Whoever wins power in Victoria’s election tomorrow will no doubt have a long to-do list. Here’s an urgent item: protect the mountain ash forests of the state’s Central Highlands. We have discovered that…
A mechanism of independent scrutiny – such as a royal commission – remains the best way forward for alleviating defence abuse.
AAP/Alan Porritt
As I was showering five or six senior [others] attacked me – they turned off the lights, tied my hands behind my back and proceeded to do things to me. I was held down whilst one of them put his penis…
The federal government is on the nose, but Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is seen as a positive.
AAP/Lukas Coch
During Thursday’s extremely unruly Question Time, when Speaker Bronwyn Bishop ejected a record 18 (all Labor) members, Tony Abbott was asked whether he’d visit Victoria on Friday, the eve of the state…
Gaultier’s clothes adopt elements of satire, visual puns and the ridiculous to critique what we wear.
NGV, Brooke Holm
French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier – whose designs are featured at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) until February 2015 – has always had an unsettling relationship with museum fashion exhibitions…
Daddy Cool’s Ross Wilson learnt to sing harmonies in a choir, aged 10.
AAP/ Joe Castro
We rightly marvel at the skills of a talented musician, especially witnessing them perform live. But how does someone become so skilled? Obviously hours and hours of dedicated practice is a necessity…
Legalised programs may be underused if doctors do not support them.
boodoo/Flickr
A bill to permit medical cannabis use in Australia is set for debate in Senate. If medical cannabis use is legalised, doctors could become gatekeepers between patients and a controversial drug. Lessons…
Harking back to the diet of the caveman.
Flickr/George
We still hear and read a lot about how a diet based on what our Stone Age ancestors ate may be a cure-all for modern ills. But can we really run the clock backwards and find the optimal way to eat? It’s…
What is a Small Private Online Course? And how is it different to a MOOC?
Shutterstock
If you have studied an online course at a university over the past couple of decades, you’ve probably already experienced a SPOC, or Small Private Online Course. SPOC is a new term for an old concept…
The inner suburbs of Melbourne are surprisingly more leafy than the outer suburbs.
Andrew
When you look out of your window in the morning, how many trees do you see? Your answer might depend on what suburb you live in. As you go further from the city centre, the amount of tree cover in a suburb…
Indonesia raised its subsidised fuel prices by more than 30% as an effort to escape the country’s current account deficit.
EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak
Indonesia’s move to cut fuel subsidies, raising the prices of petrol and diesel by more than 30%, could be a game-changer for Indonesia’s economy. The subsidies, which have kept fuel prices in Indonesia…
Under Ted Baillieu, the Coalition government set up an anti-corruption commission, but not the one promised in 2010.
AAP/Julian Smith
Before the 2010 election, the opposition – now the government – promised Victorians an anti-corruption commission. This was to be closely modelled on the New South Wales Independent Commission Against…
What are we voting for? Certainly not decisions made in MPs’ own interest or that of political parties or business cronies, but the present system lets that happen.
AAP/Andrew Brownbill
The Accountability Round Table (ART), a non-partisan organisation, wrote to the three major political parties two months ago seeking their position on three important arms of Victoria’s integrity system…
There is such a thing as ‘too precise’ when it comes to numbers. So what’s appropriate?
Erik Olsson
When numbers of any sort are presented in mathematics, science, business, government or finance, it’s fair to say a reader assumes that the data are reasonably reliable to their last digit. But presenting…
It can take more than three years for a public servant to climb back to their same level of pay after losing their job.
Alex Proimos/Flickr
By 2017, some 16,500 public servants will have lost their jobs, or have been shuffled into other positions within the public service, in the government’s ongoing drive for budget savings. The long-standing…
A grand jury decision not to indict a police officer over the shooting death of Michael Brown has sparked protests and questions over the system’s efficacy.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
The idea of the grand jury is already familiar to many Australians through American television legal drama. But its profile just skyrocketed with a grand jury deciding not to indict policeman Darren Wilson…
Our tendency to think that we will “beat the odds” is risky, and mostly wrong.
malik ml williams
For most of us, death conjures up strong feelings. We project all kinds of fears onto it. We worry about it, dismiss it, laugh it off, push it aside or don’t think about it at all. Until we have to. Of…
Remote households trying to telecommute rely on satellite connections to high-speed broadband – which sometimes don’t work.
AnnieAnniePancake/Flickr
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull reiterated the importance of the National Broadband Network (NBN) for regional and rural Australia in an address to the NBN Rebooted conference in Sydney last week…
For patients, the availability of beds is more important than the overall number.
Emily Orpin/Flickr
Scanning through the media coverage of the major parties’ health policies one could be forgiven for thinking that hospital beds are the key to health. Sure, hospital spending dominates the health budget…
Was the Coalition too quick to take up Gerard Henderson’s IR club theme?
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The Abbott government will soon ask the Productivity Commission to review the Fair Work system. In parallel with that review, we need a more sophisticated debate about our workplace relations framework…
King tides are just one of the threats faced by the people of Saibai Island in the Torres Strait, as a result of climate change.
Brad Marsellos
While you may have heard about the increasing threat that climate change and rising seas pose to Pacific islands — already forcing some communities to move — Australia has its own group of islands that…
Timothy Spall plays the British painter Joseph Turner in Mike Leigh’s latest film, Mr Turner.
Transmission Films
The work of art is that mysterious process that transforms pigment and canvas into an object of great beauty. Depicting that moment of creative inspiration has been a challenge for filmmakers since the…
The 3D printing market is expected to be worth US$16.2 billion a year by 2018.
EPA/Bas Czerwinski
3D printing is predicted to transform the business landscape of design-led innovation. But how well protected are Australian designs from unauthorised use? IP Australia – which administers Australia’s…
Labor has been touting the notion of $100,000 degrees under fee deregulation, but how likely are they in reality?
AAP
The government’s proposed changes to higher education are a platform on which Labor can fight the next election. The strategy is simple: don’t try to modify the package, or offer new solutions. Just shoot…
The BBC, like the ABC, has faced significant pressure to change in response to repeated debates over how it should be funded.
EPA/Andy Rain
2014 is turning into a grim year for public broadcasting. In June, Hubert Lacroix, the president of Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, announced an unprecedented series of job cuts. One-quarter of the staff…
Cricketer Phillip Hughes was struck in the head by a ball at the SCG.
Dan Peled/AAP
Life-threatening brain injuries are thankfully rare in cricket and other sports, even those that involve collisions. But Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes’ tragic accident yesterday shows how little…