Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Our fear of adoptions is hurting vulnerable children
Rather than further pursuing often futile parental rehabilitation programs, we need to get children out of harm's way through adoption. Read More
My School sheds a welcome light
If governments gather important information about schools and students, it should be available to everyone. The My School site simply gives parents easy access.If governments gather important information... Read More
The fair go is fact, not political platitude
Australia's social escalator moves so quickly that the poorest Australians can find fortune in just a few years. With the controversy over the adequacy of unemployment benefits heating up again, the divide... Read More
Gillard Deal Risks NDIS Timebomb
In its eagerness to lock in the funding and governance arrangements for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Gillard government seems to have created a fiscal time bomb, where future federal... Read More
Sorry, Mr Swan, the Australian fair go is still going strong
In the lead up to what is likely to be a budget bloodbath on 14 May, Treasurer Wayne Swan has come out swinging. Instead of trying to steer Australia back into the black, he has resorted to the electoral... Read More
Only a super-style savings system now will help Medicare survive
THE intergenerational reports have told us repeatedly that escalating government spending on health is unsustainable in an ageing Australia. But despite the warnings about the future of the health system,... Read More
Federal micro-managers to rule the schools
Responses to the federal government’s school funding proposal have been less than enthusiastic. People have rightly pointed out that increased expenditure on education does not guarantee better results.... Read More
NDIS highlights welfare waste
It is time to end the tax-welfare churn and return the savings to taxpayers through tax cuts. Read More
The politics of apologies: Easy moralism for past sins, but ignorance about the present
Official apologies tend to descend into simplistic condemnations of people and times past rather than criticising current practices. Read More
Why adoption should, in some cases, continue
The "never again" approach to separating parents from children because of previous forced adoption practices has implicatons for current child protection policies. Read More
Abundant Asian Century opportunities for an already Asia-savvy Australia
Tapping into the Asian Century bonanza does not mean that Australia requires costly education and training programs. Read More
Extending NDIS poses threat
The age restrictions on the NDIS are crucial in maintaining the scheme’s financial integrity and maximising its benefits. Read More
No need for Asian Century panic
Why the anxiety over readying Australia for the Asian Century? Read More
Don't mention the M-word
Australian academics have allowed their staunch advocacy for family diversity to get in the way of reasoned analysis on how to best raise children. Read More
Increasing Newstart would be a costly failure
An increase in the base rate of Newstart Allowance will not do much to break down the barriers to employment for the long term unemployed. Read More
Coal hoax fails to dig deep without a martyr to the cause
Protesters need to face legal consequences to sway public opinion. Read More
Disability pension reform key to NDIS success
Reform of the disability support pension is necessary to maximise the benefits of the NDIS. Read More
How the rich lead poor lives
The new upper class in the US is isolated and segregated from mainstream US culture, living in a bubble. Read More
Improving lives or just a welfare monster in the making?
There is a real danger the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be even bigger and more expensive than we imagine. Read More
The real solution to poverty: J-O-B-S, J-O-B-S, J-O-B-S
Moving people off welfare and into full-time jobs would do more to address poverty than increasing the value of welfare benefits. Read More
Hummus, Hamas and the hopeless naive
In the wake of the violent Islamist riots, concerns that western governments will seek a political accommodation and try to appease Islamofascist grievances by limiting freedom to criticise Islam are not... Read More
Better schooling, not uni quotas
LARISSA Behrendt's recent report recommends doubling the proportion of indigenous students at universities. Only 1.09 per cent of university students are indigenous and Behrendt argues that the target... Read More
Government policy driving dole growth
The increasing number of people who are on the dole but are exempted from job-search requirements is a serious concern. Read More
Higher dole should come as bonus for serious job-seekers only
Higher dole should come as bonus for serious job-seekers only. Read More
The NDIS will cost us more than we’re being told
The National Disability Insurance Scheme presents an opportunity to re-evaluate current and future government expenditure in a moral light: Do they pass an “NDIS test”? Read More
Disability, injury insurance schemes need scrutiny
The National Injury Insurance Scheme is the forgotten little brother of the bigger, brighter and more popular National Disability Insurance Scheme, but that is no reason to ignore it. Read More
How to fund a disability scheme
First there was the carbon tax, then the mining tax, then the flood tax – and now calls for a national disability insurance scheme (NDIS) levy. Will the stream of new taxes and levies never end? Read More
Ability, not disability, should determine access to support
Blind people are exempt from certain income support tests, and this anomaly should stop.Blind people are exempt from certain income support tests, and this anomaly should stop Read More
Tighten the rules on welfare payments
There is more to welfare reform than amalgamating the benefits. Read More
Child protection: generation lost by not being 'stolen'
It is incredibly simplistic and misleading to blame the serious problems many troubled children experience on the decision to take them into care. Read More
Mistakes writ large if reading goes wrong
A flawed report shows the muddled state of literacy policy in NSW. Read More
Top quality pre-school is child's play
High quality pre-school can significantly mediate the negative impact of a language and literacy-poor home environment, beginning at the age of three. Read More
Let's start to expect greater outcomes
Fewer than half of Australians with a disability are employed. But we know that given the right help many people, even those with serious disabilities, can work. Read More
Mandatory reporting has not failed children
Far from the failure it is made out to be, mandatory reporting by police, education and health professionals of children at risk of harm has worked incredibly well. Read More
Opportunity for major reform
The highlight of the Gonski report is that it is student-centred; shifting the focus from the demands of schools to the needs of children. Where the report falls short is that it is not entirely sector-neutral. Read More
Literacy problems hidden behind culturally separate careers
One of the primary reasons for the problems experienced by AHWs is ambivalence about the need for English literacy and numeracy. When the role was first created in the 1970s in the Northern Territory,... Read More
Independent thinking for financing future
Health already devours over 10 per cent of GDP each year and 70% of health funding is funnelled through federal and state government programs. Because health dollars are not spent efficiently the community... Read More
Gonski review must not hobble choice
On Monday, the report of the federal government’s Review of Funding for Schooling, commonly known as the ‘Gonski review’ will be released, along with the government’s initial response. So far,... Read More
Open up debate on welfare
Poor people are often those who miss out on adequate health care: people who can’t afford to go to private hospitals and don’t have the capability to advocate for themselves. Read More
Education crucial to Aboriginal jobs
The problem is not a shortage of jobs in the mining sector. More local Aboriginal people would be employed in mines if they had the skills for employment. Read More
An Indigenous program that’s boxing clever
At risk Aboriginal youth are given an outlet to build self esteem through a boxing program with Redfern police. Read More
An Indigenous program that’s boxing clever
At risk Aboriginal youth are given an outlet to build self esteem through a boxing program with Redfern police. Read More
An Indigenous program that’s boxing clever
At risk Aboriginal youth are given an outlet to build self esteem through a boxing program with Redfern police. Read More
Who needs four uni degrees or even one for that matter?
