Sean Jacobs

Sean Jacobs

Sean Jacobs is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian writer, and government relations and public policy specialist. He is a former Brisbane City Council election candidate, ministerial adviser, United Nations worker, international youth volunteer, and national water polo champion. Sean holds a BA (International Relations) from Griffith University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism from Macquarie University. He also holds qualifications from the Australian National Security College, the Australian Institute of Management and the University of New England. [READ MORE]

Latest Posts

Episode 4 – Manus Days

Thank you Maya Walker for the brand new Jacobs Podcast logo. If you can’t have a listen to the podcast I at least encourage you to visit Maya’s site at www.maya-walker.com. In this episode I speak to Michael Coates, author of Manus Days: The Untold Story of Manus Island. His book is available at Connor Court Publishing. Happy listening.  

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Episode 3 – What I wish I knew in my 20s

Who do we think we are offering ‘wisdom’ in our early thirties? Jordan Shopov and I discuss what we wish we knew a decade ago around career, happiness and decision-making. Warren Buffett once again features heavily in terms of advice but also Steve Jobs and even Aussie cricketer Steve Waugh. Thanks for listening and please keep the feedback coming.  

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Episode 2 – People Are Looking For Depth

What to talk about on the second podcast? Well, podcasts. In this episode we talk about the shows Jordan and I enjoy but also why people are tuning out of mainstream current affairs broadcasts.  Our thoughts are that people are getting a tad over slim perspective, limited depth and no decent exchange of ideas in their current affairs – something that shows like ABC’s Q&A, Michelle Grattan’s ‘Conversations’ or The Project just don’t really seem to offer (and don’t seem to get). Some of Jordan’s favourite podcasts are Econtalk, Masters in Business and Conversations with Tyler Cowan, while some of mine are The Remnant, The Ricochet […]

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Episode 1 – Pilot

The inaugural episode of the Jacobs Podcast. It took me a while but we’re finally here. In the first episode I talk to Jordan Shopov – friend and founder of Whig Capital Management – about the benefits of reading. We touch on some pretty decent figures – Adam Smith, Warren Buffett and Harry Truman – while exploring how reading can help with accessing better arguments, ‘getting off the curriculum’ and cutting down ignorance. Thank you to producer Elly McNee.

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Is Australian conservatism in good hands? Maybe so

BOOK REVIEW: Damien Freeman, Abbott’s Right: The conservative tradition from Menzies to Abbott, Melbourne University Press, 28 August 2017 It is often said that conservatives are stuck in the past. But for over centuries many leading conservative thinkers and practitioners have made clear the necessity of change. ‘A state without the means of some change,’ the eighteenth century conservative Edmund Burke famously wrote, ‘is without the means of its own conservation.’ In 2002, amid the golden jubilee Queen Elizabeth II – perhaps no greater modern Western symbol of cascading tradition – noted that ‘if a jubilee becomes a moment to […]

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Bigger citizens and smaller governments: Warren Mundine’s great Australian autobiography

“The first time I was called an ‘uptown nigger’,” writes Warren Mundine, “was thirty years ago when I wore a suit and tie, and attended university.” As a former Australian Labor Party president and advisor to conservative prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, Mundine is not known for pulling his punches. And it is for two reasons that his candid reflection In Black and White is one of the great Australian autobiographies. First, Mundine does not invite guilt for past decisions regarding black Australia but, in a breath of fresh air, focuses on actually bringing Australians together and finding real, non-government […]

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The Village Operator: 9 lessons learned from working at a local level

Here are my nine basic tips and observations I learned while working as a Community Liaison Specialist on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG). For those who don’t know, Manus is famous for the Regional Processing Centre (RPC), which until recently hosted up to a thousand transferees barred from entering Australia. My role, however, was away from the actual RPC and brought me into contact with the surrounding villages, community groups and businesses.  It challenged me by having to apply my previous roles in policy and decision-making to a complex local operating environment. For those interested in taking a similar plunge […]

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Reflections on reflections: Australian public policy, history and institutions

It has been just over a year since Peter Varghese, outgoing Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), delivered his ‘graduate lecture’ to Australia’s next round of aspiring international civil servants. Titled ‘reflections on a most fortunate public life’, it appealed to me both as a former Canberra graduate at the Prime Minister’s Department, and as a young professional working closely with DFAT during my early years in the South Pacific. As someone with an instinctively conservative tilt, however, I found most appealing Varghese’s emphasis on Australia’s institutions – ‘the bedrock of our society’ – and his […]

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Positive Pacific developments: Papua New Guinea’s housing appetite

Good news can be difficult to find in Papua New Guinea. Since independence from Australia in 1975, reports of crime, corruption and poverty now seemingly tumble out of the South Pacific nation on a daily basis. But a trickle of good news has emerged from a recent housing survey. With 2000 respondents, and considered the most comprehensive ever undertaken in PNG, the survey highlights positive trends for a growing economy – rental demand is high but demand to buy is higher; many Papua New Guineans are keen to put down deposits; the capital Port Moresby and other regional centres are […]

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Papua New Guinea, aid and economic growth

We live in a time where more people have been pulled out of poverty than at any other time in history. This has not been achieved by foreign aid but through free markets and economic growth. Recent commentary has exposed the problems of criticising PNG’s pro-economic growth agenda, and elevating foreign aid as the centrepiece solution to the many domestic hurdles facing our nearest neighbour. These views have emerged out of Australian Senator Fierravanti-Wells’ recent “aid is not charity” comments after PNG’s request for $558 million – our total current aid package to the country – to be paid to […]

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