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December 01, 2005

Dealing with disorder

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma (http://www.dartcenter.org/) was set up by a global network of journalists, teachers of journalism and health workers to improve media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy. The site has all kinds of materials on there, including fact sheets, personal stories, special reports, book reviews, event lists, news headlines and a blog for discussing issues such as resilience. If you have to cover very sensitive issues such as suicide or genocide or murder, you should look here for tips on how to go about it the right way.
Posted by belinda at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)

Tradesmen on the horizon

How Young People are Faring 2005 is the seventh report in an annual series from the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (http://www.dsf.org.au/). It's at http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/180.htm. What does it say?
Not a lot has changed ...
"In May 2005, 85.1 per cent of Australian teenagers were in full-time study or fulltime work, while 14.9 per cent or 208,400 teenagers were not. These proportions have varied only slightly since the recession of the early 1990s."
But kids are learning more ...
"Educational attainment is improving: in 2004, 80 percent of teenagers had completed secondary school or a Certificate II or higher compared with 75 percent in 2002."
It's harder for girls ...
"Females are more likely to experience a troubled transition from school than male school leavers despite a higher rate of completing Year 12 and higher participation rates in post-school education."
You'll soon be able to get a plumber...
"The proportion of teenage apprentices taking up trade apprenticeships increased markedly from 2003 to 2004."
Posted by belinda at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)

It figures

How well are we doing? Who's on the dole? And why? For democracy to function, we all need information to help us make up our minds about issues. Welfare is an emotive one, so thanks to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (http://www.aihw.gov.au/) for supplying the facts -- not opinion, not hot air -- about who's getting what, where, and why in their publication Australia’s welfare 2005. See the figures for yourself at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10186
Posted by belinda at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2005

Ranking rich countries 2005

Australia is still no. 4 on the Annual Commitment to Development Index created jointly by Foreign Policy magazine (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/) and The Center for Global Development (http://www.cgdev.org/). Denmark is no. 1 for aid but does less to allow trade than we do. The third of these annual Commitment to Development Indices ranks 21 rich countries on how they either help or hinder the poor in a number of areas including trade, migration and technology transfer. Rich countries may hand out vast amounts of foreign aid, but they also put up trade barriers poorer countries cannot scale. Australia is well ahead of the US (12), the UK (10) and Canada (also 10). New Zealand ties with Norway at 5. The US was at 7 last year so it's slipped as has the UK which was 4 last year. Canada has gone from 6 to 10. All three are less liberal on immigration than Australia. The rankings and other information relating to the Index is at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3221&fpsrc=ealert050906.
Posted by belinda at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2005

Spot of bother

John Howard seems to have got himself into a spot of bother with his 'reforms' to industrial relations. A good place to find out what's happening is at Jim McDonald's site. The page, Industrial Relations Reconstruction in Australia, has the latest updates and information on workplace reform. The page links to a number of media, sources, comments and news. See it at http://www.mcdonald-assocs.com/irreforms/recon.htm.
Posted by belinda at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2005

How on earth do they do it?

According to a new Briefing Paper from the Social Policy Research Centre: "Working parents are obliged to use non-parental childcare. However, parents who make use of non-parental childcare do not reduce their parental childcare time on an hour for hour basis." How do they pull this off? By shaving time off sleep, kissing goodbye to leisure, skimping on bathing, dressing, grooming, eating -- that's how mothers make time for their kids these days. The full paper is at http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/dp/DP136.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2004

Bypassing the bank

We used to save it, now we spend it -- all of it, and when we've run out of the readies, we put ourselves in hock to our credit cards. Money -- we don't have enough of the stuff. Household debt is skyrocketing. The average household spends 2.3% more per week than it earns. And debt is diversifying -- there is home loan debt, second property debt, personal loan debt, HECS and credit card debts -- all at record levels. In 2002 the level of debt owed by Australian households represented almost 60 per cent of all economic activity in Australia. No wonder interest rates were the key issue in the election. Find out more at AMP/NatSEM's new report: Household debt : walking the tightrope at http://www.amp.com.au/group/3column/0,2449,CH5273%255FSI3,00.html.
Posted by belinda at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2004

Open doorway

The Government has a new portal for indigenous issues at http://indigenous.gov.au/. The site is a one-stop shop for government services for indigenous Australians and covers health, education, employment, and native title as well as families, and social issues such as domestic violence, the Stolen Generations and substance abuse. There is a separate bit of the site specifically for Torres Strait issues. Much of what's on the site links to useful documents.
Posted by belinda at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2004

Who's secure now?

