Elizabeth Humphrys

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"We're currently in a period of quite weak union power and industrially unions have not been very proactive. I guess it is unusual compared to the last few years ... but in historic terms we're such a long distance from the 1970s which is a high period of industrial activity." [9]

Journalist Jeff Sparrow has described her book How Labour Built Neoliberalism as ‘tremendously important’ in understanding the recent history of the Australian Labour Party and the economy. Several current and former union officials have praised the book, including Tim Lyons, former Assistant Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, who said: ‘For those who promoted the Accords’ between the ALP and ACTU her book ‘is a punch in the guts. It is a punch that lands and hurts. And a punch that has been a long time coming’. United Workers Union leader Godfrey Moase argues alternatively that the book helps the labour movement come to terms with the Accord period, and that ‘Humphrys writes with the compassion of a comrade and the insight of an intellectual who grew up in a working-class household’. Some in the ALP and unions have criticised the book, most prominently former National Treasurer of Australia Wayne Swan.

Humphrys held a fellowship at the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre Berlin in 2013, and in 2019 was awarded the prestigious Dr A M Hertzberg Fellow at the State Library of NSW. Humphrys is an Associate at think tank the Centre for Future Work, based at The Australia Institute.

Personal life

Humphrys was born in Melbourne and grew up Hoppers Crossing and Werribee. [10]

Humphrys was originally an undergraduate at the University of Melbourne and was General Secretary of the Melbourne University Student Union in 1994, and a key figure in the campaign against the Kennett Government's introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism. In 1995 Humphrys was the National Welfare Officer of the National Union of Students. In 2000 Humphrys helped organise the s11 protest against the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne, which blockaded the Crown Casino over three days.

She has spoken publicly about her "several underlying health conditions" and the difficulty of avoiding COVID-19. [11] She is a supporter of the Extinction Rebellion. [12]

Bibliography

Author

  • (2019). How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia's Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project. Boston: Brill. ISBN   9789004383463.

Editor

  • ; Tietze, Tad; Rundle, Guy, eds. (2011). On Utøya: Anders Breivik, Right Terror, Racism and Europe. Location not disclosed: Elguta Press. ISBN   978-0-9870588-0-5.

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References

  1. https://www.ft.com/content/891ad973-56e3-464d-9b72-574534f34c53
  2. University of Technology Sydney, https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Elizabeth.Humphrys/grants
  3. University of Technology Sydney, https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Elizabeth.Humphrys/grants
  4. Parliamentary Library, Australian Parliament, https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Flcatalog%2F01266033%22;src1=sm1
  5. "The bridge that fell: Melbourne's West Gate Bridge collapse 50 years on – in pictures". the Guardian. 15 October 2020. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  6. "Power in Australia favours the elite, and that's a problem for all of us. Here's a solution". ABC News. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  7. Copland, Simon (4 May 2022). "The election is a fight of who is disliked the least – there is a clear and growing destabilisation in our politics". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  8. Banks, Marcus (30 September 2020). "Do Australians care about unis? They're now part of our social wage, so we should". The Conversation. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  9. Conor Burke, "Wagga union delegate Natalie Ellis said Wagga nurses will continue to take action until their demands are met", The Daily Advertiser, 26 June 2022, https://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/7793086/wagga-nurses-to-join-stop-work-action-state-accuses-unions-of-politically-motivated-strikes/
  10. Wallman, Guardian Australia.
  11. Selinger-Morris, Samantha (26 February 2022). "'It was always a pipe dream': Returning – or not – to the office". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  12. "'We declare our support for Extinction Rebellion': an open letter from Australia's academics". The Guardian. 19 September 2019. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 5 June 2023.
Elizabeth Humphrys
AwardsDr A M Hertzberg Fellow at the State Library of NSW (2019)
Academic background
Alma mater Deakin University (BA)
University of Technology Sydney (MA)
University of Sydney (PhD)
Thesis The Corporatist Origins of Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project  (2016)
Doctoral advisorDamien Cahill
Influences Antonio Gramsci, Karl Marx, Humphrey McQueen