How do you judge tough military decisions? Defence One night in early September 2009, two Taliban trucks carrying fuel got stuck on a river bank in Northern Afghanistan. They had stolen the trucks
Australia’s ‘secret prisoner’ denounces lack of mental health assistance from his government employer November 20, 2019 By Harley Dennett Australian Capital Territory An Australian intelligence official sentenced to 15 months in jail and now unable to use his real name appears to have turned to Twitter to
‘No apologies’ for robodebt, no admission of ‘mistakes’ despite major retroactive change November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Communications & Technology Minister for Human Services Stuart Robert says there will be “no apologies” from the federal government over how its much-maligned robodebt program has operated in
Robodebt ‘refinement’ or strategic back-down? Human Services reads the writing on the wall November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Community & Social The Department of Human Services will no longer raise welfare debts based only on the unproven assumption that a person earned an income from employment
When it comes to families, it’s about people, not problems November 19, 2019 By University of Tasmania Career Advice For a very long time, institutions in Western society have categorised certain families with words that are heavy with stigma, labelling them as ‘problem families’
New Vic local gov laws seek transparency, miss donations caps November 19, 2019 By Shannon Jenkins Community & Social The Victorian government plans to bring in a state-wide code of conduct for councillors as well as mandatory training for council election candidates. The Local
New tax-haven transparency rules proposed for federal procurement November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Federal The Senate’s Finance and Public Administration Committee will weigh up the pros and cons of a bill that would shine a spotlight on companies that
A good plan, now for the execution: Australia’s ‘world-first’ cross-border child protection system November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Federal A new information-sharing platform designed to aid cross-border collaboration between child-protection agencies is expected to be up and running by mid-2020, following a joint effort
Political parties should agree on best practice policy process, research shows November 19, 2019 By Shannon Jenkins Federal Two think tanks with conflicting political beliefs have joined up to point out the value of evidence-based policymaking, and the current lack of good decision-making
CSIRO responds to ‘disingenuous’ news story November 18, 2019 By Shannon Jenkins Economy & Industry Australia’s science agency has hit back at a recent article published in The Australian. The story in question claimed departments and agencies engaged in contracts
Op-ed: the Productivity Commission inquiry into mental health is a missed opportunity November 18, 2019 By Jo-An Atkinson & Ian B. Hickie Editors' Picks In the words of Benjamin Franklin; ‘Experience keeps a dear school…’ This is indeed true of mental health policy in Australia, and public policy more
Climate change: why Sweden’s central bank dumped Australian bonds November 18, 2019 By John Hawkins Economy & Industry What’s happening? Suddenly, at the level of central banks, Australia is regarded as an investment risk. On Wednesday Martin Flodén, the deputy governor of Sweden’s
Premium Expert briefings Powerless to prevent catastrophic bushfires? No, we’re not. We can stop bushfires from occurring with community involvement November 18, 2019 By Paul Read Australian Capital Territory The fires devastating our communities on the eastern seaboard are covering more than a million hectares even before we reach summer. They are, as predicted,
SA Health under fire on multiple fronts as CEO’s accidental conflict of interest revealed November 18, 2019 By Stephen Easton Health The South Australian Health Department is under fire on several fronts following revelations that chief executive Dr Chris McGowan mishandled his move into the public
