Paying good teachers more sounds like a great idea. The problem is the research on performance pay shows it’s counterproductive – and inflicting it on a system in crisis is terrible timing.
What are the key seats and issues affecting Australians? Six experts tell us what to expect in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.
NSW and Victoria have taken different approaches on allowing unvaccinated people in places of worship, indicating the possibility for conflicting and confusing rules across the country.
The rules dividing states and territories are likely to remain in the short term. But as time goes on and vaccination rates increase, many may stop trying to reach COVID-zero too.
The next months are going to remain difficult. But I’m still hopeful about the future. There will come a point when enough people are vaccinated that case numbers begin to decrease.
The second wave of COVID-19 in New South Wales brings concerns about vaccination rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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The second wave of COVID-19 in New South Wales highlights concerns for the unvaccinated and those with multiple risk factors - particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
NSW needs to mandate masks outdoors, provide adequate financial support, set up a ‘ring of steel’, use rapid tests for essential workers, and ensure cases not in full isolation get to zero, among others.
In order to support people effectively, craft appropriate messages and predict virus spread, it is crucial to use the languages and local networks that bind multicultural communities together.
Regional NSW, home to a third of the state’s population, is still waiting for the promise of faster train travel to be delivered. Other states improved their regional services years ago.
Recent commentary has suggested transport, age, jobs, migrant population and other factors among the reasons that may help explain the difference. What does the data say?