We are living in two COVID worlds - the world of a plan which promise an 80% vaccination rate, and the world of the third wave, writes Michelle Grattan.
Australians have endured floods, bushfires and hailstorms and more over the last two years. The government is better aligning policy to deal with disasters, but its plan is somewhat half-baked.
We have a long tradition of royal commissions in Australia — dating back to before federation. But we know from bitter experience they can fail to generate change.
The system for investigating police misconduct, corruption and criminality in Victoria is hopelessly flawed. A culture of integrity within police will take time to build.
Australia is still grappling with the devastation wrought by the bushfires earlier this year. The Royal Commission’s final report marks the first step in the country’s disaster adaptation journey.
The aged care royal commission’s recent report on COVID-19 recommended accredited infection prevention and control experts be sent into residential aged care. Here’s what that means.
It’s a tragedy that hundreds have died because the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were not implemented fully.
Aged care homes need to have protocols in place to prevent COVID-19 infection in the first instance. But in the event an outbreak does occur, they need to be well prepared.
The Morrison government is resisting calls for a royal commission into robodebt. But there are still too many unanswered questions about the controversial scheme.
Michelle Grattan on the week in politics, including the travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee and zero emissions by 2050.
There is a real risk a national inquiry could get bogged down in politics, or not lead to real change. But we need more federal action on bushfires. Our old approaches are broken.
Many of the recommendations of previous inquiries and reviews have yet to be implemented. What we need is a better fire and land management strategy – not another royal commission.
Deborah Morris, Griffith University and Ben Wadham, Flinders University
A recent study found that male veterans under 30 have a suicide rate more than two times the national average. Yet, support for a royal commission into the problem is lacking.