Summing Up: Pearls and Irritations

The world and its people are facing serious local and global challenges. Climate change, economic instability, limits to free speech, threats to independent media reporting, and increasing social inequality all signal the breakdown of democratic systems across the world. Our political institutions and leaders are failing us with increasingly conservative policies that favour big business. Far-right political movements gain ascendency and move whole nations towards fascism while American hostility to China threatens global security and economic prosperity. Yet we learn and grow most when we are challenged by difference and adversity: when we are out of our comfort zones. Such experiences offer turning points for change. I've had many such turning points throughout my career and have become more radical as I've grown older. In 1999 I published my autobiography, Things You Learn Along the Way. This new collection continues with personal accounts and my views on issues that remain of concern to me. It comprises posts I wrote for Pearls and Irritations along with several speeches, interviews and articles I've written over the past 14 years. I hope these accounts continue to prompt readers to think, question and act for a more just Australia and world.