Most jobs don't require university degrees. A key purpose of education is to give students a chance to signal their aptitude and diligence, rather to acquire knowledge for later vocational use. Fostering... Read More
Italy defaults on debt and sends lenders broke? So be it
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Liberals Drop Ball in Super Free-For-All
Lifting superannuation to 12% is wrong. Read More
Focus on 'prevention' abusing kids
Despite increasing government spending on programs meant to prevent child abuse and entries into care, record numbers of children are currently in Out of Home Care (OOHC) in Australia, and this is the... Read More
Myths, lies and adoption
IN 2009-10, 36,000 children were in out-of-home care in Australia and more than two-thirds had been there for at least two years. Many of these children will remain in out-of-home care indefinitely after... Read More
Care system still abusing forgotten children.
In 2009 the federal parliament apologised to the Forgotten Australians who were physically, sexually, and emotionally abused in state and charitable-run orphanages between the 1920s and 1970s. The national... Read More
Changing expectations of Aboriginal school attendance
If my son wasn't hassled every time he was late to school then he would probably continue to be late. If there were no consequences, then despite the carrot of a real job one day, he like many remote Indigenous... Read More
The welfare revolution that has passed disability pensioners by
Unemployment has fallen. Single parents are returning to the workforce in droves. Yet the number of people on Disability Support Pension - currently more than 800,000 - continues to climb – it has to... Read More
We must crack down on the Disability Support Pension
The number of people on the Disability Pension Scheme must be reduced. Read More
Should dentistry be covered by Medicare?
But the ''right'' to receive certain health services for ''free'' does not automatically produce good health. Bulk billing has been available since the 1970s, yet lower-income groups are still far more... Read More
A few home truths on people and houses
Population growth: starting acting, not discussing Read More
Change attitude rather than limit population
Population growth: starting acting, not discussing. Australia should embrace its population growth . Read More
Remote disadvantage even worse than reported
Billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on programs that mostly benefit bureaucrats IN February, the Productivity Commission released Indigenous Expenditure Report 2010 showing that an additional $5.1... Read More
Paid leave for dads a useless, cynical waste of money
Getting dads more involved in parenting is a noble goal. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence that paid paternity leave will help realise it. Read More
Women's rights push dads aside
This is the disturbing significance of the controversial NSW birth certificate decision. That no gay spokesperson has expressed concern for the father and child stolen from each other speaks volumes about... Read More
It's Anglicanism, Jim, but not as we know it
If we think of individual churches as religious firms, then collectively they form a religious market Read More
Degrees of difference
Many people have taken umbrage at this arguing that having a separate form for some remote communities is an example of 'positive discrimination'. Few people seem to understand the broader implications... Read More
Living together demands civility
We should not rush to stifle public discussions on the off chance that an unhinged individual (whether politically motivated or not) misconstrues them as a clarion call to violence. Nor should the far-right... Read More
Gillard misses the chance to help the disabled and define her legacy
Gillard misses a chance for concrete reform and define her legacy Read More
Brits recoil from teaching respect for authority at home or school
Following last week's riots in Britain, politicians and commentators have similarly been asking the wrong question. What caused thousands of (mainly) young males to torch buildings where they live, loot... Read More
Census apartheid: separate form separates a community
The use of a separate Census form for some discrete Indigenous communities is not only state-sanctioned apartheid but statistically invalid. Read More
Hospital reform looks sickly but the blame game is fit as a fiddle
While critics claimed the approach was too hospital-centric, the primary focus on the financing of public hospital care was warranted. State governments have perennially blamed long waits for elective... Read More
A confident secularist society would tolerate school religion
A confident secular society, one that trusted in its rationalist public institutions, should have no problem with occasional church-run classes. Read More
Artful dodges
Pragmatic politics alone suggest that Australian governments will rarely lift spending per higher education student, in the humanities and social science or any other field. Read More
Think local and give country towns the freedom to prosper or perish
FOR politicians, and especially for town planners, letting people decide where and how they want to live has never been an acceptable idea. Administrative elites have always been convinced they know better... Read More
OOHC not working for at-risk kids
The causes of the OHHC crisis care are multifaceted. But the consensus among experts is that at the heart of the crisis is the increasing numbers of children with 'high needs' entering care because of... Read More
Beware pink totalitarianism
Gay marriage dissenters deserve the same respect as advocates Read More
Those who can work must not be paid to sit at home
Job seekers with low attachment to the labour force should be required to work for the dole. Read More
Helping mentally ill go back to work a win for all
Unless we find a better way to keep people with mental illness in the workforce, the number of disability pensioners will balloon. Read More
Paying for higher education is not popular
Paying more for higher education is not popular but extra places could be provided in lower-cost teaching-only institutions. Read More
Lands where no one can feel at home
Indigenous ‘community’ a misnomer. Read More
False notions of Indigenous community
Indigenous communities are not homogenous. Read More
Population debate: we pretend growth is not inevitable
The longer we pretend we can stop population growth, or protest that we don’t want growth to happen, the more difficult the job will become. Read More
Bar must be raised to curb pub violence
Follow NSW and crack down on problem pubs. Read More
Custody for Indigenous kids more than black and white
We should find better ways of combining Aboriginal child safety and the passing down of traditional lore by responsible elders. Read More
Demand driven only if it suits
Gillard rightly denies that her demand-driven system was a voucher system but doesn’t push for choice and competition. Read More
Back to six-pack politics
'Wet canteens' have been tried and utterly failed in indigenous communities. Read More
Not all teaching is a qualified success
Though formal education qualifications play an increasing role in labour markets, employer judgments remain critical in most occupations. Read More
A disability insurance scheme offers clear benefits
The Productivity Commission's disability insurance scheme is promising but demands hardline decisions from the government. Read More
Will bonus payments for teachers improve children’s education?
