For decades, economic success has been measured by growth. Governments celebrate rising GDP. Businesses pursue expansion. Households are often encouraged to equate prosperity with consumption and accumulation. But what if the real challenge of the 21st century is learning when enough is enough? That question sits at the centre of a recent Voices of the […]
When the Economy Needs to Learn When to Stop Read More »
When a head of lettuce hits $12 and supermarket shelves start thinning out, something shifts. What once felt like a distant systems issue suddenly becomes personal. Food — the most basic of human needs — reveals just how fragile our global supply chains really are. In a recent Voices of the New Economy conversation, Tianda
From Surplus to Solidarity: Why Re-Localising Food Is New Economy Work Read More »
What Audrey Barucchi’s work reveals about climate literacy, people power, and the limits of technocratic solutions What if the real challenge is not simply finding better climate solutions, but rebuilding the relationship between people, power, and the living world? That question sits at the heart of a rich and wide-ranging conversation with Audrey Barucchi, co-founder
Reconnecting People and Nature: A new Economy Beyond Tech Fixes Read More »
Every January, the world’s most powerful political and economic actors gather in Davos to talk about the future. Trillions of dollars. Global security. Artificial intelligence. Climate risk. It can all feel impossibly distant from everyday life — especially for people trying to make change at the community level. But as Eugene explains in this episode
Built to Collapse: What Davos Reveals About the Economy We’re Living In Read More »
As conversations about the “new economy” gain momentum, much of the attention tends to focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and new technologies. Less visible—but far more established—is a form of enterprise that has quietly enabled participation, resilience, and shared prosperity for generations: the co-operative. In a recent episode of Voices of the New Economy, co-operative developer
Co-operatives and the New Economy: When Businesses Own Their Own Problems Read More »
When people talk about building a new economy, the conversation often starts with the visible structures: money, markets, jobs, housing, energy, and policy. These are important. They shape daily life in immediate ways. Yet beneath them sits something quieter and more foundational: how we learn what the world is, what we value, and what counts
Learning to Live Differently: Why Education Sits at the Heart of a New Economy Read More »
When people talk about building a “new economy”, the conversation often moves quickly to things that feel concrete: different business models, new metrics beyond GDP, localised production, or rethinking work and consumption. All of that matters. Yet Peter Tait’s argument is more foundational, and in some ways more confronting. If the rules of public life
Making Governance Good: Why Democracy Sits at the Heart of a New Economy Read More »
Across Australia and beyond, many people sense that something is fundamentally misaligned in how our economy is organised. Despite decades of growth, rising productivity, and technological advancement, experiences of disconnection, insecurity, and ecological degradation have intensified rather than eased. In a recent episode of Voices of the New Economy, Robin, Coordinator of Live Well Tasmania,
Trust, Care, and the Case for Community Based Income Read More »
Few ideas provoke as much immediate discomfort as the suggestion that people in wealthy societies should become poorer. The discomfort is revealing. It exposes how deeply prosperity has been tied, culturally and politically, to paid work, consumption, and economic growth. In his conversation on Voices of the New Economy, Robert McLean challenges this assumption directly,
Working Less to Live Within Limits: Rethinking Work, Wealth, and Climate Responsibility Read More »
When most of us think about the future, our minds drift toward crisis. We picture rising temperatures, worsening floods and fires, unaffordable housing, empty supermarket shelves, or political turmoil. We’ve become good at imagining dystopias — and far less practiced at imagining futures that feel hopeful, safe and regenerative. But what if the problem isn’t
