Category: Health

The Macquarie Thames Water saga may be coming to an end albeit at great cost – but not, of course, to Macquarie which has reinvested the billions it took out into other things. (more…)

I am a registered psychologist with extensive additional training in advanced trauma modalities. But under Australia’s current advertising guidelines for health practitioners, I am unable to say that clearly in public-facing communication. (more…)

The social and economic cost of youth mental ill-health in Australia is a burning issue that will persist unless we urgently and actively change the way the system interacts with young people and their families. (more…)

Australia’s aged care system is gearing up for one of its biggest shake-ups yet. The Support at Home program, set to launch on 1 July, aims to merge existing in-home care arrangements into a single, streamlined, person-centred reform. Or at least, that’s the theory. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

Hardly a day passes without anxiety-laden news stories about falling birth rates across the globe. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

There is a clear disconnect between the claims of the nuclear lobby and the real-world adverse consequences of nuclear energy. Communities, workers and indeed all Australians need accurate information about the health impacts. (more…)

It may be an inconvenient truth, but the fact is that, in terms of its harm, alcohol is by far Australia’s most dangerous drug. (more…)