Decentralise salaries and let the market decide what teachers are worth based on their qualifications, professional standing and record. Read More
Petty name-calling just adds to polarisation
Increasing polarisation emerges in the aftermath of Larissa Behrendt’s tweet on Bess Price’s support of the NTI. Read More
Welfare reforms are worthwhile, but not an easy budget fix
The best way to get unskilled workers into work is to find them an unskilled job – not try to train them for a skilled position they may never get. Read More
When it comes to university funding, the important thing now is to ensure the price is right
The federal government has introduced legislation for a Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, to replace a decentralised and, for universities, light-touch approach to standards and quality. Read More
Apartheid at the local pub
Double standards in the responsible service of alcohol have contributed to the growing alcohol problem in remote indigenous communities, and are one reason why alcohol restrictions are now in place in... Read More
Water: Making the glass half full
It is possible to augment the water supply of our cities without a drastic overhaul. Ever-improving technologies can not only help us save billions of litres each year but supply billions of litres without... Read More
Fat cats feed on needy
If government expenditure on indigenous Australians is divided among the welfare-dependent, the average per head is $75,000. Read More
Our Medicare Vice
Long waiting times for public hospital treatment in this country are almost a daily source of popular dissatisfaction. Yet few of us bother to think how this problem is related to the principles of the... Read More
Medicare: Australia’s very sick sacred cow
Whether Medicare actually ‘works’ for those who most need assistance to access health services is another question altogether. Read More
Cure Medicare mess or waste will get worse
We should subsidise visits to the doctor less so there is more money to spend on hospitals. Read More
Protecting bad teachers produces chronic failure
My School confirms that funding is not the cause of Indigenous educational failure. Read More
Education the key to living in two worlds
Key to the maintenance of a cultural or ethnic identity is the passing on of cultural knowledge and fostering a positive self image among the next generation. Read More
Migration needs serious debate
Australia became a successful nation of immigrants because the egalitarianism that is central to its national character -- the principle that Jack is as good as his mate -- was extended by "old Australians"... Read More
Bureaucracy threatens academic freedom
A tertiary education regulator will directly involve a government agency in academic affairs for the first time. It puts much at risk. Read More
Let's hold the line on immigration
Rebuilding the flood affected parts of Queensland will be an enormous task with big labour market implications. But should great decisions for the nation’s future population be made on the fly? Or do... Read More
Paid parental leave adds to dilemma of family benefits
Can we afford to keep expanding an ever more generous system of benefits for middle- and high-income families, or do we need to get more bang for our buck? Read More
Paid parental leave adds to dilemma of family benefits
Can we afford to keep expanding an ever more generous system of benefits for middle- and high-income families, or do we need to get more bang for our buck? Read More
Remote chance of university
Although Indigenous graduates are taking their place in the professions and doing postgraduate studies, most of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in remote areas and on welfare... Read More
Glory be to Gaia, I'm dreaming of a green Christmas
Christmas is when two great religions collide: Christianity and environmentalism. Read More
A Politically Correct Christmas is Un-Australian
Why undermine the process assimilation? Read More
Reform must start with Medicare
If health reform is to amount to more than money shifting and rearranging the administrative deckchairs we need to address the root of the problem - Medicare itself. Read More
For the poor, a job must pay better than handouts
The British government is taking a gamble with its welfare to work program. Read More
Top students go backwards
The number of high achievers at school is shrinking because all the attention goes to the weak. Read More
Aborigines should be given houses for free
Indigenous people are locked out of home ownership. Read More
Leftist class chatter no longer matters in UK
Intellectuals love to peddle the myth of an unfair, privileged society, but they're wrong. Read More
Ridicule the prescription to induce health reform
After three years of hot air from the Federal Government about fundamental health reform, which has only produced a plan for marginal changes in hospital funding and administration that will be lucky to... Read More
Rewriting the formula on fairness
In trying to help disadvantaged students get to uni are we making the system unfair? Read More
Ownership would transform Aboriginal towns
The denial of private property rights to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders on indigenous lands continues to cause extremes of poverty and dysfunction. Read More
Home ownership key to ending dysfunction
Indigenous Australians are being denied their right to own the house they live in. Read More
Free hospital care is unsustainable
The elective surgery queues won't get shorter unless patients are made to pay. Read More
Education is only way out of ghettos
Separate schooling is disadvantaging indigenous children in remote communities. Read More
Collective apathy: alcohol and child abuse in the NT
What has been tolerated in Aboriginal communities would never have been tolerated in the major cities and towns of Australia. Read More
Disability payment should not be de facto dole
Our welfare system should not assume that disabled people can't be in paid employment. Read More
Population bomb still a fizzer 40 years on
Anti-population growth campaigners like Paul Ehrlich claim to be fighting for the environment and sustainability. In effect, they are actually promoting a new, green version of misanthropy. It is time... Read More
Why Europe is the wrong model for paid parental leave
If we can draw one lesson from the experience of Britain and the other European states now forced into austerity, it is that the cost of new entitlements and promises gradually add up— until suddenly... Read More
A buyer's market
We should trust in the wisdom of the crowd to guide the direction of Australia's higher education. Read More
The growth of religious schooling
As religious schools have become more numerous and more visible, they have also become more prominent in debates on education policy. Read More
