Vilification of welfare recipients is a significant barrier to a universal basic income.
Flickr/mark O'Rourke
Paying every citizen a basic living wage sounds costly and counter-intuitive to reducing unemployment. But Finland is about to do it and Australia could too.
Child sex offenders don’t have horns and tails. For the most part, they look and act like you and me.
Shutterstock/JoeBakal
Some child sex offenders don’t even realise what they are doing is wrong; they genuinely believe they are showing the children “love”.
More than 7% of Western women choose not to have children.
Alexander Baxevanis/FLickr
Women who publicly state their desire never to be mothers in the traditional sense challenge the idea that woman and mother are synonymous.
Australia could take spent fuel from nuclear power stations overseas. This one is in South Korea.
IAEA Imagebank/Flickr
South Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission has recommended a nuclear waste site for the state.
The Solomon Islands are low-lying and vulnerable to changes in sea level.
Javier Leon
Sea levels are rising faster in the Solomon Islands – and send a warning for the rest of the world.
One the the big disappointments for women in the budget was the postponement of changes to child care.
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This budget focuses on jobs and growth, but has little in it to redress women’s entrenched inequality.
Government wants to create a national test for reading, phonics and numeracy in Year 1.
from www.shutterstock.com
Research shows linking teachers’ pay to performance has little impact on student achievement. Similar tests to the ones the government proposes for young children now face a backlash in the UK and US.
Uncapping fees for some degree courses is still an option.
from www.shutterstock.com
While the government finally ruled out full fee deregulation in its 2016 budget, it is still contemplating uncapping fees for some degree courses. Here’s what else is being discussed.
Tom E Lewis translated parts of King Lear into Kriol for the Malthouse Theatre production of The Shadow King.
Malthouse Theatre
It’s spoken by up to 20,000 people, but most Australians have never heard of Kriol. The creole of North Australia has evolved into a distinct language – but is it helping or killing Indigenous dialects?
Glacier melt is one of the major contributors to global sea level rise.
Glacier image from www.shutterstock.com
Global average sea level has risen by about 17 cm between 1900 and 2005, but we didn’t know how much of that was due to us, until now.
Glaciers have been a major contributor to sea-level rise.
Knut Christianson
Could sea levels really rise by several metres this century. Probably not, although this century’s greenhouse emissions could potentially set the stage for large rises in centuries to come.
The royal commission’s report should be viewed as only the start of the necessary transformation of Victoria’s family violence system.
AAP/David Crosling
The royal commission’s recommendations seek a complete transformation of Victorian family violence services, and the state’s prevention of and response to family violence.
How long do we wait for evidence of harm before accepting something is safe?
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
A moratorium on wind turbines until we know they’re safe sounds like a good idea, but it’s likely that those calling for a ban will never be satisfied with the evidence.
Coral bleaching in March 2016. Rapid rises of greenhouse gases in the past have been linked to major extinctions in the oceans.
XL Catlin Seaview Survey
Carbon dioxide is rising faster than any time in the past 66 million years. Rapid rises in the past have been linked to mass extinctions.
Policies aimed at increasing workforce participation, childcare and early childhood development all have gender implications.
AAP/Ben Macmahon
Australia was a pioneer in gender budget analysis, but in recent years we’ve fallen behind. We need it back.
The site of the hillfort of Vugala, northern Viti Levu island (Fiji). This was one of many hillforts in the area – home to a few hundred people according to reports from the 1840s – that were probably established around AD 1400 in response to conflict resulting from a food crisis that had come about as a result of an enduring fall in sea level.
Patrick Nunn
Rising seas are one of the major concerns of Pacific Island nations, and looking at past sea-level change can help understand the future.
Women need to recalibrate feminist action so that it’s not just about them advancing in society on men’s terms.
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The second-wave feminists of the 1970s wanted to create radical shifts in gender power. Instead, women have settled for much less.
Not convinced: Labor Senator and tax avoidance inquiry committee Chair Sam Dastyari says corporate tax cheats should be named and shamed by the tax office.
Nikki Short/AAP
Behind the corporations legally avoiding paying tax are the big four accounting firms, helping them avoid transparency.
Islamic State fighters on a tank take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province.
Reuters/Stringer
Despite what we’re told, religion isn’t inherently peaceful. People kill in the name of their religion, just as they love in its name.
Pages from a copy of the Koran dated back to 1284, displayed at an exhibition in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.
Reuters/Fadi Al-Assaad
What makes Islamic State different to traditional Islam isn’t necessarily the religious texts the group uses.