The government talks a lot about 'national security' but voices asking 'security for whom' go unanswered. If we are safe, why don't we feel safe? And if the Howard government's actions in Iraq and elsewhere are making us less safe, what can we do about it? These are some of the questions raised in the Seventh Annual Hawke Lecture, Security for Whom? Redesigning Security, Reinforcing Human Rights, delivered by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International on Wednesday 8 September 2004. The full text of her speech is at http://www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au/events/lectures/2004AHL_speech.htm
Posted by belinda at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2004

Health and superannuation facts

With so much political bombardment of voters about Medicare, health and aged spending and whose handout is bigger than someone else's, two new reports may be timely for voters trying to sort fact from fiction. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has produced Health Expenditure Australia 2002-03 which gives the real picture of what was spent and what will be spent next. It's at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10043. Also just out is NATSEM's look at superannuation lump sums. It asks the question: What happens between ages 50 and 69? Research by NATSEM shows the majority of Australians are contributing very little to the cost of their retirement. Since 1992, almost every employee has had superannuation put aside for them under the Superannuation Guarantee, so where does this superannuation go? There is a popular misconception that, on average, Australian retirees enjoy ‘the good life'. NATSEM's evidence contradicts this. Read more by following the links from http://www.apo.org.au/linkboard/results.chtml?filename_num=01796.
Posted by belinda at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2004

Suicide statistics

The World Health Organization has created a big resource on suicide prevention at http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/. They have recently released a report on suicide, claiming it has claimed a million lives this year, and that the toll could rise to 1.5 million by 2020. In Europe, suicide kills more people per year than road accidents, and firearms are overwhelmingly the means of choice. The site has a colour-coded map of suicide numbers and has figures with suicide rates and absolute numbers of suicide by country. Eastern Europe has the highest numbers, with Muslim countries by contrast having fairly low counts. Anyone concerned could also visit the site of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (http://www.med.uio.no/iasp/).
Posted by belinda at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2004

Up to speed

If you're not already sick of election news, have a look at www.mcdonald-assocs.com/election04/ir04.htm which aims to cover the industrial relations issue throughout the campaign. The site includes policies from major and minor parties as well as speeches, interviews, media releases and news. It was set up by Jim McDonald, an academic from Griffith University.
Posted by belinda at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2004

Covering the stricken

Talking to people who have been victims of trauma or to those who have suffered the loss of a family member is hard going for many journalists. Writing sensitively about such issues takes care. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma has published a tips and tools page to help journalists figure out how to handle this kind of stuff. If you have to cover a murder or suicide or write a story about a sex crime, a disaster or a tragic anniversary, the site may be handy for you - even if only as a refresher. It's at http://www.dartcenter.org/tips_tools/index.html.
Posted by belinda at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2004

After ATSIC

With the government determined to get shot of ATSIC, what lies ahead for indigenous services in Australia? The Parliamentary Library has done a brief on the topic entitled The end of ATSIC and the future administration of Indigenous affairs. It trawls through the history --how ATSIC was set up, how it worked -- and then examines the post-ATSIC future. Will services to Indigenous people be 'mainstreamed'? Or will Indigenous people still have services developed and targeted specifically for them? Read all about it at www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/CIB/2004-05/05cib04.htm.
Posted by belinda at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2004

