Oct 2016
My last policy commentary highlighted data from the latest Productivity Commission Report on Government Services concerning government expenditure in 2014-15 on providing services to children who had experienced, or who were at risk of experiencing, child abuse and neglect.
To recap, the Report found that, nationally, around $4….
Oct 2016
If the human suffering of child abuse is not compelling enough, another dimension of Australia’s child abuse problem is the staggering financial cost.
Recently, the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services examined how much was spent in 2014-15 on providing services to children who had experienced, or who were…
Sep 2016
Changes to the Federal Government welfare system announced yesterday by the Minister for Social Services, the Hon. Christian Porter MP, signalled potentially far-reaching changes for the nation.
Many will welcome the high-level aims, particularly about assisting people to access the employment market.
There was also the welcome …
Sep 2016
If the practice of lifelong learning makes eminent good sense, how can we build up such a habit? This was the central question I posed in a recent graduation address for Central Queensland University.
My pro-education grandmother inspired me by her love of learning. Though she didn’t have much formal education, she always mad…
Sep 2016
This week Mission Australia issued a deeply disturbing report about life satisfaction amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young peoples. 1,162 young people identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and aged between 15-19 years were surveyed in Mission Australia’s 2015 Youth Survey. According to the survey,…
Aug 2016
Last week around 100 representatives of the NGO and research sectors participated in the annual meeting of the National Coalition on Child Safety and Wellbeing in Sydney.
The meeting discussed progress on the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 (the ‘National Framework’), Australia’s first-ev…