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Category Archives: Public Policy
RAMESH THAKUR. The rise and fall of coronavirus modelling
Will the Great Lockdown’s epitaph be ‘The Greatest Mistake in History’?
Posted in Health
4 Comments
LESLEY RUSSELL. The Next Community Pharmacy Agreement
In normal, pre-coronavirus pandemic times, we would have expected to see the details and funding for the 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement announced in the May federal budget. But the new agreement, expected to cost some $20 billion over five years, … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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ROY HARVEY. The Anzac spirit and the future of health policy
The policies adopted by the Australian governments to fight the Covid-19 crisis are the opposite of the policies that the Coalition Government has pursued for the past 70 years.
WENDY HAYHURST AND BILL RANDOLPH. Australia can, and must, build the post-pandemic recovery with more social housing
The Australian Treasurer has acknowledged that boosting infrastructure spend would be a good way to kickstart our country’s recovery from the current pandemic.
Posted in Housing
3 Comments
IAN HICKIE and STEPHEN DUCKETT. Mobilise private resources to cope with the COVID-19 mental health wave
The public-private divide in Australia’s health system disappeared early in the Coronavirus pandemic when all states signed contracts with private hospitals to ensure private beds were available to meet the anticipated tsunami of hospital demand. The same ‘can do’ approach … Continue reading
DEBORAH GLEESON & DAVID LEGG. Three simple things Australia should do to secure access to treatments, vaccines, tests and devices during the coronavirus crisis (The Conversation 21.4.20)
Patents and related intellectual property rights can present formidable barriers to procuring medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tests and medical devices.
Posted in Health, Public Policy
2 Comments
JOHN WARD. Residential aged care in Covid and beyond
Residential aged care was already struggling before Covid, the arrival of which threatens to collapse the industry. It is surely time to redesign aged care to meet the needs of future generations.
Posted in Health
4 Comments
GWILYM CROUCHER and WILLIAM LOCKE. A post-coronavirus pandemic world for Australian higher education: Part 2
The pandemic is magnifying existing pressures for universities but is also providing new possibilities. How universities respond will determine their future
Posted in Education
3 Comments
GWILYM CROUCHER and WILLIAM LOCKE. A post-coronavirus pandemic world for Australian higher education: Part 1
The pandemic is magnifying existing pressures for universities but is also providing new possibilities. How universities respond will determine their future.
JOHN DWYER. Political ambition demands we play the COVID ‘Blame Game’ while Rome still burns
President Donald J Trump claims that carelessness in the Wuhan Institute for Virology saw the COVID-19 virus, which, he insists, was being grown in the Institute, escape, resulting in a disastrous pandemic.
Posted in Health
11 Comments
CAVAN HOGUE. Science, not politics, must drive an independent and comprehensive Coronavirus inquiry
The whole question of lessons to be learned to help prepare for future pandemics is caught up in international politics and it will be hard for science to defeat politics. We need to examine who handled it well and who … Continue reading
Posted in Health, World Affairs
9 Comments
DAVID FIDLER. The dangerous COVID-19 quest for WHO reform (EAF 10.5.20)
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a health and a political crisis. Political tensions threaten to damage the global fight against the coronavirus.
Posted in Health, World Affairs
1 Comment
KEN HARVEY. Formal response from the TGA
Dr Ken Harvey has provided the following formal response from the TGA as an update to his article (Pearls and Irritations, 7 May, https://johnmenadue.com/ken-harvey-tga-fails-to-act-on-palmers-hydroxychloroquine-advertisements/)
Posted in Health
4 Comments
IAN WEBSTER: Public health and the nanny state.
Behind our backs, public health became the poor cousin of biomedicine and was dismissed as ‘drains and sewerage’. How wrong we were!
Posted in Health, Public Policy
2 Comments
HAL SWERISSEN. The New Normal: how we’ll live with Covid-19
The Covid-19 restrictions are painful, but they have worked. Some restrictions will soon be lifted. But what will the ‘new normal’ look like?
