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Former Australian prime minister, John Howard pictured in 2012.

The Dream

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By on Australian Politics

Suddenly truth-telling is the flavour of the political moment. Where to now for Australia, asks Natasha Cica.

John Howard told one important truth last week. In an interview on commercial radio, he said: ‘I’m the Great Satan of Australian politics in the eyes of a section of the Australian public.’ Howard’s statement was mainly ignored by Australia’s dwindling stock of employed left/liberal commentators.

The opening was filled by a leading neo-con with a good snout for political truffle. ‘Hating John Howard has become an industry’, she announced. As evidence, she threw up new websites like the mega-hit johnhowardlies.com, but quickly moved back to her comfort zone, casting asides at predictable suspects — refugees, the soy latte set and, new whipping boy on the block, Children Overboard whistleblower Mike Scrafton.

Leaving these asides aside, here I sensed another important truth in the making. Bring these two truths together and what do you get? Perfect timing for the launch of NewMatilda.com. If you don’t like what’s happened to our nation and its sense of decency and possibility under Howard’s watch, and you want better alternatives, we’re here to move things in your direction.

We’ll deliver a weekly online political magazine that tells a different story about Australia. We’ll also be a meeting place for better policy development. We’ll help independent voices change Australia. What does all that really mean? Is this optimism bordering on delusion? Or just more vapid spin?

From today, the answers to those questions are largely up to you. NewMatilda.com opens a space for you to read, think, and start speaking up about your priorities and passions. It’s your democracy — use it or lose it.

At the risk of cutting the new industry off at its knees, the first issue of our magazine is not called Hating Satan. Let’s move past that small mean reference point. Instead, we’re starting with The Dream. Inspired by Australia’s own Olympian pastry cooks of peace, Roy and HG, and their winning reminder that ‘at a time when the world is starving for the bread of hope, the bakery is being manned yet again’.

In this issue, a range of voices, new and old, come together to look at the state of Australian fair play. They tell some hard truths … but they also point to some better times ahead.

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Dr Natasha Cica is the founding editor of NewMatilda.com. A Professor of Law at Australian National University, Natasha’s professional experience spans public administration (including as a legal and policy analyst advising Australia’s national parliament), crisis management, corporate law, and the higher education and non-government sectors. She has held policy-focused roles at think tanks and led strategy at start-ups in Australia and Europe – and is an award-winning author, broadcaster and public commentator. Natasha is an adjunct professor at the ANU College of Law at the Australian National University, and has been visiting professor at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Law, and visiting academic at the Alvar Aalto Academy in Helsinki. She was the inaugural Rubin Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy at University College London. Natasha holds a doctorate in law from the University of Cambridge (as a WM Tapp scholar at Gonville and Caius College), a masters in law and ethics from King’s College London (awarded the Professor Sir Eric Scowen Prize for the best masters candidate), and a BA LLB (Hons) from the Australian National University (awarded the Blackburn Medal for research in law, the Tillyard Prize for the honours student ‘whose personal qualities and contributions to University life have been outstanding’, and a Lionel Murphy Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship). In 2014 she presented the ANU College of Law graduating address as a distinguished alumna.

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