Britons brace for age of austerity
The British government is looking to the Australian model for welfare reforms. Read More
Let's avoid the OECD cringe
Don't let international comparisons become the only benchmarks for our higher education funding policies. Read More
Interventionist child protection policies are right for the liberal right
The state has a responsibility to protect children from inadequate parents. Read More
Patients, doctors could pay for Super Clinics election ‘pork’
The Gillard government appears set to go ahead with the electoral pork that GP Super Clinics are. Read More
Child protection underbelly sells out at risk kids
Recent events in Victoria and NSW expose the underbelly of Australian child protection – the extent to which the system is driven by the interests of taxpayer-funded charitable organisations rather than... Read More
Graduates can afford to top up funding
In higher education, the key issue of funding rate per student remains unresolved. Read More
A small Australia limits our creativity
To advocate a small Australia is to deny the opportunities for economic, scientific and cultural advance that can flow from great concentrations of people and their inexhaustible reserves of creative potential,... Read More
Little Gungaleeda girl: a preventable tragedy
The death of the 'little Gungaleeda girl' is a tragic outcome of poorly resourced medical care in remote Indigenous communities, says Sara Hudson on The Drum, 1 September 2010. Read More
In search of that last small step
In abolishing controls on higher education student numbers, the two parties are coming very close to a reform that combines choice and fairness, says Andrew Norton in The Age, 31 August 2010. Read More
Hospital boards trump bureaucracy
There are clear differences in the way the government and opposition will organise public health administration yet health policy did not receive the attention in deserved during the federal election campaign,... Read More
Putting a case for fee deregulation
On the key issue of funding per student, Julia Gillard's legacy as education minister is uncertain, says Andrew Norton in The Australian, 25 August 2010. Read More
A dose of reality: public health problems need private solutions
It is imperative to acknowledge the limits of publicly funded healthcare, says Jeremy Sammut in The Australian, 6 August 2010. Read More
Helen Hughes opens her diary
Helen Hughes writes the Diary for Spectator Australia about her trip to Cape York, 31 July 2010. Read More
Statistics, lies and DoCS
One–third of NSW children aged 12 to 17 have been reported to the Department of Community Services and this research shows that severely at risk children have been reported time and time again, without... Read More
Simple ambition for all schools
The much-needed review of school funding should fix a very confusing system. Read More
Government doing something for Indigenous people not with them ...
Without community engagement Outback Stores will be yet another example of government doing something for Indigenous people not with them, says Sara Hudson in Online Opinion 29 June 2010. Read More
Outback Stores is not the solution
Rather than running stores for Indigenous communities, Outback Stores should be empowering residents to run the stores themselves, says Sara Hudson in The Canberra Times, 29 June 2010. Read More
Bandage won’t stop a haemorrhage: the government’s health shake-up
The final National Health and Hospitals Network plan doesn’t deliver on the promises of less bureaucracy, genuine activity-based funding and responsive local service delivery. Read More
Equal help for home and working mums
A new parental leave scheme should not be based around the kind of work their mothers do or don't do. Instead, it should be designed around the needs of newborns. Read More
Working versus stay-at-home is not the mother of all battles
Parental leave policy should reflect the variety of different decisions that families make about how to divide their time between staying at home with the children and working. Read More
Would-be Indigenous homeowners abandoned
The redirection of funds away from the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land program signals that remote Indigenous Australian’s dreams of home ownership will remain only a dream. Read More
Aborigines hurt by the stereotype of suffering
The majority of Indigenous Australians don’t need government hand-outs but unfortunately they hardly get any recognition. Read More
Indigenous students from welfare-dependent families perform poorly
South Australia has some of the most disadvantaged remote Aboriginal communities and some of the lowest indigenous employment. Read More
Paying nurses to play doctor will make system sick
The Medicare reforms will only exacerbate the problems facing public hospitals. Read More
Woo mums and big end of town
The enthusiasm with which the Opposition Leader has embraced the cause of working mothers shows just how keen Tony Abbott is to shed his image as a patriarchal conservative and win the support of the female... Read More
Half a cheer for hospital reform
Labor’s hospital plan fails to get to the heart of bureaucratic inefficiencies. Read More
Another brick in the wall
Public housing cannot remain the only option in Indigenous communities. If residents of remote communities could access some of the 'dead' capital currently tied up in the communal ownership of land, they... Read More
Alternatives to a life on welfare
The Disability Support Pension (DSP) has become a one-way ticket. The government is trying to reduce the number of people who go onto DSP, but what it should be doing is improving the incentive for existing... Read More
Hospital overhaul is our only hope
Federal control of hospital funding represents a big step towards ensuring care is delivered in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. Once the Commonwealth takes over health care, the challenge... Read More
Whizz-bang medicine no cure for health challenges
The most interesting part of the intergenerational report 2010 is what it doesn’t say about the more serious and immediate ageing-related health challenges. Read More
What’s fair about defining disadvantage
Could the government’s new higher education equity policy end up being unfair? Though the policy’s details are not settled, this is the risk we face. Read More
Holes in new path to reform child care
In December, the Council of Australian Governments comprising the Prime Minister, state premiers, territory chief ministers and the president of the Australian Local Government Association announced a... Read More
Funding policy revamp a question of balance
Australian universities will face challenges to keep courses open while meeting funding criteria. Read More
Antidote to welfare dependency