Posted in Health
2 Comments
JACK WATERFORD. Digesting the cases being missed
As we cautiously begin to lift the lockdown, if we don’t know who the silent carriers are, how can they play an active role in keeping the community safe?
JEFF BORLAND. Why IR reform is not the answer to our problems
Making predictions about the future of the Australian economy has never been more difficult than at present. In the midst of so much uncertainty, however, one development has been absolutely predictable: Calls for major reform to Australia’s industrial relations (IR) … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Public Policy
5 Comments
JACK WATERFORD. Asymptomatic Covid cases will give us our next waves
As the Prime Minister and Premiers look to relax COVID-19 restrictions, we still need to be wary of the significant proportion of asymptomatic cases.
Posted in Health, Politics
3 Comments
DUNCAN GRAHAM. When in doubt, think up a number
Indonesia’s second president General Soeharto had a fix-all to calm restless citizens demanding improvements. He’d pronounce a numbered plan.
PETER HANSFORD. Corona Virus: Capturing the Lessons Learned
As the COVID 19 infection curve flattens and we look forward to a potential easing of restrictions on the lives we once knew, it is appropriate to start contemplating what sort of world we want to create “on the other … Continue reading
Posted in Health
3 Comments
KIM OATES. Anxiety and the Etiquette of Walking
When we meet people walking towards us, have you noticed how anxious many look? Anxiety can be damaging to mental health. What can we do to help reduce damaging anxiety?
Posted in Health
2 Comments
ABUL RIZVI: Australia’s struggles with skilled temporary migration
Kristina Keneally argues that when we come out of the current crisis we should aim for a lower level of temporary migration to make sure “Australians get a fair go and a first go at jobs.” Scott Morrison says cutting … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Public Policy, Refugees, Immigration
4 Comments
JEFF KILDEA. Lessons to be learned from the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919 – Part 2
By the end of February 1919 the NSW government, by prompt and strict measures, had, in today’s parlance, ‘flattened the curve’. But the worst was still to come.
Posted in Health
10 Comments
JAMES CURRAN. Canberra’s wolverines threaten our connection (AFR 8.5.20)
Beijing deserves scrutiny for little transparency amid the pandemic, but Australia’s proposal for an inquiry is badly timed.
Posted in Asia, Health, World Affairs
7 Comments
TONI HASSAN. Building a mental health system that addresses root causes
For many of us, forced to work at home or to not work at all, the COVID-19 crisis has driven home the importance of mental health and how work interacts with our sense of wellbeing.
Posted in Health, Public Policy
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SUE WAREHAM. Prioritising Health
Global military spending continues to rise. Critical health goals could be achieved for a fraction of what we spend on wars. Focussing funding on health rather than military spending, globally and in Australia, would create more jobs, healthier communities, and … Continue reading
Posted in Health
6 Comments
RICHARD BUTLER. Covid19 USA: The Human Exchange Rate
Trump has now clarified that the meaning of the disaster that Covid-19 is posing to the US is that it could threaten his re-election. It is not a health problem. He thinks reopening the economy is his path to political … Continue reading
Posted in Health, World Affairs
2 Comments
JEFF KILDEA. Lessons to be learned from the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919 – Part 1
COVID-19 is the worst pandemic Australia has faced since the visit of the ‘Spanish Lady’ just over a century ago. What lessons can we learn from that earlier experience?
Posted in Health
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GEOFF EBBS. Coronavirus tracking is about more than privacy vs safety.
The privacy versus safety debate around coronavirus tracking and tracing technology examines the wrong dilemma. Choosing the right tracking solution is equally important.
Posted in Health
2 Comments
RIVKA T. WITENBERG Promoting Tolerance and Acceptance through Education
The role of education is to encourage moral and socially moral/ethical individuals who develop a robust sense of fairness, justice and empathy which will influence tolerance and acceptance.