of the post GFC economic recovery.

For more information about the review:

Read the Minister’s press releases here and here

Read the Issues paper

Read my Keynote Address to Victorian Premier’s Women’s Summit 2009

Watch this fabulous  presentation setting out the case for change: Where women are at today

EOWA Model Submission for you to adapt and send to the EOWA review

Read the EOWA Submission to the review

Read Anne Summers submission to EOWA Review

The closing date for submissions was 30 October.  All submissions will be posted on the Office for Women website