The federal government’s extension of income management across the country, announced late last year, reflects a new consensus in Australia and internationally about the pernicious effects on individuals... Read More
Competitive disadvantage is hardly the healthiest option
Determining the appropriate level of government responsibility is a vexed issue. Nowhere is this more apparent than in remote indigenous communities. Years of welfare dependency have demoralised communities... Read More
Neglect the champers, not the children in 2010
Suspected abuse and neglect of children living in danger should be properly investigated and at-risk children should be removed from their families to be safe – the earlier that statutory intervention... Read More
Super clinics won’t ease emergency overload
The revelation that most of the Rudd government’s GP super clinics will not be operating for at least another two years has brought opponents of this expensive program out into the open. Read More
Bligh's 'Green Army'
Now that Keynesian pump-priming is back in vogue the old depression era adage that governments should pay people to dig holes and fill them back up again is also back on the agenda. Better to do something,... Read More
Teacher union still waging a war against transparency
The Australian Education Union is waging a war against the publication of school league tables and proposes to reinstate school inspections. Read More
Wasting money damages Aboriginal health
Public hospital reform wasn't the only issue put on the backburner at this week's Council of Australian Governments meeting in Brisbane. The Rudd government has also put off decisions about indigenous... Read More
Hale and hearty, say their parents
Ninety-seven per cent of Indigenous children are reported to be in excellent, very good, or good health, but these findings of the federal government’s study into Aboriginal children’s health are based... Read More
What makes great cities?
There is no yardstick to measure the greatness of cities. Some features of cities may be a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at them. Read More
We need hospital beds, not super clinics
The Bennett report hopes to bring a healthcare revolution that will keep more Australians well and cure the hospital crisis. In reality, it does not properly address long waits for emergency and elective... Read More
Crash the glass floor
Governments throughout the Western world, including in Australia, are gradually introducing legislation aimed at making the workplace more family friendly. Read More
Some kids really need to be rescued
As a researcher your gut always churns when you are about to release a new report, but when the Centre for Independent Studies published my report on child protection earlier this year, it was something... Read More
A sense of despair at Indigenous housing policy
Despite billions of dollars being spent, residents of remote communities still don't have enough houses. What houses there are continue to be poorly maintained, overcrowded and run down to the point of... Read More
It’s time for a new Medicare
Thirty-five years after the Whitlam government voted for the introduction of universal health care, and following the report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s report, the Rudd... Read More
Authorities must not wag school
The just released National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results for this year confirm the Northern Territory remains far behind the rest of Australia in educating its children. Read More
Motivate those on hand-outs
The Rudd government’s approach to sole-parent families, as with that of its predecessor, is that the best form of welfare is a job. This tactic is paying dividends. Read More
We’re wasting billions on tax churn
By pulling the middle class into the welfare net, the government is crowding out civil society and undermining personal responsibility, self-esteem, and social capital. Ultimately, our current welfare... Read More
Back to better hospitals
Policymakers need to understand that the replacement of local hospital boards with centralised command-and-control area health services has obliterated the proper governance structures that were based... Read More
Principal is the means of elevation
Somewhere between one in five and one in six students are barely literate and numerate, according to recent national literacy and numeracy results. Poor literacy and numeracy outcomes are concentrated... Read More
Ferguson shown the door by media and the mob
Managing the media takes precedence over dealing with controversial issues in an honest, open and effective manner. Read More
Federal Government gets casemix wrong
A full federal hospital takeover is a political long shot regardless of whether this requires a constitutional referendum. It’s time to move the debate on and assess the government’s reform bona fides... Read More
Time to end silence on child abuse
Heightened awareness is clearly essential to educate the community about the shared responsibility for preventing harm to children. However, organisations committed to protecting children’s rights, such... Read More
Rarely a case of happy ever after
Marital relationships in Australia have never been more unstable. The consequences of divorce for individuals and children constitute major social and economic problems for which family law must take a... Read More
Birth rate bubble
Australia is in the middle of an unusual, unrecognised and unintended experiment that may give us insight into the connections between rises and falls in our birth rate and changing economic conditions.... Read More
The training merry-go-round may be worse than nothing at all
Short of directly hiring more public servants, it is very difficult – impossible even – for governments to create real, sustainable jobs. Read More
Results are in and jobs come first
The news this week that the Federal Government’s flagship training program, the Productivity Places Program, has to date resulted in only 6,000 participants securing jobs out of the 95,000 so far referred... Read More
Bleed bureaucracy to restore hospital health
The recent announcement that the Hunter New England Area Health Service has cut 22 hospital beds from the Calvary Mater hospital at Waratah will come as no surprise to the emergency doctors and nurses... Read More
Super clinics are no alternative for hospital beds
The centrepiece of the Rudd government’s plan to take pressure off public hospitals is a national network of GP Super Clinics. These clinics are designed to provide local communities with more and better... Read More
Beds not bureaucrats can ease health crisis
It’s a quarter of a century since Medicare was established but no one is celebrating. No wonder considering the critical condition of the public hospital system throughout Australia. Read More
Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage 2009
