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Introduction

Here are steps to develop a risk mitigation plan from the Disinformation Toolkit 2.0: How Civil Society and Non-governmental Organizations Can Combat Harmful Mis- and Disinformation by InterAction. This excerpt is from pages 17 – 21.

Developing a Risk Mitigation Plan

This section summarizes steps you might consider taking to develop a strategy for identifying and responding to online disinformation that could affect your organization’s operations and the safety of your staff.

Think about your strategy in five parts, which are detailed below:

Introduction

A guide with resources, directories and media about strengthening democracy collated by the Democracy Resource Hub.

• Discover democratic reform strategies and civic engagement tools to enhance democratic institutions and defend against backsliding.
• Explore nonpartisan reforms, participatory democracy innovations, and civic tech solutions for inclusive governance and addressing historical injustices through citizen assemblies and digital democracy platforms.

What is ”Strengthening Democracy” and why is it important?

Strengthening Democracy is at the heart of the project for democratic renewal. It aims to create more inclusive, responsive, and just democratic systems and institutions. Strengthening Democracy includes: 

How do profits drive inflation?

From December 2019 to June 2023, inflation in Australia rose faster than it has in 30 years. Over this time, the share of national income going to corporate profits also increased substantially.

At the same time, the share going to wages and small businesses declined.

The profits made by large corporations during this time are huge: some $100 billion over and above their pre-pandemic profit margins.

According to Australia Institute research, these rising profits made up more than half of the inflation above the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)’s target range of 2% to 3%.

The link between profits and inflation in Australia was replicated in research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), headed by former Liberal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.

Introduction

Explore how humor and dilemma actions empower pro-democracy movements by exposing authoritarian absurdities and fostering community resilience.

Humor and dilemma actions are powerful tools for defending democracy, especially in repressive environments. By placing authoritarian regimes in “lose-lose” situations and engaging public attention, these creative tactics help counter repression and strengthen communities.

As Ivan Marovic commented during the workshop, “Strategic humor isn’t about making fun—it’s about exposing the absurdity of power that claims to serve the people but often betrays them.”

The following insights are inspired by “Defending Democracy with Humor and Dilemma Actions Tactics,” a webinar hosted by the Democracy Resource Hub and Horizons Project on the 28 Oct 2024 as part of the Intermestic Learning Series, which fosters global knowledge-sharing to support democracy.

The global panel of speakers included:

Introduction

As Trump returns to power, we face more than two choices. We can defend a broken status quo or dismantle it. We can also transform it into something stronger.

Our government is stuck in the past, bogged down by bureaucracy and incompetence. The Democrats had their chance to fix it, but they chose to maintain the status quo. It’s time for real change. – Donald Trump, Oct 28, 202

November 6, 2024 – The day after a historic election, and the headlines on my phone are loud and clear: Trump Storms Back to Power. Across the country and around the world people are grappling with what this means—not just for the next four years, but for the future of democracy itself. Beneath the shock, a deeper message resonates across red and blue states alike: Americans are calling for change.

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Michel Durand-Wood’s blog, Dear Winnipeg. It is shared here with permission. All images were provided by the author.

Highway department’s are selling multi-billion dollar highway widening projects based on flawed traffic projections.

The projections prepared for the predecessor of the proposed $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement project predicted traffic would grow 1.3 percent per year after 2005.  In reality, traffic across the I-5 bridges has increased by only about 0.1 percent per year since then (and at its pre-Covid peak, had increased only 0.3 percent per year).

Actual I-5 traffic levels are more than 30,000 vehicles per day below the levels forecast for 2024 in the Columbia River Crossing EIS.  Rather than increasing by 30,000 vehicles, I-5 weekday traffic has only increased by 3,000 vehicles in 18 years.

Inaccurate and biased traffic models are a misleading and even fraudulent basis for multi-billion dollar spending decisions.

Claims that we need widen I-5 between Portland and Vancouver are based on projections from traffic models. The best evidence of how well a traffic model works is how accurate its predictions have been.  By that standard, we already know that the traffic models developed for the Interstate Bridge Project are simply wrong and untrustworthy.

