Books published by Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd

Gene Tunny is a Brisbane-based economist and former Australian Treasury official. During the late 2000s financial crisis, while working in the Treasury Building in Canberra, he was profoundly disturbed when he witnessed visiting Queensland Treasury officials pleading for Australian government intervention to rescue the Queensland state government from its fiscal troubles. This prompted him to investigate how Queensland got itself into such a fiscal mess. This book, Beautiful One Day, Broke the Next, is his attempt to tell that story. It is based on a considerable amount of research and analysis of state budgets since the late 1980s, as well as interviews with important players, including former state Treasurers and Under Treasurers.

Tony's pieces are an absolute tonic. That's because Tony himself is full of such palpable energy, empathy, a relentless ear for hilarity and irony, and most importantly boundless curiosity. The people he meets tumble out joyously - like wrestler Gorilla Monsoon, Mod-girl concert screamers, Perth's last Chinese market gardener, Manjimup axe-men and poignantly and bravely, the daughter aged three he abandoned -- Rowan Callick, for five years China correspondent of The Australian. The origins of a treasure -- and Tony is very much that -- are often as interesting as the glittering hoard itself. In this collection of his youthful Perth reporting are all those rare qualities that make him exceptional: curiosity, wit, a flair for language and above all and always, a passion for truth. -- Roger Franklin, Editor, Quadrant OnLine Tony's quirky vignettes of life in the 1960s are unique entertainment --- a cheerful expedition across unexpected bits of not-so-old WA from Kalumburu to Yarloop ...-- Robert Murray, author of The Making of Australia (2014) and a dozen histories

On turning 18 you have a big decision to make. Are you going to take responsibility for yourself or are you going to rely on society? If you want to be self-reliant you need to start now.Self-reliance starts with not leaning on others and moves to buying houses, educating children and then providing for yourself in retirement. That requires a lot of planning. To get it right you need to understand your environment, understand yourself, and balance your lifestyle with job satisfaction, financial rewards, Kudos and ethics.Life is tough, but satisfaction is only ever achieved when you shoulder a load and step outside your comfort zone.The Parallel University teaches you how to achieve your social responsibility of providing for yourself and your family. At present only 20% of the population manage to achieve that goal. Imagine the positive effect on the nation if we could increase that to 50% one by one, starting with you.

Having a strong culture of caring for the environment is a byword for a healthy society. However, it can go too far, and in highly urbanised Australia where most live remote from nature, decades of alarmist environmental campaigning has fostered a misguided conservation culture that lacks perspective, is intolerant of human resource use, and sees environmental protection in overly simplistic terms.According to this culture, forests are only ever protected when contained in large national parks or other forms of landscape reservation which are popularly presented as a vacant idyll that will magically restore itself to a natural, pre-European state. Unfortunately, this misconception ignores: 1) the extent to which forests have already been changed by unnatural fire regimes and the introduction of an array of feral and noxious pests; 2) the role played by active human intervention in managing these problems; and 3) the extent to which this management is associated with renewable resource use that generates wealth, requires access, and employs workforces.After several decades of acquiescence to this misguided conservation culture, Australia, which has been a world leader in integrating sensitive, renewable forest use and active management with high standards of environmental care, is progressively losing these skills.This book examines our conservation culture and how it has attained a political-correctness which has permeated the most influential areas of society with damaging consequences, not least for the environment itself.

This book provides a compelling vision for the Church's mission in the 21st Century. Fr Ken offers a comprehensive, practical, highly readable manual on the principles and strategies for the new evangelisation. This is a must read for all Catholics committed in their faith and concerned for the way ahead.

At a time when young people are reaching out for purpose and self-responsibility, Winners Don't Cheat offers simple and effective advice from a range of leaders such as Australia's first federal indigenous parliamentarian Neville Bonner, former prime ministers John Howard and Paul Keating, and even entertainers like Dave Grohl and Jamie Foxx.His series of short essays cover topics such as becoming a better writer, education versus employability, the benefits of hard work and simple goal setting. He even touches on some cosmopolitan 'life' parables, including what an Iraqi township can tell all Australians about basic goal setting, and how reforms to the New York City Police Department may even help with individual efforts at self-improvement.Jacobs, who was born in Papua New Guinea, is a security specialist, having worked for Australia's National Security Adviser and as a lead planner for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Brisbane G20. He is also a former Brisbane City Council election candidate, international youth volunteer, ministerial adviser, United Nations consultant and national water polo champion.