The Commonwealth government hoped for favourable coverage from the release of the Productivity Commission’s Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage. Instead, the Government was subjected to widespread criticism... Read More
Better protection is needed for vulnerable children
The conviction of the Hawk Nest couple accused of starving their daughter to death again highlights the need for governments to better protect the most vulnerable children in our community. The question... Read More
Remove endangered children from their abusive parents
Ever since the ‘starved girl’ case hit the headlines in 2007, we have struggled to comprehend the incomprehensible. How is it that children live and sometimes die in the custody of obviously dysfunctional... Read More
There’s no real reform for health and hospitals on the horizon
Despite not many surprises being anticipated, all observers are keenly waiting for the final report of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission to be submitted to the federal government at the... Read More
Tax and welfare as carrot and stick for jobs
Last week’s cabinet reshuffle saw Rudd confidant Mark Arbib take over employment, signalling that job creation and protection will be a high priority. With unemployment set to bite, the government will... Read More
Rudd's NT welfare revolution
The Rudd government’s decision to retain and recast key aspects of the Howard government’s intervention into the Northern Territory is to be applauded. Read More
Tough job on employment
The outlook for Queensland’s jobs market is bleak, with industries that the state specialises in, like tourism, set to be the hardest hit by recession. According to the latest ABS figures, 67 000 Queenslanders... Read More
No radical departure in our mixed health system
Fortunately, the Budget decision to means-test the private health insurance (PHI) rebate from next July appears to be driven by fiscal, political, and policy pragmatism rather than hackneyed health ideology... Read More
A budget stick for sole parents
While this week’s pension increase was widely though not universally welcomed, welfare groups such as the Australian Council of Social Services were quick to protest that sole parents were excluded from... Read More
Training is a means to the end, not the end
Last week the government announced its new ‘jobs compact’ which would guarantee a training place for all unemployed young Australians. The policy change will also see welfare payments cut for any young... Read More
Private hurdle for kids
The number of school students with disabilities is increasing every year. The government school sector has the largest number of these children. In 2007, 5.7% of enrollments in government schools were... Read More
A lesson from the real world
Another football season has begun and another footballer has allegedly behaved reprehensively towards women. The National Rugby League player Brett Stewart, Manly-Warringah's premiership-winning fullback... Read More
No point in Bradley's vouchers
There is no point in the Bradley Review’s voucher scheme without deregulation. Read More
Unskilled and over-educated: A plan for worse outcomes
Forcing students who gain no benefit from additional formal education is pointless. Read More
Time to use a chainsaw on a critically ill patient
Radical surgery is the only way to cure the NSW hospital mess. Read More
Why Kevin Rudd's internet censorship plan will not work
The Rudd Government's controversial, costly and compulsory internet censorship regime will slow web access and hand criminals a directory of illegal content. Read More
Prescription item No 1: dispensing with the closed shop
It’s time the self-serving pharmacy club was disbanded. Read More
School litany of shame
With the May 2009 national literacy and numeracy tests only six months away, it is not too soon to focus on the reasons why more than half of the Northern Territory's Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 school children... Read More
Vulnerable children are at the mercy of the bureaucracy
There is something rotten in the state of child protection in NSW, that much everyone knows. But how is it possible that while the number of children in care in Victoria and Queensland is falling, the... Read More
Recession and reform are in the wind for health care
While it’s hardly polite to mention the R-word, let alone to see the good that might come of a recession, it’s an ill wind that blows no good. In the wake of the global financial crisis, this certainly... Read More
Who’s paying for babies?
The Productivity Commission is currently examining models for a national paid maternity leave scheme. Current payments, including the Baby Bonus, can be transformed into a short, universal, payment (such... Read More
The ABC of policy failure
The federal government is suggesting that ABC’s fall illustrates how desperately the children industry needs re-regulation and is yet another example of excessively greedy capitalism and the free-market... Read More
Brightest and best miss out
When the OECD described Australia as a ‘high quality, low equality’ country in its 2000 PISA report, it fuelled an existing preoccupation among educators and academics about the amount of variation... Read More
Failing children: foster care over adoption
Geoff Strong gave a poignant account in yesterday’s Age of the difficulties faced by foster carers who wish to adopt children in their care. Strong draws attention to the systemic obstacles that foster... Read More
Paid maternity leave will not fix problem parents
The release of the Productivity Commission’s draft report on paid parental leave follows Fiona Stanley’s weekend comments that up to 20 per cent of Australians “don't have the capacity to be a parent.” ... Read More
Closing the ‘gender gap’ may undermine women
Yesterday, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released its five-point plan to address gender inequality. HREOC plans to look at sexual harassment and sexual discrimination, encouraging family-friendly... Read More
Subsidies increase child care prices, not mothers participation in work
The relationship between child care and the participation of mothers in the paid workforce seems obvious: if child care was more affordable, more mothers would work. Indeed, it seems so obvious that this... Read More
Spin won’t make “high care” aged care sector sustainable
The Minister for Ageing’s attack on the Queensland Aged Care Alliance (Courier Mail, 19 June 2008) marks a new low in the history of aged care policy Read More
Welfare that's not working
The Community Development Employment Projects program was introduced to replace unemployment benefits for indigenous Australians, and to provide a transition to real work. But despite the good intentions... Read More
Will Super Clinics increase the pressure on public hospitals?
