Israel’s plan for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip is proceeding apace, maybe even better than expected. In addition to significant achievements in systematic killing and destruction already chalked up, the last few days have seen one more critical achievement: the deliberate starvation has started to yield results. (more…)
Category: Health
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Vale John Deeble – an architect of Medicare
Following John Menadue’s refection on 50 years of Medicare this week, many have raised the contribution of John Deeble. Below is an edited version of a 2018 tribute to the man without whom the scheme would not have been possible. (more…)
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Effective philanthropy: A model partnership
Effective philanthropy is hard to achieve. It’s difficult to access money for a worthy cause but also difficult to give money away effectively with impact. (more…)
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Failures in privatised care starkly illustrate the inevitable failure of neoliberalism
The failures of privatised child care and aged care have starkly illustrated the inability of markets to deliver quality service. The failure applies to all human services. (more…)
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Fifty years since that little green card came into being
Gough Whitlam had to do plenty of hard yakka to introduce an universal healthcare system. Today, it is central part of Australia life, and one of our great policy achievements.
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No simple solutions for specialist problems
A referral to a specialist doctor should set patients on a smooth path to the care they need. But it can be more like an alpine hike, with steep fees and treacherously long waiting lists. It’s putting lives at risk. (more…)
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The Tasmanian election on 19 July won’t fix the mess
A Joint Commonwealth/State Health Commission could help address health failure. (more…)
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Funding models for primary health: Revolution, not evolution, required
One of the authors was recently asked to be part of a panel for a discussion whose title was “Funding models for primary health: evolution not revolution” and where one of the questions asked (in advance to be fair) was “How far did I think we should go on funding alterations to optimise the scope of practice changes that have been proposed, without upsetting too many interest groups to the point where it becomes unproductive for all parties?” (more…)
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Localise relationships of care and responsibility
Continual crises in all the health, education and human services industries are no longer “exceptions”. They are continuous chronic symptoms of what’s wrong with our neoliberalised, marketised “care economy”. (more…)
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Gaza: There comes a time when silence is betrayal
Last week I spent a day fasting, joining medical colleagues and other healthcare workers in a rolling hunger strike to protest what is happening in Gaza. Why are we doing this? (more…)
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‘Indefensible’: Trump budget law subsidises private jet owners while taking healthcare from millions
A provision of the budget law that President Donald Trump signed last week will leave taxpayers to “pick up the tab for the private jet industry and billionaire high flyers”. (more…)
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The disastrous consequences of an epidemic of misinformation about the safety of vaccines
None of the “Ship of Fools” Donald Trump appointed to head his major government departments was qualified for their new roles. (more…)
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Should Australia legalise commercial surrogacy?
“Labour of Love”; “Magic Happens”; “The Greatest Gift”. These are just some recent Australian news headlines promising good news stories about surrogacy and happy families. (more…)
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Achieving health equity in Australia
The recently launched World Report on the Social Determinants of Health Equity, by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2025), paints a stark picture of the differences in ill-health, poor well-being, disease and mortality within and between countries, that arise from unfair and avoidable social conditions. (more…)
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Ocasio-Cortez calls Trump’s budget bill ‘deal with the devil’
“It explodes our national debt, it militarises our entire economy, and it strips away healthcare and basic dignity of the American people. For what? To give Elon Musk a tax break and billionaires the greedy taking of our nation.” (more…)
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Saving the NDIS doesn’t need to cost more money
The Albanese Government has a lot hinging on the successful delivery of savings earmarked from the National Disability Insurance Scheme. (more…)
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Research misconduct: Strengthening Australia’s research integrity system
A new book, Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s by Charles Piller is a deeply dispiriting story. Dispiriting in particular, as it yet again tells a story of harmful unchecked research misconduct. (more…)
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Switching from a failed vape and tobacco policy to a successful one
Australia’s health policy in relation to vapes is in disarray. Yet this deeply flawed approach is currently supported by all state, federal and territory governments. (more…)
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Environment: Australia declared climate change ‘rogue actor’
A new “water economics” needed to safeguard supplies of domestic water and make it a common good. Australia’s fossil fuels make it a rich “Climate Wrecker”. Carbon capture technologies fail to deliver. (more…)
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RFK Jr slammed for halting US support for global child vaccine program
“Kennedy is either misinformed or lying,” said one critical physician, “but either way, children will die as a result.” (more…)
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Israel’s ‘weaponisation’ of food is a ‘war crime’: UN
“It is weaponised hunger. It is forced displacement,” said one UN human rights official. “All combined, it appears to be the erasure of Palestinian life from Gaza.” (more…)
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Pregnancy as a death sentence
Genuine good news stories involving government initiatives are rare. Here’s an exception. (more…)
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Inequality in an age of weather extremes
“In tropical climes there are certain times of day When all the citizens retire to tear their clothes off and perspire. It’s one of the rules that the greatest fools obey, Because the sun is much too sultry And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray…” (more…)
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Mental health of workers undermined in New South Wales
The NSW Government is seeking to pursue legislative changes that would ultimately worsen mental health outcomes for working people. (more…)
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Thames Water disaster drags on
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…)
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Why psychologists can’t clearly say what they’re trained to do
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…)
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Three ways to support young people with mental ill-health
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…)
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Inaction also speaks louder than words
The focus of my work, over more than half a century, has been on getting good things to happen and/or preventing harm from happening. It has been a mixed history that includes both successes and failures; victories and defeats. (more…)
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Dangers and conveniences of combining great power with egomania
To take just one possible indicator, if the worldwide stampede to safe haven investments is anything to go by, there is a general sense of foreboding out there regarding President Trump’s election to a second term in office and the deleterious effects of this on the global economy, the stability of international relations and the likelihood of war with China, the genocide in Gaza, the gathering pace of global warming, authoritarian rule, and the suppression of dissent. (more…)
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Support at Home: Immediate risks and urgent issues
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…)