All wrong

After years of a "white picket fence" PM, it is refreshing to read new research from the Social Policy Research Centre (www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/) at UNSW stating that children of solo mothers are cared for as well as children of partnered mothers. The single life may also have its advantages. The report says: "Contrary to the popular expectation that being a single mother entails more housework than being a married mother, it seems that the absence of a man slightly reduces the domestic burden upon mothers." Could this be because the report shows that "fathers in families with a youngest over 5 years old actually do less [housework/childcare] than men in childless couples"? (How do they get away with it?) The report, Time to Care: a comparison of how couple and sole parent households allocate time to work and children, finds no support for the ideas that children of solo mothers receive less, or less good, parental care than children of two-partnered households. The full report is at www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/dp/DP133.pdf. But will John Howard take any notice? I doubt it.
Posted by belinda at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2004

Shock! Horror! Good news about young people

Positive images of young adults are so few and far between in the media that it's worth reporting the release of "Social competence in young adulthood: its nature and antecedents" from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (www.aifs.org.au/). In the report, the authors report that most young adults surveyed were satisfied with their lives. The report used a model of social competence which included five key elements -- assertion, co-operation, empathy, responsibility and self-control. The possession of such social skills was important to the well-being of the young adults surveyed. The full report is at www.aifs.org.au/institute/pubs/fm2003/fm64/ds.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)

Always on

In an age of instant messaging, mobile phones and email, people have more opportunities to be connected than ever before. But what about people who don't want to be contactable? Shouldn't they have the right to "switch off"? To be out of range? In the future, that may not be possible - someone may still know your whereabouts, whether by mobile phone location or Radio Frequency Identification Data (RFID) tags. Parents will be able to monitor whether their children are wearing seatbelts in a car. According to a new Research Note from the Parliamentary Library, "Where are you now? Location detection systems and personal privacy", 'New location detection systems and electronic tags now offer ways to monitor personal behaviour as never before.' The Note is at www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/RN/2003-04/04rn60.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)

It takes all kinds

The furore about a same sex couple appearing on the ABC's Play School program is one sign that many people's views of what constitutes a suitable family unit in Australia are still fairly conservative. But according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies (www.aifs.org.au/), things have changed, and it's time to accept what is as opposed to what we think things should be. According to a new report, Changing patterns of partnering, "Formal marriage is no longer the only way in which people partner. Many people live in cohabitating relationships – at least for a while – and most marriages are now preceded by cohabitation. In addition, an increasing number of people are, at any given point of time, living without a partner at all." The full report is at www.aifs.org.au/institute/pubs/fm2003/fm64/ddv.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2004

Aid spending up, but on what?

Australia's overseas aid spending is up, but not all the money goes to worthy projects to alleviate poverty. (Australia’s Official Development Assistance outlay for 2004–05 is an estimated $2133 million.) Increasingly, money is being allocated to beefing up regional security and promoting good governance. Much of what should be pure aid money has gone to managing refugees in Nauru and on the recent Solomons mission. Overseas aid is being redefined to include things such as counter-terrorism measures. The Parliamentary Library has a two-page Research Note that lays it all out at www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2003-04/04rn59.htm.
Posted by belinda at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2004

The money or the box?

For twenty years, Australians have been asked the same question - do you want tax cuts or increased spending on health and education? The Parliamentary Library has produced a Research Note called Less tax or more social spending: twenty years of opinion polling at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2003-04/04rn57.pdf. Over the time, we've got more altruistic - we care more about social spending now than we do about our tax.
Posted by belinda at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2004

Children behind the wire

Anyone writing a children in detention centres story will find the Parliamentary Library's e-Brief, Children in Detention, useful, as it gives context and background to the issue, including numbers of children affected. It provides information on the education of such children and their psychological well-being (or lack of it). Links to further facts pages and organisations such as HREOC are provided, as well as a link to DIMIA's Women and Children in Immigration Detention page (http://www.immi.gov.au/detention/women.htm). The e-Brief is at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/SP/Childrendetention.htm. While it was written last year, the facts haven't changed.
Posted by belinda at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2004

Could do better?