In the 2008–09 federal budget, the Rudd government allocated $275 million to the establishment of a national network of (an initial) thirty-one GP Super Clinics. Read More
Funded allied health a prescription for Gen Y and
‘GP Management Plans’ were introduced by the Howard Government in 2005 and established a Medicare rebate covering chronic illness. They are meant to allow GPs to ‘coordinate’ the primary care of... Read More
Rudd’s blunder to dismantle Work for the Dole
The Rudd government says it supports the principle of mutual obligation in welfare, yet its new policy proposals threaten to pull the rug out from under the entire system. Read More
Teachers: Scale their pay to meet demand
It is regularly argued that teacher pay in Australia is too low, and that this is a disincentive to enter the profession. Yet by international standards, Australian teacher salaries are relatively high.... Read More
Proof of the pudding: health campaigns don't work
There is slim support for the belief that preventive public health policies have brought obesity and lifestyle disease under control, or that they are likely to in the future. Read More
Rudd’s preventive health plan is a policy looking for an evidence-base
'Evidence-based policy' might be the mantra of the Rudd Government, but its Super Clinics policy is not at all evidence based. The better description - to borrow the words of one candid public health academic... Read More
Forget alcohol - the binge here is on taxing drinkers
The Federal Government has used skewed figures to justify its alcopop tax hike. Read More
Health Minister gives a mixed message on binge drinking
From Midnight on Saturday – the hour when party people usually emerge – the Rudd Government raised the excise tax on so-called ‘alcopops’ by 70 per cent. To justify the hike, Nicola Roxon, the... Read More
Let's review all family benefits, not just paid maternity leave
Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard a myriad of competing opinions about the possible introduction of a paid maternity leave scheme. Retail chains Myer and Aldi have rushed to introduce their own schemes... Read More
Would you be happy asking friends for $512.66 every week?
Imagine you fall upon hard times and (it’s hard, but try) imagine further that there is no government welfare to fall back on. You have a couple of kids to support, you have no idea who their father... Read More
Lack of GPs and other great health debate myths
The prime minister and his health minister must now realise how hard is the task of ending the "blame game" over public hospitals. It has taken just three-months, and the scent of more federal funding,... Read More
The AFL’s DVD on sexual manners shows that society is in trouble
Worried about the bad press some footballers have been getting of late, the AFL has created an interactive DVD designed to teach players some sexual manners. Read More
No dignity for the individual in the war against the obese
Liberals champion limited government because they cherish the dignity of the individual. With every expansion of the role of the government, individuals lose control over their own lives and become increasingly... Read More
The writing is on the wall when officialdom overlooks profanity
I left Britain nine years ago, but even after nine Australian summers, I still find Christmas in the sun a novelty. This is why every year I join the backpackers and tourists for a day on the beach at... Read More
How can we move forward?
It should go without saying that ten year old child cannot consent to sex. Sex with a ten year old child is a crime and few crimes are more reviled in our society than rape or paedophilia. Read More
Medicare becoming a luxury we cannot afford
Medicare is becoming an anachronism. The ``free and universal'' taxpayer-funded health systems of the twentieth century were created in an age when medicine was rudimentary and inexpensive, the old died... Read More
The welfare lobby is at it again
Australia’s welfare lobby is at it again. In a report issued this week, an alliance of welfare groups claimed that over 11 per cent of Australian households are living in poverty, and that their numbers... Read More
Hospital ‘crisis’ signals health challenges ahead
Pre-election promises to ‘fix’ the public hospital system count for little when politicians lack the courage to implement good policy. Read More
Pokie in the eye for paternalism
Pokies are soul-destroying. People sit on stools, eyes glazed over, looking like they're dosed up on soma, the soporific drug from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It is not like the craps table in a casino,... Read More
Labor focus is on the wrong health problem
A Rudd Labor government will spend $220 million to establish "GP super clinics" in regional and outer metropolitan regions. Incentive payments are to be offered to encourage doctors and allied health professionals... Read More
Health policy fails to target problem
The sound and fury accompanying Kevin Rudd's hospital reform plan means you might have missed the primary care initiative announced by the Federal Opposition last week. A Rudd Labor government will spend... Read More
With A High IQ Comes Need For Special Education
When it comes to education of the intellectually gifted, Australia and the United States share a common dread of admitting the obvious. The intellectually gifted exist, and they end up running the country... Read More
Teachers key to remote schools
In Aurukun on Queensland's Cape York, the school leadership refuses to accept that the complexity of the issues facing the indigenous community is an excuse for its children not getting a good education. Read More
Graduate supply fails to match jobs demand
THIS year more than 170,000 Australians will enrol in an undergraduate course, yet according to academics and politicians there should be more. Read More
Paying idle parents bad for kids Get a job, mum
A UN report comparing the well-being of children across the world's 25 richest countries recently produced a spate of disturbing headlines. These media reports generated predictable responses from welfare... Read More
Just one value will do fine - live and let live
The current debate over citizenship and ‘Australian values’ makes me wish our political leaders had learned a little basic sociology in their youth. Read More
Trying harder to keep families together
A pat on the back for John Howard, whose government has now published its plans for a long overdue reform of family law in Australia . Read More
For decision on childcare mum's (or dad's) the word
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found that one-third of children in formal child care are there for ‘non-work reasons.’ In other words, mum isn’t employed and she’s using child care for... Read More
Whichever way you dice it, compulsory voting is evil
One of the great myths of Australian politics is that voting isn't really compulsory. The view persists that all voters need do on the day is turn up and have their name crossed off the register. Kim Beazley,... Read More
Fix policies to make housing affordable
The house price bubble has finally burst. While it lasted, the boom added substantially to the wealth of existing home owners, but it has made home ownership more expensive for aspiring new buyers. Read More
A fine idea, but it could be unfair
The Australia Institute has proposed that speeding and parking fines should be graduated to reflect the income of offenders. The more you earn, the bigger the fine should be. Read More
Uni reform package to benefit students
In most political controversies, the Government exaggerates the benefit of its policies, and the Opposition exaggerates the drawbacks. In the current higher education debate, the Opposition is playing... Read More
Welfare for parents increases risk of poverty
It's time to eliminate the welfare incentives that keep single parents out of the workforce, a strategy most Australians agree with, argues Peter Saunders. Read More
There's no conspiracy about poverty, there's just the facts
It's an old tactic in politics. When you want to drown out your opponent's arguments, don't address what they say, just trash their reputation. Read More
We need more police and to use them better
Across Australia the number of police per 10,000 people has risen by about 37 per cent between 1964 and 2000. The ratio of police to persons varies by state, but, with the exclusion of the Northern Territory,... Read More
NZ school zoning: fairness or fraud?
