Coronavirus has brought the world to a standstill. Bars, shops, clubs, schools, museums and restaurants are restricted; landmarks in some countries are deserted and streets empty. Whether you’re in full quarantine mode, working from home, or simply scaling back your social life, you’ll be spending a lot more time indoors […]
Australian 15-year-old reading scores are way below those of their peers in ten countries – including Singapore, Estonia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Korea and Poland. By Sue Thomson And around 41% of Australian 15 year olds have failed to meet the minimum national standards in reading – up from 31% in […]
The Newstart unemployment benefit is all over the news. It’s the subject of a Senate inquiry. Today it will take evidence in Elizabeth, in what used to be Adelaide’s industrial north. By Owain Emslie and Danielle Wood Should Newstart be higher? Should recipients be paid with a cashless card? Or […]
Australia is one of 54 countries that has been infected by a nasty computer virus currently spreading around the world, dubbed VPNFilter. By Mark Gambino The malicious software (malware), which is believed to have already infected about 500,000 devices around the world, mainly targets your wi-fi router, snooping on all the […]
After the Wakefield survey results turned out to be unconvincing, the Australian government had another problem in demonstrating the efficacy of its plain packaging policy. Many government data sets showed that the prevalence or incidence of smoking had increased after the introduction of plain packaging. By Sinclair Davidson Of course […]
Less than half of employed Australians now work in a permanent full-time paid position with basic entitlements like sick pay and paid holidays. by Prof. Jim Stanford – Economist and Director of the Center for Future Work Ask any young job-seeker about their prospects of finding a permanent full-time job and […]
It’s ironic Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has difficulty communicating. But don’t worry, I’m here to help: cutting the ABC’s funding makes perfect sense – if you’re pre-empting your own inquiry into competitive neutrality and doing One Nation and your media mates a favour. By Michael Pascoe Fresh from making an […]
Michael West writes that big business has a problem. Its message is no longer cutting through. The Banking Royal Commission has put its campaign for corporate tax cuts on a knife edge and its peak lobby group, the Business Council of Australia, is ramping up its already heavy spending on […]
The recent Facebook scandal highlighted that personal information previously posted online can be used against us. The majority of people are concerned with how their data will be used but few contemplate permanently deleting their Facebook accounts. By Misia Temler Considering the potential major negative consequences of allowing personal information to remain […]
Australia today faces multiple challenges. They include the fact that we are unlike any other continent with species and ecosystems that are found nowhere else. If we don’t look after ourselves, who will? There is global warming and climate change, and its impact on so much that we take for […]