The drug companies have bought both American political parties. They have not bought Australia. (more…)
Martyn Goddard
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The great mental health experiment … and why it went so wrong
Half a century ago, governments around the world ditched their old psychiatric hospitals for something they said would work better. It didn’t. (more…)
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The public service: back in from the cold
The Albanese government has begun to rebuild Australia’s shattered Public Service. The government’s fate depends significantly on it — but there’s much still to do. (more…)
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Rescuing hospitals
The nation’s public hospital system is sicker than it looks. There are practical, affordable ways to make it better — but not if governments go on doing the same things. (more…)
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The time-bomb under every state budget
Australia’s public hospitals cost too much and achieve too little. Soaring costs threaten to drown state finances while abandoning patients. (more…)
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A bill of rights is now tantalisingly close
Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a mandated charter of human rights. It’s now closer than at any time in 40 years. (more…)
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The budget that forgot health
Every element of Australia’s health system is in trouble. But you’d never know it from looking at this year’s budget. (more…)
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Want to save public hospitals? First, stop being stupid
Under-funding is not the main reason for the crisis in Australia’s public hospitals. A far bigger problem is systemic stupidity. (more…)
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Tasmanian politics and the Lambie train-wreck
Jacqui Lambie tried to turn her idiosyncratic brand into a sort-of-party. But, like so many of those arrangements before, it’s quickly falling apart. (more…)
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In their last redoubt, the Liberals lurch further to the right – and oblivion
The Tasmanian election was a disaster for both major parties, but only Labor has a path back. (more…)
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The campaign to destroy the GST
Australia’s system of GST distribution — despite some serious mutilation by WA — remains one of the most effective and fairest in the world. That’s why the NSW government wants to blow it up. (more…)
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Medicare is bleeding to death. Will Labor ever do anything about it?
GP visits are down 37% since the government took office. But all we get is spin. (more…)
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We need to talk about Gina and Andrew
Natural resources are owned by the people of Australia, but mining companies don’t like paying us for the resources they take out of the ground. And when they look like having to pay more, their response is swift and brutal. (more…)
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Populism and the fight for democracy
Liberal democracy is facing its most perilous time since the rise of fascism a century ago. Between the Global Financial Crisis and now, the number of liberal democracies has fallen by a third, as the drift towards populist authoritarian leadership gathers pace. (more…)
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These are the people we’re locking up
Prisons don’t work. When you look at the lives of people being imprisoned, it’s no wonder. (more…)
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WA’s $40 billion fraud on the rest of us
Jim Chalmers has just added $11 billion to the cost of Western Australia’s dodgy GST deal. It’s an extraordinary case of political extortion. But is it even legal? And will WA have to give the money back? (more…)
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We spend billions on ‘wellness’ crap. Why?
‘Alternative’ medicines and therapies comprise the biggest scam in the country. But if you think that industry is going to be cleaned up … you’re joking. (more…)
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Private health insurance: and the rort goes on
There’s a government review of health insurance. Here’s why you haven’t heard of it … and what needs to change. (more…)
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Labor’s Tasmania split bedevils Albanese’s poll hopes
Something rotten is happening to the ALP in the Apple Isle. Infighting among the Tasmanian branch threatens to spill into the federal election campaign. (more…)
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A drip-feed of scary numbers about the future.
20 years ago, when Peter Costello launched the first Intergenerational Report, he promised that looking four decades ahead would greatly help long-term decision-making and asset allocation. But the aim did not coincide with the reality. (more…)
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WA’s GST deal is keeping the rest of the nation under water
Every government in Australia is running a budget deficit. Except one. Western Australia, unlike the rest of Australia and the world, is rolling in it.