The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) was set up a year ago to review the Australian health system. Prime Minister Kevin Rudds pre-election promise to end the blame game between Canberra and the states when it comes to health and hospitals merely registered the obvious fact that the hospital system is in crisis.
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The federal government’s $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan stimulus package passed the senate on February 13 with the support of the Greens, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and independent Nick Xenophon.
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On February 13, Australian troops killed five children and injured at least two other adult civilians in a night-time “operation” in Afghanistan’s southern Oruzgan province.
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Such is the outrage caused by Israels latest attack on Gaza in December-January that even some local governments in New South Wales have passed, or are considering, motions condemning the attack and calling on the Australian government to ban the sale of any military material to Israel.
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The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) plans to shed thousands of full-time jobs and drastically increase outsourcing in areas including debt collection, tax refund management and business activity statements as part of a new efficiency drive, according to the February 13 Australian Financial Review.
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In minutes released of its February 17 board meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia flags that its cuts to official interest rates may slow. It seems that the financial gurus at the RBA are unhappy that their cuts to interest rates (passed on only in part by the banks to home-buyers, and even less to credit-card debtors), have failed to stimulate enough spending.
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Federal Labor’s proposed internet filtering policy is an attack on freedom of speech and needs to be stopped.
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Flag raising ceremonies will mark the 33rd anniversary of the Saharawi Republic in most states for the first time in Australia, as a gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people of Western Sahara.
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The key United Nations report used as the basis for climate change policies in many countries, including Australia, seriously underestimated the dangers of global warming, one of its leading compilers has warned.
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Less than a year ago, it was widely held among mainstream economists that the world economy was doing fine, and that, in the face of any eventual problems, Australia would be secure.
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Its no secret that students are increasingly working late shifts after school to get by.
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One quarter of a million people are trapped between a concentration camp and a war zone, said Nish Vivekananthan, a young Tamil speaking on the current situation in Sri Lanka, at a public meeting on February 19 in Footscray.