Michelle Arrow
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michellearrow.bsky.social
Michelle Arrow
@michellearrow.bsky.social

Historian. Author, The Seventies (2019), co-author Personal Politics (2024). Writing a biography of Anne Deveson. President, Australian Historical Association. Whitlam Institute Fellow. FASSA. She/her. Views my own. http://newsouthbooks.com.au/books. .. more

Michelle Arrow is an Australian historian, academic and author who is currently a Professor of History at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She is best known for her work on Australia in the 1970s. Arrow won the Ernest Scott Prize in 2020 for The Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern Australia. Arrow is the Vice-President of the Australian Historical Association. .. more

Political science 37%
Sociology 25%

And putting Whitlam in a longer context - short essays on all the PMs since Whitlam here:

theconversation.com/how-did-the-...
How did the 10 prime ministers since Whitlam change Australia?
As prime minister, Whitlam changed the country in profound ways. 10 experts assess how the prime ministers since shape up as agents of change - for better or worse.
theconversation.com

It’s that time of year when too much Whitlam is barely enough! Here’s my addition to the fray:

theconversation.com/extraordinar...
Extraordinary and occasionally inept: before The Dismissal, the Whitlam government changed Australia forever
With a bold reform agenda and occasional administrative chaos, Whitlam’s three-year government had, and continues to have, a profound effect on Australian life.
theconversation.com

That’s so kind of you, Kristen - thank you!
I watched six hours of Australian history on TV so you don’t have to (though I think you should!)

www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-a...
Tony Abbott and Rachel Griffiths are hosting rival TV shows with some surprising things in common
Both take on frontier violence and the challenge of finding drama in a foundational moment that many Australians don’t appreciate.
www.smh.com.au
Free event 📣The right to enquire? A Symposium on #academicfreedom.

📅 Tues 25 Nov
📍 University of Melbourne
Tickets: bit.ly/4qg5Q0y

Speakers include Prof @michellearrow.bsky.social, Prof @joelobianco.bsky.social, Prof
@adriennestone.bsky.social, Prof Frank Bongiorno, Prof Peter Greste & more.

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Diane Keaton in her Manhattan apartment with Buster, an Abyssinian, photographed by Jill Krementz in 1977

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Ladies and gentlemen... the weekend. (also: you are important and are not alone 🧡)

Bleak times at Macquarie Uni, as management moves to implement large scale job cuts in arts and science (because who needs that expertise, right?). Amanda’s threat outlines the lies that underpin these changes. We need urgent governance reform now: but is the government listening?
1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social
1/At Macquarie Uni we are losing 50% of our units in my faculty. This is on top of cuts in 2020. We estimate by next year my faculty will be teaching 80% fewer subjects than pre Covid. Disciplines being cut do not have declining enrolments. @jennaprice.bsky.social @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social
Simply astonishing. Maybe Lecturer A should not have to mark over 100 essays in a two-week window in the first place? Invest in qualified staff and reduce impossible workloads FFS www.kcl.ac.uk/about/strate...

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Don’t ever let Labor say there’s no money for essential services when Richard Marles says it’s budgeted $25 billion for submarine pens to support the U.S. Navy.

#Insiders #auspol

Great piece on the failures of governance and regulation over our university sector by Richard Dennis:

australiainstitute.org.au/post/imagine...
Imagine if a business or federal department acted like this. Here's why unis get away it
The leaders of Australian universities are enjoying the best of both worlds when it comes to the way they are regulated, but students are getting the worst.
australiainstitute.org.au
Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ .

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News
Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

This is shoddy but unsurprising behaviour from an institution that continues to lionise Ben Roberts-Smith despite multiple courts having determined him to be a murderer.
RFK Jr: We had lots of guns when we were kids. Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. There are many things that could explain this. One is the dependence on psychiatric drugs.

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

“of course it struggled to be viable – it’s a literary magazine. almost no literary magazines around the world are financially viable; that’s not their purpose. the point is their cultural value, the role they serve as a platform for ideas and creativity…” www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
The end of Meanjin after 85 years is as sad as it is infuriating | Ben Walter
MUP says it is ‘no longer viable’ to make the literary magazine – but almost none of them are financially viable. That’s not their purpose or value
www.theguardian.com
Forced redundancies and restructuring at ANU must stop - in the least pause - while TEQSA investigates the university. Leadership also must step aside while the regulator examines their conduct. How can an investigation be completed fairly any other way? www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/defaul...

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

"A lot of the business majors didn’t think they had learned anything particularly useful in college." Knock me over with a feather. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...
The Surprising Truth About Which College Majors Are Actually Useful at Work
A sociologist studied how students get internships and jobs, and who really uses their degrees.
www.chronicle.com

Thanks Zora!

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Thanks to @michellearrow.bsky.social , @frankbongiorno.bsky.social and Anna Clark for bringing solutions to the higher ed crisis - as teachers and researchers, not consultants
theconversation.com/universities...
Universities have lost their way, but cost-cutting and consultants are not the answer
Last week in Sydney, we saw a melodrama acted out that could stand in for the state of Australian universities more generally.
theconversation.com

All universities were encouraged to sign on to the Universities Australia statement on antisemitism earlier this year - I suspect this is why the code of conduct was imposed by the uni this year

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Dr Liz Allen’s evidence today was heartbreaking, brave and infuriating. This is the devastating personal toll of broken governance. Julie Bishop must resign immediately or be sacked. t.co/O9W9nhpydN
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-12/anu-academic-alleges-julie-bishop-bullying-senate-inquiry/105641930
t.co

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

Senator @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social: ‘Does it worry you that the staff students and alumni are so dissatisfied and untrusting of governance and the university?’

Kate Witenden, ANU Chief People Officer: ‘I’m not aware of this.’

Senator Faruqi: ‘Why am I aware and you are not?’
‘Our public universities have become corporatised, governed from behind closed doors by people with little connection to the daily realities of staff and students. The consequences have been catastrophic.’ Dr Alison Barnes, NTEU National President at today’s Senate Inquiry into university governance

Reposted by Benjamin Jones

Help us reach our target of 5000 signatures - please sign and share!
First of all, WHY CONSULTANTS!? I thought Labor was supposed to be weaning off them? You could've gotten academics or NGOs to do this research??

#AusPol #Childcare
Labor asks Deloitte to design universal childcare system as PM eyes political legacy
Exclusive: Government could redirect billions in existing spending on the childcare subsidy and introduce a daily flat fee for families
www.theguardian.com
The crux of their argument is that if they're found liable, then the consequences of their own actions that no one forced them to take could ruin them and the rest of their industry that undertakes similar practices.

To which I say motherfucker did you never hear about Napster
AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified
Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.
arstechnica.com

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

The government is under mounting pressure to dump a Morrison-era policy that has drastically cut university funding, saddled many students with debts they will never be able to repay and driven many more away from higher education altogether. satpa.pe/MA6GXR1
Why Labor is stalling on real universities funding reform
The education minister has deferred action to abolish the Morrison-era Job-ready Graduates scheme, which has helped to hollow out tertiary funding and saddled students with lifelong debts.
satpa.pe

Reposted by Michelle Arrow

We are so close to reaching our target of 2500 signatures on this petition calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates! If you care about equity in higher education and want the BA to be affordable and accessible for *all* students, please sign! www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...
Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition
We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025…
www.openpetition.org
Sydney turning out in support of Palestine. So good to see.