Books published by Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd

The Abbott Government has announced a National Commission of Audit to review the Commonwealth's finances and to assess the role and scope of government and where areas of overlap and duplication between the federal and state governments can be reduced. It is the fourteenth audit commission appointed in Australia since the NSW Greiner Coalition Government formed the first commission in 1988. Since then audit commissions have become a feature of incoming, mostly non-Labor state, territory and national governments. Audit commissions have heralded major changes in the structure of public services, cuts to government spending, new ways of delivering services and a re-writing of the very boundaries of government. They have been hailed by some as mechanisms for promoting overdue reform and for pushing through needed change. Critics have seen them as being ideologically driven, touting outdated remedies and being used by governments to justify decisions already made about cuts to public services. Yet despite their repeated use for over a quarter of century, and the claims and counter claims about their roles and value, there has been no comparative study of audit commissions in Australian politics and policy. Audit Commissions: Reviewing the Reviewers is the first comprehensive assessment of all fourteen state, territory and federal audit commissions established since 1988. That audit commissions are a particular Australian institution makes this study of value to both Australian and international audiences. The volume outlines the history, reasons for appointment, roles, processes, members, impact and suggests where audit commissions fit in the overall architecture of Australian government. Kate Jones is Research Fellow at ACU's Public Policy Institute, with qualifications in politics, economics and librarianship. After researching and writing about parliaments, parliamentary committees and parliamentarians, Kate has focussed in her recent research on aspects of public and social policy. She has also worked for state and federal governments and in two parliaments. Kate gained her PhD from La Trobe University. Scott Prasser was the inaugural Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute at ACU and previously worked in senior policy and research positions in federal and state governments. He has written extensively on Australian public policy and politics and in 2006 had published Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries in Australia. Scott's PhD was awarded by Griffith University.

While the Catholic Church is languishing in much of the West, by contrast it flourishes across Africa. Despite this, most African Church leaders remain unknown in the West, even among better informed Catholics. Sally Ninham's timely book remedies this via her in-depth interviews with a cross section of Africa's senior Catholic churchmen. Their stories provide first-hand insights into the religious, political, social and economic situations in their countries. Some of these leaders have played key roles in the midst of political turmoil, civil wars, rampant corruption and extreme poverty. Dr Ninham, who travelled around Africa for the interviews, believes some "have perhaps already earned the right to stand alongside such Western heroes as Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. They are men who have committed their lives to justice, to freedom and to humanity without pausing for breath."

This new book "Organics in the global food chain" is a long overdue scholarly treatment of organic food in its many derivations. It provides a multifaceted view of the obscure but growing concept of organic food in our food chain. Today's society has a greater appreciation of quality in what we eat and consume including a greater appreciation of sustainability, food security and the other attributes which food should provide society. This book explores the origins and drivers of organic food and opens up this sector to greater scrutiny and debate on the worthiness of organic food as an alternative to our normal staple diet.

Chapters include: Connor Court Quarterly Volume 3, Number 7 - Winter 2013 EDITORIAL - Brian Coman. LETTER TO A NEW WORLD POPE I - Elena Pasquini Douglas. LETTER TO A NEW WORLD POPE II - Philippa Martyr. SOME NOTES ON CONTEMPORARY CATHOLICISM - Rod Blackhirst. HOW POETS BECAME THE ONLY PHILOSOPHERS - Roger Sworder. BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME - Maurice Nestor. BRIGHT SHOOTS OF EVERLASTINGNESS: HENRY VAUGHAN AND HIS POETRY - Brian Coman. LANGUAGE, THOUGHT AND UNDERSTAN DING - Clive Faust. BOOK REVIEW - Roger Sworder. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Riding the Sheep's Back: The Rise and Fall of John McNamara & Company tells the history of this iconic family of stock and station agents, well known in Victoria in the early 20th century. From the family's origins in Ireland and John McNamara's arrival in Australia in 1841, to the early years of the family business and the eventual sale of John McNamara & Company to Australian Estates in the late 1940's, this is a fascinating account of both the family and the founding of what was a very successful company for many years. Riding the Sheep's Back shares both the good and the bad, the beginnings and achievements of the company and the family businesses that so many of the McNamara family were a part of. It also tells of the unexpected, and in many ways tragic, final days of a company that had enjoyed such great success since it's early days at the Newmarket Saleyards.

OW WILL OUR CHILDREN LEARN asks the big questions of what life is about. How will our children know what is important? How will we know that our children have at least learnt the basics? How did one State School for a decade become the property of the unionised staff room? Why did parents choose a new school in a dusty paddock - a school without tradition, money or resources? This story of a teacher and principal affects us all. It is about choosing a better school for our children in every postcode across Australia. This is a book about Public Education, its importance and how to better provide it. Public education fails in the lower socioeconomic areas of Australia: this story reveals what we need to know in order to provide effective schools, and what parents need to know to choose an effective school. The author is a teacher, past Director of the Salisbury Education Centre, founding Principal of the largest school in Australia, a Fellow of the Australian College of Education, and, in the past decade, a practising Maths and Science teacher.