This is the story of an extraordinary woman - mother of twelve, Prime Minister's wife, first woman member of the House of Representatives and the first woman in a Federal Cabinet, radio broadcaster, newspaper columnist, author of three books - Enid Lyons was for many years the best known woman in Australia.Anne Henderson takes us on an intriguing tour of the first half of 20th century Australia - a time when politics was more fluid yet with many of the problems we face today - political party dysfunction, the widening gap between rich and poor, rural and urban, economic recession and the role of women in public life.In researching Enid Lyons' family background, Anne Henderson uncovers new and intriguing information about a 'family secret'.

Doug Morrissey's acclaimed book Ned Kelly: A Lawless Life (2015) was shortlisted for the prestigious Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History in 2016. This his second book in a trilogy of historical works dealing with Ned's life and times, shines a much-needed light on the bushranger's pioneer community. The lives of selectors, squatters, and stock thieves are examined revealing a complex community, significantly different from the Kelly myth fiction of squatter tyranny, police oppression and selector poverty and despair. Morrissey's book holds the key to understanding the Kelly Outbreak, Ned and his Sympathisers and the neglected 'silent' majority of respectable, law-abiding residents. It reveals the collaborative fulcrum on which community life turned, based on cooperation not conflict. Settling the land is discussed as a successful pioneering endeavor rather than the usual depressing tale of woe. Cultural beliefs, shared values, community goals and how people conducted and expressed themselves in their daily lives, are at the center of this groundbreaking book. Those writing about the bushranger's life and times from now on, will need to reference Morrissey's evidence-based research or their writings will not be taken seriously.

Emeritus Professor Gabriël A. Moens is a prominent Australian academic, researcher, teacher and administrator and his legacy is nothing short of extraordinary. Over his long and distinguished career he has acquired a solid reputation as a leading academic expert in constitutional law, legal philosophy, and business law, in particular in its international and comparative dimensions. Edited by Professor Augusto Zimmermann, 'A Commitment to Excellence: Essays in Honour of Professor Gabriël A. Moens' is a collection of essays written by leading lawyers and academics who share a profound admiration for his extraordinary life and legacy. These essays address some of the topics Professor Moens has taught during his highly successful career. These include constitutional law, contract law, comparative law, jurisprudence, European Union law, International commercial law, trade law, arbitration law and practice, and mooting. The result is a deeply impressive collection of articles that is a most fitting tribute to the remarkable career of Professor Moens.

Red tape costs the Australian economy as much as $176 billion a year. Governments create and enforce thousands of regulations on our workplaces and our communities. These rules slow and prevent businesses forming, people from flourishing, new technologies from being adopted, and hold back Australia's global competitiveness.Australia's Red Tape Crisis is an exploration of the economics, politics and culture of over-regulation. How should we structure our federation to achieve reform? Why should political responsibility sit with the elected? Does Australia have a deep desire for a federal bureaucracy? What is the future of red tape reduction policies?Together, the contributions of economists, philosophers, politicians and lawyers help define a path for overcoming Australia's red tape crisis.

The Snowflake Chronicles is a series of short books that aims to challenge, move and stir us to think about issues that provoke the political status quo. INTRODUCTION BY ROGER FRANKLINFOREWORD BY CHRIS ASHTON Everyone has an opinion on abortion, usually a very strongly held one. Sometimes it appears we keep having the same conversations and the same arguments about it without getting anywhere. The hope of this book is that people will take a fresh look at this contentious topic, taking in the science and philosophy on which abortion arguments are based. Also discussed is how breakthroughs in medical science may pave the way for a possible compromise between the pro-life and pro-choice positions. Right Thinking on Abortion is the first in The Snowflake Chronicles series that explores contemporary hot-button issues. Nicola Wright is passionate about liberty and human flourishing and has an interest in free speech advocacy, and resisting the 'nanny state'. She is the Managing Editor at LibertyWorks Inc., a free-market libertarian think-tank, and has written for The Spectator Australia, Online Opinion, Spiked Online and Quillette.

