Australian Artist Patricia Piccinini’s exhibition in the Flinders Street Station’s forgotten Ballroom is the first there in decade. Piccinini works in a variety of media, including painting, video, sound, installation, digital prints, and sculpture. She is an artist who explores the frontiers of science and technology through her extradinary works. She explores "unexpected consequences", conveying concerns surrounding bio-ethics to help visualize future dystopias. She challenges our relationship to nature valorising things like trees, animals and small acts of kindness we may usually overlook. An amazing exhibition to see once Melbourne is out of lockdown. https://www.patriciapiccinini.net

“…current rules for holding a referendum are archaic and ill-suited to modern times. Fortunately, parliament has begun work on this through a new inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.”  The Australian 19/7/21 : George Williams - Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales The sad truth is that our politicians are not trusted enough to be in charge of an issue as important as Constitutional Reform. Our country needs a Constitutional Council outside the political sphere to undertake such important reform now and into the future.

"The closely watched Edelman Trust Barometer’s half-year update reveals a rapid decline in trust in government, business and media...The level of trust in government in Australia (52 per cent) puts it below the average of 14 global counterparts (56 per cent), but still above the US, which sits at 48 points."The Australian 19/7/21

Change is coming.  Foundations who once would have invested to maximise profits (under their fiduciary duty) even if would be counter to the mission of the Foundation are waking up to fact they are part of the problem (e.g. anti-cancer NFPs that would invest some of their corpus in Tobacco companies).This article articulates the challenge and suggests four steps to help Foundation Boards ensure they are not undermining their good work.https://nonprofitquarterly.org/trouble-in-paradigm-foundations-bargain-with-the-devil/

Australia ranks fifth in the World Giving Index which considers three measures of generosity: financial, volunteering, and willingness to help a stranger. But on financial measures of generosity, we are slipping. This report by Philanthropy Australia and SVA presents a compelling case for why structured giving (using a financial vehicle designed to enable giving) can turn this around.https://www.philanthropy.org.au/images/site/publications/Advocacy/Blueprint_to_Grow_Structured_Giving_Report_Final.pdf