Assembled for the first time in one collection are some of the major writings of Jerome W Berryman, fourth generation interpreter of the Montessori tradition, and founder of Godly Play - an approach to religious education and the pastoral care of children which is today being drawn upon all over the world. The writings contained in this book, some of which are now largely inaccessible, detail the development of Berryman's thinking over a period spanning more than 30 years. The Search for a Theology of Childhood will be of great interest to Godly Play trainers and teachers, as well as providing a valuable point of reference for both scholars and practitioners of religious education in their work with children. Brendan Hyde, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Education at the Australian Catholic University. He spent a sabbatical working with Jerome Berryman at the Centre for the Theology of Childhood in Denver, Colorado, USA, and has research interests in how Godly Play nurtures the spirituality of children. He is also co-editor of the International Journal of Children's Spirituality.

Contents EDITORIAL - Brian Coman; FREEDOM FROM RELIGION AND FREEDOM FROM IRRELIGION - James Franklin; THE KNIFE OF SERPENT HORN: THE ORIGINS AND NATURE OF ECOLOGY AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE - Brian Coman; THE DEVIL'S DELUSION BY DAVID BERLINSKI - Harry Oldmeadow; ON EVOLUTION - A PHILOSOPHY TUTORIAL - Roger Sworder; THE DISCURSIVE ORIGINS OF THE WEST - Suzanna Rizzo; POETRY, MUSIC AND SILENCE: SOME APHORISMS - Clive Faust.

Are you proud to be politically incorrect, loathing alternate therapies and green activists, then this irreverent send-up of our modern culture's fashionable obsessions is for you. Mark Lawson, whose heroes are Darth Vader and Ebenezer Scrooge, satirises those things especially dear to the mass media and chattering classes, like climate change alarmism and the worship of youth. Young people, he says, are not special, being the same as older people, but with less experience. "They are just as clueless as their parents." The Zen of Being Grumpy will resonate with those of "advanced middle age" and beyond, "who have ceased to care", yearn to be "liberated from the perpetual pleas of do-gooders and activists" and keep themselves busy "ignoring all conscious-raising activities". The crazes for text messaging, twittering and the social media in general, loud mobile phone users, and even overseas tourism, are among Lawson's many inviting targets. This book is timely, empowering and above all hysterically funny. Mark Lawson was born middle aged and has been growing older ever since, and has long accepted his role as the curmudgeon with no time for the popular enthusiasms and youth-worship that fill the media. That means he is out of step with much of the community, including his own colleagues, defends lost causes such as the ultimate bad-guy Darth Vader (he was just trying to hold the Empire together) and arch-miser Ebeneezer Scrooge (why couldn't he be left alone to not enjoy Christmas) but does not care. That is the zen of being grumpy. He likes some things, if only he could remember what they are. When venting his spleen online he uses the sign-in name curmudgeon. Mark Lawson is a senior journalist and leader writer with the 'Australian Financial Review'.

This book comprises a collection of essays which emanated from an important Australia China Council (ACC) sponsored event conducted in Wuhan, China in November 2013. Entitled Australia-China Food Knowledge Exchange", the scholarly focus was on the potential of the food sector in both countries and the growing need for "Good food for all". This event led many of the specialists to convert their papers into peer reviewed, reflections on the key themes debated in China and subsequently ended up in the collection of essays contained in this book. While a snapshot of the event, this book captures the essence of the knowledge exchange that occurred and the experience that was brought to bear in relation to food knowledge across the these two important nations.

Do today's politicians have the courage to make hard choices? Or has the furious pace of modern politics put an end to the age of reform? In Quiet Achievers, Oliver Hartwich looks at New Zealand's record on spending, tax and welfare. He discovers that while Australia has been avoiding difficult decisions, the New Zealanders have been silently forging ahead. The R.G. Menzies Essay series is a forum for enlightened public debate commissioned by the Menzies Research Centre Oliver Hartwich is Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Series Editor: Nick Cater "A perceptive analysis of the Key playbook" - Ruth Richardson "A message that resonates across the Tasman" - Henry Ergas

"This is a very timely book, as it addresses not only why there is a deepening moral abyss in this country, but also considers what Australia needs to do to avoid the pitfalls of other Western countries.Unlike many armchair theorists or disheartened clerics, the author has spent a lifetime at the coal face. He is therefore uniquely placed to understand why many denominations seek the wrong zeitgeist solutions to the religious inertia, apathy and disinterest which are threatening to overwhelm both churches and communities."