A new report from The Grattan Institute recommends that responsibility for setting pharmacy remuneration be shifted to the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, in order to ensure Australians can safely and easily access essential medicines. (more…)
Category: Health
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The unfairness we’ve learned to walk past
Allowing homelessness to continue is a choice. Ending it must become one too. (more…)
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Living longer but not necessarily well
The 2026 report on Australia’s health shows our life expectancy remains one of the highest in the world but the last decade of life is marred by poorer health. (more…)
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A nature-based food revolution
Forget AI. The technological advance that will save the most human lives is being led by two million Indian farmers, who are pioneering advanced natural food production in a revolutionary movement that is spreading almost by the hour. (more…)
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Aged care assessments need experts not algorithms
Older people, their families and taxpayers are the losers in aged care system that trusts an algorithm over expert clinical assessors. (more…)
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The NDIS transformed lives – fixing it will take more than cost cutting
The NDIS needs reform, but tightening eligibility before alternative supports are ready risks abandoning people with disability and retreating from the citizenship principles on which the scheme was built. (more…)
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The world knows how to end AIDS in children. Will it choose to?
Decades of progress against HIV are under threat as funding cuts weaken prevention and treatment. The tools to save lives exist – what is missing is sustained political will.
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Thanks Mr Fox; please keep digging
Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, and still without a cure. (more…)
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Health regulator should reverse decision on IHRA definition of antisemitism
It is unclear why the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has chosen now to adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as a ‘reference tool’. (more…)
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When women’s rights become clickbait
Attempts to reopen debate on abortion access rights in Australia show how women’s rights are made negotiable through language, media framing and political theatre – and why independent journalism matters in resisting that backlash.
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Dysfunctional disability policy
Assessing functional capacity instead of basing disability assistance on diagnosis has been tried before. To be fair, the test will need a strong qualitative element. (more…)
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Specialist fees are out of control. Medicare needs reform
Medical specialist fees have been rising far beyond Medicare support, leaving patients with heavy out-of-pocket costs, long public waiting lists and a health system that needs stronger public controls. (more…)
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Are the government’s NDIS plans real reforms or just blunt cuts?
The NDIS needs reform, but the government risks using blunt short-term cuts to meet Budget savings targets before the harder work of building fairer assessments and foundational supports is in place.
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Who will release the next pandemic?
The next pandemic may emerge from wildlife trade, intensive farming, land clearing, laboratories, global travel or antibiotic resistance, as human behaviour continues to multiply the risks of another major disease outbreak. (more…)
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Air pollution in our cities is endangering health
Australians are too complacent about allowing diesel-run vehicles in urban areas. Diesel exhaust is carcinogenic and can cause other illnesses. (more…)
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If Support at Home is the answer, what is the problem?
Support at Home was meant to transform aged care, but its assessment and funding model has left older Australians waiting too long, paying too much and receiving services shaped by budgets rather than need. (more…)
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East Africa is coping on the frontline of the Ebola outbreak
The international community must resist the urge to panic in response to the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC and Uganda. The more useful task is to support existing local systems. (more…)
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Australia abandoned harm minimisation on smoking – and fuelled a black market
Australia’s steep cigarette excise increases and restrictive vaping policies have fuelled a massive illegal tobacco market while undermining the country’s long-standing harm-minimisation approach to public health.
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A more nuanced way to tackle social media’s harmful effects
Instead of a blanket ban on social media for under 16-year-olds, listening to young people’s ideas about how to tackle the harm would be more effective. (more…)
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WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda a global health emergency
The World Health Organization has declared the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a global health emergency after the virus spread across borders and killed nearly 90 people.
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NDIS: the way forward
To take the NDIS to the next level will require cultural and operational changes that give the National Disability Insurance Agency the tools, and the mindset, to properly manage its business. (more…)
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Not much ‘reform’ in the National Health Reform Agreement
Australia needs an integrated health service model that is able to focus on the prevention of illness rather than just more money for hospitals, welcome though this is. (more…)
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The NDIS has transformed lives – but profit is distorting its purpose
The NDIS has enabled greater independence and inclusion, but privatisation and provider profiteering are driving up costs and distorting its purpose. (more…)
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Loneliness is spreading – and modern life is driving it
Loneliness is rising across all age groups, driven by shifts in work, technology, culture and social life that are weakening everyday human connection.
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The NDIS reform is a real test of Labor’s courage
The proposed NDIS overhaul marks a rare moment of substantive reform – and a test of whether the Albanese government is willing to follow through in the face of political pressure. (more…)
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NDIS and the moment Labor blinked
The NDIS overhaul is not just about costs and governance – it is a test of whether Labor still believes in the social guarantees that have defined its reformist tradition.
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Tune in, turn on, and drop out: the case for legalising psychedelics is stronger than ever
Decades of prohibition have failed to stop psychedelic drug use while blocking research and treatment options, raising questions about the basis of current laws.
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Private health insurance is a painfully bad deal – and a costly one
Australia’s private health insurance system is heavily subsidised, increasingly unaffordable and delivers poor value – especially for those on lower incomes.
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Mickey J: an Australian always, quietly, making a big difference
At a time of diminished political leadership, the legacy of Fred Hollows and Michael Johnson shows what practical, principled internationalism can achieve.
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Tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease – Australia’s regional leadership matters
Tuberculosis is preventable and curable, yet remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Australia’s regional role is critical to changing that.
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