Mining Credibility: Coronation Hill and the Anthropologists

Abstract

RON BRUNTON Dr Ron Brunton trained as an anthropologist, and spent the first decade of his career teaching anthropology in universities in Australia and Papua New Guinea. He has published widely on cultural and religious flexibility and change, including the book The Abandoned Narcotic: Kava and Cultural Instability in Melanesia (Cambridge U.P.) He is now the head of the Environmental Policy Unit of the Institute of Public Affairs in Canberra. Before this, he worked as an analyst in the Office of National Assessments and as a researcher in private industry. The Institute of Public Affairs is (writes Dr Brunton) 'an independent, non-political organization dedicated to research and promoting debate about the issues facing contemporary Australia. It was established in the 1940s and currently employs around twenty people. It stands for free enterprise, democracy and the rule of law, reduced government spending and lower taxes, rational economic policies, higher standards in education, the family, a strong defence capability, and better employee! employer relations. This could be summarized by saying that we are economic and political liberals, who take a liberal position on some social issues but a conservative one on others. Ourfunding comes from about 600 companies and over 3,000 individuals.'