In the last of our daily election episodes of After America, Dr Emma Shortis reflects on the glass ceiling in American politics, the Democrats’ failure to address their own shortcomings over the last three decades, and why the Australian Government doesn’t need to just cop whatever challenges the next US administration throws at it.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 7 November 2024 US time and things may have changed since recording.

Host: Emma Shortis, Director of International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis

Show notes:

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom (January 2019)

‘Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA’s secret war plans against WikiLeaks’, Yahoo! News (September 2021)

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

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This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States and given the host of global debacles the US has its hands in—ranging from the genocide in Gaza, to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Iran to the Ukraine war—nobody is quite certain what direction the country will take with the former president at the helm again.

Joining host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report is Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. With his extensive insights and expertise into the Middle East and American foreign policy, Wilkerson provides a valuable understanding into what a Trump presidency may look like outside of the borders of America.

Conservatives spent more than $120 MILLION dollars astroturfing anti-trans hatred for this election cycle, which begs the question… what would trans people do if they had that cash?

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the big structural problems with Australia’s private health insurance system and why public services like healthcare are best carried out by the public sector.

Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @GrogsGamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @ElinorJ_L

Show notes:

‘Is private health insurance a con? The answer is in the graphs’ by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (February 2018)

The Interstate Bridge Project’s traffic projections pretend that the massive shift to “work-from-home” never happened

The IBR traffic projections rely almost entirely on pre-Covid-pandemic data, and ignore the dramatic change in travel patterns.

Traffic on  I-5 is still 7 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to Oregon DOT data

Traffic on the I-5 bridge is lower today that the purported 2005 baseline for the Columbia River Crossing project (135,000 vehicles per day).

Post-covid travel analyses have shown a permanent shift toward lower growth in vehicle miles traveled.

It’s a violation of NEPA to ignore scientific evidence that travel patterns have shifted and spend $7.5 billion on a project for a world that no longer exists.

The Interstate Bridge Replacement project’s traffic and revenue forecasts appear to be built on increasingly shaky ground. New data from multiple transportation agencies shows that post-pandemic travel patterns have dramatically diverged from pre-pandemic trends, calling into question the fundamental assumptions underlying the multi-billion dollar project.  Traffic is now lower, and growing more slowly than prior to the pandemic, contrary to the assumptions built into IBR traffic projections.

A 2019 paper investigates the health effects of “passing” for trans people.

By Fernanda Torres Alam and Josefina Mas

Discover why the Master of Public Administration stands out for aspiring changemakers from alumni Fernanda Torres Alam and Josefina Mas.

Hola! We’re Fernanda and Josefina, or Feña and Jose for short.

The Australia Institute’s submission to the inquiry identified serious conflict of interest risks in the consulting industry and polling found most Australians support a ban on PwC receiving new government work.

Key details:

• The inquiry into Structural Challenges in the Audit, Assurance and Consultancy Industry was called after serious problems in the consulting industry came to light.

• The inquiry report recommends:

  • Continuing the ban on PwC tenders for government work until all ongoing investigations have been completed.
  • Limiting partnerships to no more than 400 partners.
  • Professional standards and regulations for consultants.
  • Applying the Corporations Act to large partnerships.
  • Greater alignment of whistleblower protections and applying those protections to large audit, accounting and consulting firms.
  • “Operational separation” of audit services from other services to the same client.

• Most of the recommendations, including some of the most important, received multi-party support.

“Australians have understandably lost confidence in consulting firms following multiple scandals, including mismanaged conflicts of interest, leaking of confidential government information and burying information that reflected badly on the illegal Robodebt scheme,” said Bill Browne, Director of the Australia Institute’s Democracy & Accountability Program.

On this episode of After America, Dr Emma Shortis and Alice Grundy discuss what the Trump victory means for American society and democratic institutions, the soul-searching facing the Democrats after a comprehensive defeat, and the implications for Australia.

This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 6 November 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Host: Emma Shortis, Director of International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis

Host: Alice Grundy, Research Manager, Anne Kantor Fellows, the Australia Institute // @alicekgt

Theme music: Blue Dot Sessions

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We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au.