This exclusive ALS Friedman Conference volume is a collection of Jeffrey Tucker's writings that have been selected in order to showcase his views on a wide range of issues. In reading these pieces you will be treated to Tucker's unique insights and libertarian outlook that will leave you with a fresh new perspective. Tucker isn't afraid to talk about any topic and this volume includes pieces on cryptocurrency, sexual harassment, cultural appropriation, net neutrality, the welfare state and more. Tucker's style is friendly and conversational, and he writes always with libertarian principles firmly in the spotlight. Enjoy this first of many Friedman papers, published each year in time for the next ALS Friedman Conference. Jeffrey Tucker, Editorial Director American Institute for Economic Research https://www.aier.org/staff/jeffrey-tucker

"This short book focuses on Harold Holt's political philosophy and its expression in what I have termed 'liberal imagination'. It is an attempt to show how a man of genuinely liberal instincts applied his initiative and creativity - the essence of imagination - to a range of political issues and practical challenges during the middle decades of the twentieth century... The life of Harold Holt provides some useful illustrations of political imagination and, later in his career, political stagnation. Notwithstanding the passage of fifty years, there is much to be learned from what Holt did and didn't do, and why." - From the Introduction

The Department of Government has fostered research and taught political science to students under various names since two lecturers were appointed to teach Public Administration in 1917. It is recognized as the first school of politics in Australia and has earned the title of Cradle of Australian Political Studies. While the major developments within the Department are chronicled in this book, its story is in many ways a reflection of the general history of Australian university education over the last century. It had its origins at a time when university education was a preserve of the well-to-do, suffered through the years of Depression and war, then emerged into a completely new era in the late 1940s when the university sector underwent massive expansion. That caused considerable stress to all institutions, but also provided great opportunities for staff and students. The scope of the discipline of politics itself underwent radical change with the social and political developments of the 1960s and 1970s. From the beginning of the 1990s universities were forced to abandon a collegial management style and adapt to a competitive corporate environment. The Department of Government was caught up in that development, which threatened its very existence. Corporate management demands, along with the continuing unfolding of a knowledge revolution based on computer technology, provide the challenges for the future.

Keeping the Faith is an incredibly optimistic book. It is precisely the sort of book that is required for these difficult times. It's a clear-eyed assessment of the very major challenges faced not just by the Catholic Church in Australia, but which confront our entire society. But the central purpose of the book is not to provide a catalogue of ills. Crucially, Fr James provides a way forward for the Catholic Church. He charts a course for how the Church can continue to make the sort of contribution to Australian society that it has in the past and which has helped make this country the safe, secure, and prosperous country that it is. -- John Roskam, The Institute of Public Affairs, Melbourne.Keeping the Faith puts forward a basic theory ... that the church has become fearful of criticism and is no longer promoting the things it alleges it stands for. Father James makes the case that the adoption of many socialist ideas especially in the social justice framework is a poor attempt to be popular and has not delivered any increase in Mass attendance. My impression of such attempts are that they are amateurish because our Church leaders are not experts in this field, and many people are sick of "Lefty" solutions for aboriginals, refugees and climate change. -- Jim Molan, AO DSC former Senior Officer in the Australian Army and Commander of the multi-national task force in Iraq in 2004

The contributions to this book are from people who were involved in the radical and progressive movements in Australian social work from the 1970s onward. The contributors tell their stories and reflect on their achievements and struggles to promote progressive change in social work in Australia. In documenting these experiences, the book provides an important resource for students and practitioners about a critically important part of their professional and educational heritage. The book also outlines a platform of change strategies for re-imaging a radical agenda, as social work responds to the impending social, political and environmental challenges facing future generations.

Planet Earth is a minuscule part of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the only place where we humans can practically live. We all know this, but why are we so slow to fix the major environmental issues which are degrading the quality of life on this one planet? Here Dr Duncan Rouch, Dr David Smith and Professor Andrew Ball answer this question, with an exciting novel response that digs down to explain how we got to this impasse. They also discuss a clear innovative forward strategy, based on a new inclusive definition of environments, that brings in agriculture and industrial companies as key stakeholders for conserving the environment.Anyone interested in environmental problems, including people in agriculture, industry and government, should read this book.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is a media colossus with a reputation for integrity and quality. It is also a billion-dollar government program that lacks any coherent justification for its existence. Chris Berg and Sinclair Davidson provide a highly readable account of how and why the ABC has come to be in this position. This is the first serious analysis of the rationale for the ABC and its existence in decades. When the ABC was founded in the 1930s the problem was a scarcity of media. Now that we live in a world of media plenty, it is hard to see why the government is still subsidising a media empire. This book provides an outline of how policymakers can dispose of the ABC, while at the same time preserving its value and realising that value for the benefit of taxpayers.

