Research Fellow, Social Foundations Program
Jessica’s research at the CIS focuses on population, family policy, welfare reform, disability pensions, parental leave and foreign policy. She has published widely in these areas. Her most recent report looked at Indonesia’s foreign policy in the context of a shifting regional balance of power. In 2010, along with Dr. Oliver Marc Hartwich, she launched the CIS’ Population and Growth series with a report titled Populate and Perish? Modelling Australia’s Demographic Future.
Jessica comments regularly in the media on social policy issues. She has been published in major newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and the Herald Sun, and has appeared on television programs such as Q&A, The Drum, and Today Tonight and on radio programs around Australia.
She holds a Master of International Studies from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne, where she majored in Political Science.
Posted: 8:00 am on 31st March 2012
Foreign Minister Bob Carr will no doubt be glad to see the end of his gaffe-prone first month in office. But the toughest part of his job is only just beginning. Until now, Australia’s foreign policy has been pretty cut and dried: Find a great and powerful friend and stick with them. Britain had the first go at the job and passed on the baton to the United States. Life…
Posted: 8:00 am on 29th March 2012
Australians have become used to thinking about the rise of China, the role of America, and what the interplay between the two means for us. But we give much less thought to what this means for Southeast Asia: the region that sits between Australia and China. The rapid emergence of China as a potential global superpower means Southeast Asia is changing fast: The balance of power within the region is…
Posted: 8:00 am on 28th March 2012
The Washington Post yesterday reported that Australia and the US are considering expanded military ties as America shifts its strategic focus towards Southeast Asia: The talks are the latest indicator of how the Obama administration is rapidly turning its strategic attention to Asia as it winds down a costly decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. government is finalizing a deal to station four warships in Singaporeand has opened negotiations with the…
Posted: 8:00 am on 14th March 2012
I am in favour of legalising gay marriage. This is my personal view, not the corporate view of the CIS. It is a view which many of my colleagues do not share. Despite this conviction, I do not think Bob Katter’s anti-gay marriage ads should be censored. There are many legitimate arguments against gay marriage (including the freedom of religious ministers to choose not to perform them). Gay marriage is…
Posted: 8:00 am on 11th March 2012
The Finkelstein Report into media regulation, released last Friday, has been greeted by free-speech defenders and journalists with uniform condemnation. So it seems rather redundant for the CIS to add to the chorus. But one aspect of the Finkelstein recommendations caught my eye, and indeed, my mirth. Chapter 12 of the report, which speculates on the future of the media industry, makes for interesting reading. News proprietors are struggling to…
