• July 18, 2014

6BAT. The work problem [discussed 5 October 2014]

For most ordi­nary peo­ple, their job is not some­thing that they enjoy much. How­ev­er, with­out for­mal work they lose focus, become depen­dent on wel­fare, and become social­ly stig­ma­tized. It seems that increas­ing num­bers of peo­ple will nev­er be able to have secure employ­ment. What is a prac­ti­cal, long term nation­al solu­tion to “the work prob­lem”…

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5BAT. Is border control inevitable? [proposed by Thor]

Before the 19th Cen­tu­ry few peo­ple trav­elled much, and nation states as we under­stand them hard­ly exist­ed. Now bor­ders are rigid­ly defined, tourism is com­mon, but emi­gra­tion is a strict priv­i­lege. What are viable alter­na­tives, if any, to the present pat­tern?

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4BAT. Property and life choices [discussed August 24, 2014]

How does own­ing (or not own­ing) real estate, and mort­gage debt, influ­ence the behav­iour of indi­vid­u­als in their wider lives? What are the con­se­quences of the­se pat­terns for whole nations?

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3BAT. The purpose of education [discussed August 10, 2014]

Is edu­ca­tion most com­mon­ly treat­ed pure­ly as an instru­men­tal tool (e.g. to get a job), or as a path to self-devel­op­ment, or both? How can a bal­ance between objec­tives be achieved in pub­lic edu­ca­tion?

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2BAT. The right to information [proposed by Thor]

The Aus­tralian Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment is propos­ing a new law to expand the pow­ers of nation­al secu­ri­ty agen­cies and increase penalties for dis­clos­ing pro­tect­ed infor­ma­tion. Would this law be in Australia’s best inter­ests?

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