Is government a good 'parent' to foster kids?
Australian Governments have an opportunity to make a huge positive difference in the lives of the young people who grow up in its care. All that is needed is one simple change.
Recent articles in Health
10 May 2025
The need for depressive realism and a forgotten type of truth-telling
Prolonged observation of domestic and global politics reveals a world that is continually being shaped by radical contingency and surrounded by absurdity. Other conditions can be seen, but the two just mentioned are the regnant operational conditions.
6 May 2025
Allied health devil in aged care reform detail
As Kathy Eagar discussed, positive reforms to the Australian aged care system are somewhat undercut by bigger costs for older people and increasing privatisation via the new Support at Home program.
2 May 2025
Where has all the laughter gone?
In August, 1964, Norman Cousins, a former editor of the Saturday Review was diagnosed with a serious degenerative and painful disease of the connective tissue. He was given a one in five hundred chance of recovery.
1 May 2025
Aged care reform in 2025: An agenda for the next Australian Government
As the first of the baby boomers turn 80 this year, the major parties are on a unity ticket sharing an ideological commitment to the private market and a commitment to make older people pay more for their aged care. Neither party has the details right.
26 April 2025
Worried about a ‘baby bust’? Then prevent pregnancy ‘wastage’
Hardly a day passes without anxiety-laden news stories about falling birth rates across the globe.
23 April 2025
Health and the election: Band-aids when surgery is needed
Health policies are out and there is little difference between the two major parties. The policies definitely help patients afford to see GPs and get medication.
22 April 2025
If alcoholics don’t pick up the first drink, they can’t get drunk
Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia is celebrating its 80th anniversary with a national convention in Sydney this month. Ross Fitzgerald, who has been sober for 55 years, looks at the organisation’s history.
14 April 2025
There is no future without children
Imagine a world without children, a world steadily depopulating like that in the dystopian novel by P.D. James, Children of Men.
11 April 2025
If I were health minister…
Ministerial time is a scarce commodity. Hence setting priorities is critical. But, unfortunately, the minute I walk into my new office I will be assailed by the smell of a dead cat on my desk emanating from a stack of briefs on private sector issues.
9 April 2025
Making science great again – or not
In the US, the freshly installed administration of President Donald Trump is attempting to drastically reshape science. Here we focus on interventions that are relevant to epidemiology and public health.
9 April 2025
Nuclear power: Fukushima’s lessons for Australia
In November 2011, eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster, I travelled with Japanese colleagues to Iitate, a village some 50 kilometres from the stricken power plant.
9 April 2025
Nuclear power is not safe, it’s more dangerous than ever
Media and campaign coverage of the rekindled pitch for Australia to embrace nuclear power has focused on the poor economics, the protracted timelines of implementation, and dubious real-world benefits as a climate strategy.
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