AWORD

Excuse me for a moment, I’d like to co-opt a recent Turnbull-ism: It’s an exciting time to be an Australian. I suspect that our PM and I would disagree on the reasons for this statement but hear me out. Yes, our political debate had become increasingly parlous over the last 20 years; yes, trust and faith in government have never been lower; yes, the overarching economic trend from the top-down continues to be tax-and-service-cuts-to-benefit-the-rich…

But I’d like to inject a touch of optimism. Around the country the din of protest and genuine debate can be heard. It seems that no topic is publicly broached without the lens of inequality being considered; community and industry-pressure continue to frustrate antiquated energy policy; even some of our political parties are sticking their heads above the parapet to oppose changes that are not future-proof.

We may still have an entrenched political culture that rewards inaction in favour of cheap politicking, but there is a feeling that with enough people-power we can be an active check on the government, and drag them kicking and screaming onto the right side of history. Hopefully this is a tipping-point we can look forward to.

Part of my reasoning for this is that our last edition on Post-capitalism was the most popular AQ in recent memory! So I’d like to thank and welcome our new subscribers. To celebrate this (and the appetite for debate on alternative futures) I’ll make the full Post-capitalism edition available for free on the AQ website for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. Feel free to share it with your friends.

In this new edition we look beyond the horizon: what does the new Australian Space Agency mean for the country; we chat with a Nobel laureate on how redefining business could save the world; and how we can change the law to enable patients to benefit from the growing evidence base supporting medical marijuana.

We also take stock of where we’ve come from, with an interrogation of the ‘Compact City’ principles that have been an invisible hand shaping the places in which we live.

All this and more in the new AQ! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Editor-at-large