Setting the scene for the Austrade story - Bruno Mascitelli The Australian trade and investment big picture over the past decades - Phil Ruthven The Australian Trade Commissioner Service - the impact of its ethos on its operation and its reputation - Richard Fletcher The Ministerial architect of Austrade: Extracts of an interview with John Dawkins Getting the Show on the Road: the MacAlister years 1986-90 - Geoff Spears and Bruno Mascitelli Austrade before and after the collapse of the USSR - Ian Wing The McKinsey Review of Austrade, 1990 - Terry Goss My years as Managing Director of Austrade: Interview with Ralph Evans Some reflections on the Charles Jamieson years: Interview with Peter Langhorne Leading from the front: Interview with Tim Fischer "Doubling the number of exporters" - Greg Joffe Austrade: Winning investment for Australia since 1987 - Peter Collens Austrade's "Special markets" - A perspective from Russia - Roger James Austrade and the media - Interview with Tim Harcourt Women in Austrade - Elizabeth Masamune and Pat Evans A view from an Austrade local employed manager in Prague, Czech Republic - Petr Vodvarka "Crossing the rainbow" - My decade long experiences as an OEE with Austrade China - Lucy Luo Performance Management in Austrade - Greg Dodds The architecture of trade promotion - Bruce Nicholls The future role of Austrade in a globalised trade market - Peter Wilton Austrade today and tomorrow: Interview with Bruce Gosper Austrade's greatest asset: Our people shine through - Laurie Smith Austrade seen from the outside: views from within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Mike Adams and Nicolas Brown Quo vadit Austrade? - Bruno Mascitelli *** Bruno Mascitelli is Associate Professor at Swinburne University of Technology. Between 1982 and 1997 Bruno was employed by Austrade as a local employed staff in the Milan (Italy) office. He joined academia in 2000 and has since then published widely in the area of international business, migration and the Italian diaspora.

“Professor Zimmermann traces how many of our current freedoms within a broad, plural, public square can be attributed to a rich seam of Christian philosophical influence that has evidently infused the development of the common law in different jurisdictions. In my view, this is essential reading for students and scholars alike who seek a fuller appreciation as to the origins of the common law.”-- Simon McCrossan LL.M, Barrister, UK Head of Public Policy, Evangelical Alliance UKIn this excellent book, Dr Zimmermann carefully lays out for the reader an easily digestible and highly readable account of the Christian roots of the common law in England... His book is a very valuable addition to Australian works on legal history and will assist not only lawyers and law students but all interested readers to better understand why our legal system is as it is.-- Michael Quinlan, Dean and Professor of Law, The University of Notre Dame Australia (Sydney).This book is erudite, informative, well-written and researched and most importantly, it is a timely reminder of the Christian heritage of the Common Law that has served us so well for many centuries”.-- Gabriël A. Moens, Emeritus Professor of Law, The University of Queensland.This important book is both a scholarly account of those roots and a warning of the threats the Common Law tradition will face if Western civilization slips its Christian moorings”.-- Peter Kurti, Research Fellow, Religion and Civil Society Program. The Centre for Independent Studies (Sydney).