Good state schools in both New Zealand and Australia are facing a large and growing problem—fraud. Families are providing false addresses within a school’s zone so that their children can attend the... Read More
A glimmer of hope on the mean streets
Statistics coming out of NSW this week suggest that the 40-year trend of rising crime in Australia may be coming to an end. Over the past two years, robberies, burglaries and car theft fell substantially... Read More
Leaks look lousy for lingerers - reform starts with naughty students
If the leaks from Canberra are to be believed, the Government is planning to track university students through a centralised computer system. It will keep records of students' time at university, loan... Read More
Fertility incentives off the mark
The low fertility rate in this country is just as much about women having fewer children as it is about fewer women having children. Although childlessness has increased in the past two decades, around... Read More
Tax is the key to welfare reform
Tony Abbott wants to reform tax and welfare so that it pays to work. His recent speech did not go into detail, but he wants to replace the existing system of pensions and allowances for working-age adults... Read More
Working to beat the poverty trap
Two misconceptions continually cloud debates about poverty in Australia. One is that poverty is widespread and getting worse. The other is that the best way to tackle poverty is by increasing taxes... Read More
Pay increases don't help the unemployed
A few weeks ago, the Australian Council of Trade Unions announced yet another 'living wage' claim. It plans to seek, in 2003, a $24.60 per week pay rise for all award workers, bringing the minimum wage... Read More
Poverty - flawed figures, gloomy estimates
Poverty is a harsh word for harsh conditions. It conjures up images of people sleeping rough and of children going hungry and nobody wants that. Most Australians are therefore happy to support policies... Read More
The poor are not poorer in fact
The Commonwealth Government has just acceded to pressure from the ALP and the welfare-spending lobby to set up a Senate inquiry into poverty. If this inquiry succeeds in clearing up some of the misconceptions... Read More
Only deregulation can create jobs
The unemployment rate in August 2002 stood at 6.2%—a high figure considering continuing economic growth. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 622,700 unemployed people, but only... Read More
The Parent Trap: Will paid maternity leave really lift the birthrate?
Heather Ridout, deputy chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, says government-funded basic maternity leave is desirable but needs to be augmented by more child care support and flexible working... Read More
Now is the time for fecund thoughts
It's easy to find reasons to put off having a baby. You want to travel first. You want to have a career first. You want to buy a house first. You want to maintain your independence for a while longer.... Read More
The poor need trade, not aid
Australia is not alone in its 'asylum seeker' problems. 'Asylum seekers' are putting pressures on liberal democracies world-wide, with ensuing conflict between compassion and rules that avoid future social... Read More
Leave off, tax breaks can redress child costs
Three fundamental issues underlie the maternity leave debate. First is the form and level of assistance governments should provide to help meet the costs of having children. Read More
Poverty lines tangled: An influential report claiming that one in eight Australians lives in poverty is wrong
Our paper, Poor Arguments: A Response to the Smith Family Report on Poverty in Australia - questioning the claims that one in eight Australians is living in poverty today, and that poverty has risen in... Read More
For richer or poorer, we're still a lucky country: Don't exaggerate the extent of poverty in Australia
The Australian economy experienced remarkable growth during most of the 1990s. Yet social researchers are still claiming that poverty is extensive – and even that it is getting worse. The latest... Read More
The great drink-driving scandal: Police road blitzes are wasteful and an affront to our liberties
Over the last Labour Day weekend in NSW, 106,396 people were apprehended by the police in a major operation lasting 72 hours. Of these, 105,950 (99.6 per cent) were found to be innocent and were released;... Read More
A generation drowns in boos: Repairing society's attitude to rearing children would be revolutionary
The Centre’s eight-year research project, Taking Children Seriously, has established empirically that at least this generation’s children get the best start to life in the environment Peter Saunders... Read More
Children pay the price of gender feminism war
For some radical feminists, males are patriarchal oppressors and the family is their torture chamber. Hence their taboo on men talking about the effects of feminism upon family life and the rearing of... Read More
A clumsy hand is no help: Governments are no good at social policy
US founding father and third president Thomas Jefferson was right after all: “The government that governs least is the government that govern best”. Read More
Why multicultural Australia is less welcome
Now that the electorate has shown resounding support for a principled approach to asylum seekers, a serious debate is emerging about what Australia can do for refugees and what we should do, in our own... Read More
Set our unis free
It takes some imagination to describe Australia’s universities as showing ‘clear indications of market failure’, but academics Len Bahnisch and Iean Russell do so in their recent article (7/11) advocating... Read More
Modern perils in a lucky country
What is the state of our nation? For the most part, Australians are better off than they have ever been before. On average, the people of Australia are healthier, wealthier, more educated and more active... Read More
Sorry, we're not a soft target
Church and other refugee support groups are absolutely right. The plight of the boat people is terrible. Pure compassion dictates that they should be welcomed with open arms. Read More
Children Missing in the Young Country
To keep the level of Australia’s population steady, without immigration, an average of 2.1 births per woman is needed. Today, our birth rate is 1.7 births per woman—well below the level needed to reproduce... Read More
Spending More on Healthcare is Good For You
Australian health care spending has increased in real terms every year since Medicare was introduced. Rationing, exemplified by the current freeze on elective surgery in Victoria’s public hospitals,... Read More
Threshold issues for a tax system that creates jobs
An important debate is taking place in Australia about the future of welfare, taxation and award wages. The outcome of this debate will influence the shape of social policy for years to come. Read More
Report card for schools
In a paradigm shift, four reports on education reform commissioned by the federal government agree on decentralisation, school choice, non-government schools, and private investment. Read More