Category: The Conversation

The federal government has clashed with the Royal Commission into Aged Care, strongly rejecting the claim by senior counsel assisting the inquiry Peter Rozen that it had no specific COVID-19 plan for the sector. Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck told a news conference: “We have had a plan to deal

The government and the Australian Defence Force are bracing for reputational damage to the military from damning findings in an imminent report on Australian Special Forces’ behaviour in Afghanistan. The report, expected within a month, is from a long-running inquiry by Justice Paul Brereton. Earlier this year the inspector-general of

ShutterstockCOVID-19 restrictions in Victoria have had a marked effect on how and where we spend our time. For many people, home has become the workplace, and for most school-aged children, home is also the classroom. We compared Victorian emergency department presentations in May 2020 to those in May

ShutterstockAs time passes, our fertility declines and our bodies start to fail. These natural changes are what we call ageing. In recent decades, we’ve come leaps and bounds in treating and preventing some of the world’s leading age-related diseases, such as coronary heart disease, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

ShutterstockTo fix inequality in Australian education, governments should fully fund all non-government primary schools, according to former former NSW Education Minister and now head of the UNSW Gonski Institute, Adrian Piccoli. In an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Piccoli suggests government funding be dependent on

ShutterstockOver the weekend, Victorian Education Minister, James Merlino, announced the individual impact of COVID-19 will be taken into account for every Year 12 student in the state when calculating their VCE score and ATAR. Under usual circumstances, individual students are assessed for special consideration on a case

Kin Cheung/APThe arrest this week of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong reveals the repressive reality of the city’s new made-in-China national security law. It also sends a sharp signal to the remaining independent media in the territory: watch your step, or you could be

ShutterstockEndometriosis is a debilitating, chronic condition that affects 1 in 10 women worldwide. It occurs when tissue which has similar properties to the womb lining, ends up in the body and attaches to organs, forming a patch of tissue called a lesion. The condition can cause chronic pelvic

AAP Image/Daniel PockettThe COVID-19 crisis has thrown up an array of new habits and coping mechanisms. But the fetishisation, and even sexualisation, of prominent health officials is one of our more unexpected pandemic pastimes. Is this trend equality in action, or an extension of harmful objectification? In Australia,

Media coverage of disasters follows a broadly similar trajectory, even though the disasters themselves might take very different forms. The COVID-19 crisis in Victoria is no exception. Although it is unfolding over a long time instead of in a single dramatic episode, it is possible to see familiar patterns emerging,

Ursula Da Silva/AAPNew South Wales planning authorities relied on flawed evidence when backing a highly controversial coal seam gas project that may endanger critical water supplies, farmland and threatened species, our analysis has found. Early next month, the Independent Planning Commission NSW (IPC) is due to announce its

ShutterstockAs COVID-19 lockdowns were introduced, we all suddenly had to find new ways of doing things. Schooling shifted online, meetings moved to Zoom, workplaces brought in new measures and even social events have changed to minimise physical interactions. Many of us have found it hard to adapt