In his abundant, deft and absorbing body of work Milton Osborne has deepened and expanded our knowledge of Southeast Asia. As a diplomat, scholar, public servant and freelance writer he has shared his knowledge of Southeast Asia's past and his concerns about its ecological future. -- From David Chandler, Professor Emeritus, Monash University, author of 'A History of Cambodia' and 'The Tragedy of Cambodian History'.Covering more than twenty tumultuous years from 1956 to 1981 Milton Osborne's book ranges in geographical scope from Papua New Guinea to France. But most of all it focuses on Cambodia and Vietnam, where he worked as a young diplomat, in 1959-61, before returning as a graduate student and academic. Later he was a consultant to UNHCR and the 'Cambodian Refugee Problem', working along the Thai-Cambodian border. It is a book where mordant humour is present but tragedy is all too often the dominating theme of life under Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia's mercurial leader, and then Pol Pot's tyranny. His experiences in Vietnam offer a counterpoint to conventional accounts of that conflict, when he was a privileged observer of a war that seemed without end. Milton Osborne's early experience in Australia's Phnom Penh embassy has shaped the rest of his life, which remains centred on Southeast Asia. After completing his doctorate at Cornell and holding various academic appointments he returned to government service as Head of the Asia Branch of the Office of National Assessments in 1982. Since 1993 he has been a full-time writer and consultant on Southeast Asian subjects. He is the author of ten books including 'Southeast Asia: An Introductory History', now in its 12th edition. He has been a Non-resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and in 2013 the French government honoured him with the appointment as a Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite for his writing on France in Asia and his role in liaison with French officials

The mission of this book is to detail how to better harness the power of the products of photosynthesis to offset adverse climate change. Specifically, this book asserts that trees and forests, plus wood products, will be even more important in assisting to tackle climate change, and in contributing to a sustainable energy and carbon neutral future. This book details how trees and forests will be a critical ingredient in the search for a zero net carbon emissions future. Not only do trees 'suck' carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and wood products store it away for decades, but trees have the capacity to be at the centre of a sustainable future for humanity. They will be an essential energy component beyond the end of the fossil fuel era. The book advocates the wider utilisation of wood-based products that use less energy in their manufacture, store carbon, and have the capability to restrict the use of high energy materials, like steel and aluminium. The good news, says this book, is that the most dangerous impacts of climate change may still be avoided if humanity moves fossil fuel-based energy systems towards renewable sources, and increases the use of sustainable materials like wood. Even though there is much to be worried about climate change-wise, this book is not too despondent. It says that in an increasingly carbon-constrained world, trees, forests and wood products are important, not only as carbon 'sinks' but as substitutes for more carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels. John Halkett's last book: Jungle Jive: Sustaining the forests of Southeast Asia was released by Connor Court Publishing in 2016. This and his past five books traverse a wide range of topics, but all have trees at the centre of the narrative.

The place of religion in Australia has never been more contested than it is today. In this new and timely essay, Frank Brennan and Michael Casey draw on the Catholic tradition to explain why freedom of religion remains of vital importance for the way of life enjoyed in a secular liberal democracy such as Australia. Greg Craven complements Brennan and Casey's philosophical analysis with an essay discussing how freedom of religion is currently protected in Australia, and what reforms are necessary in order to ensure its protection in the decades ahead.

Following the success of Question Time 1 - 150 Questions and Answers on the Catholic Faith, first published in 2008, and Question Time 2, published in 2012, Fr Flader here offers yet another 150 questions and answers on everything Catholic: doctrine, the sacraments, moral life, prayer and devotions. They are taken from the author's popular Question Time column in Sydney's The Catholic Weekly. The column, now in its twelfth year, also appears in other Australian Catholic newspapers. The book is written in a balanced, easy-to-read style and contains a wealth of information that will be invaluable for anyone who is interested in finding out more about the Catholic faith or who is in a position to hand on the faith to others: priests, teachers, catechists, parents, RCIA coordinators, sacramental program coordinators, recent converts... "Fr John Flader's book provides a useful and much-needed explanation of the faith drawn from the Scriptures, the Patristics and the Councils. Many enquirers in the faith and RCIA members will find the text helpful and informative. It is an ideal complement to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, to which it is amply referenced. I strongly recommend this excellent faith resource." - Most Rev B.J. Hickey, Archbishop Emeritus of Perth "At a time when what the Catholic Church believes and teaches seems perplexing, even absurd to many people, there is a need to explain clearly and simply why the Church believes and teaches what she does. We need a new apologetics. Here Fr John Flader offers a presentation of Catholic teaching which shows that, however strange it may seem to contemporary culture, Catholic teaching is the fruit of long experience and deep thought." - Most Rev. Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane

The true account of Australia's offshore refugee camp: Manus Island.

75th Anniversary Edition. First Published in 1943.

'Keating's and Kelty's Super Legacy' shows the birth pangs were painful, delivery uncertain, and survival constantly threatened.