Uncertainties about how to be a good parent, how to build better relationships with children, how and when to discipline, and how to find time for kids when work pressure is great were all concerns expressed in the recently released report, The concerns of Australian parents, researched and written by Joe Tucci, Chris Goddard and Janise Mitchell for the Australian Childhood Foundation (http://www.aaca.com.au/). Parenting doesn't come naturally to many people and most want help and advice on how to do things more wisely. The report is part of the ACF's Every Child is Important campaign against child abuse. The ACF was formerly known as Australians Against Child Abuse and the full report is at http://www.childhood.org.au/downloads/The_concerns_of_Australian_parents_March_2004.pdf. Information about the Every Child is Important campaign is in the press info at http://www.aaca.com.au/downloads/Background_information.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2004

A Burnt Out case?

While most people agree we need better child protection, many people are swift to blame failures on social workers and other caring professionals. Yet jobs in child protection can be exceptionally tiring, risky, stressful and unrewarding, as new research from the Australian Institute of Criminology (http://www.aic.gov.au/) shows. Their new research paper, Violence, threats and intimidation in the lives of professionals whose work involves children, details the threats and abuse, including physical assaults, that child protection workers themselves face, much of which can lead to illness and burnout. If we want a better system, we need to take account of where (and why) it's at risk. The full report is at http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi273.html.
Posted by belinda at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

March 12, 2004

In and out

According to Professor Graeme Hugo, consultant to the Social Policy Unit at the Parliamentary Library, "The last few years have seen a transformation of the scale, characteristics and significance of international population movements. There has been a massive increase in global movement and an increase in the complexity of the types of movement—permanent and temporary, legal and illegal, forced and voluntary. It is argued that much of the thinking and research on immigration in Australia neglects this new reality". Hugo has produced Research Note 46, entitled A new paradigm of international migration: implications for migration policy and planning for Australia. Among other things, Hugo says: "There is a tendency for Australia to be thought of purely as an ‘immigration country’. Yet it has a substantial outflow of emigrants which has increased in recent years with the internationalisation of labour markets and other globalisation effects." The full text is in HTML or PDF from http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2003-04/04rn46.htm.
Posted by belinda at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2004

Outsourced?

If the voice at your call centre sounds Indian, it probably is - many jobs are being outsourced to India to cut costs. If you are a journo reporting on this issue, the South Asian Journalists' Association (www.saja.org/) has a whole page of information and links to help you write on this issue. It links to both stories already published, cartoons on the topic and provides contacts who are pro-outsourcing and anti-outsourcing for comment. Find the page at www.saja.org/outsourcing.html.
Posted by belinda at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2004

Going for global

They may be small geographically, but Ireland (1), Singapore (2) and Switzerland (3) are the most 'globalised' countries in the world. Western Europe claimed 6 out of the 10 most globally integrated countries. The figures are taken from the fourth annual A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Globalization Index. Measures are taken on four main areas:
  • Economic integration (trade and foreign investment)
  • Technological connectivity (internet penetration and usage)
  • Personal contact (such as travel and telcommunicating)
  • Political engagement (treaties, memberships of international organisations).
Australia came in at an unlucky 13th, behind New Zealand (8th), the UK (12th) and the US (7th). The US's economic integration was lowest of all top 20 countries. See the figures and a number of related stories at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=2493. The data from the index can be downloaded as a zipped file and data from the previous three years is still available.
Posted by belinda at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2004

Super not so super any more?

Last week, the Parliamentary Library looked at MPs' take home pay and allowances. Now they are looking at superannuation. The latest eBrief, Superannuation Benefits for Senators and Members, is at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/POL/Super.htm. Apparently, it was compiled in response to 'client demand' - someone is trying to keep these people honest. Whatever the super scheme's like, it'll be better than most Australians have got, so it's high time it got an airing.
Posted by belinda at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2004

Election coverage

The excellent Poynter organisation has a Centerpiece on Election Coverage 2004, which would be interesting reading for any journalist who covers elections. While the Poynter piece talks about the US Presidential race, the ideas it raises are applicable everywhere - namely, "It's no mystery why journalists generally ignore outsider candidates: We don't want to lend credence to people with no chance, while giving short shrift to those who may actually win... What bothers me about this justification is that it assumes the only thing that matters in a political contest is who wins. Issues, in other words, are not very important." All too true. The piece goes on to say "... [while] we have no trouble covering the front-runners enough, we have trouble covering them well." Hear hear. This gets to the nub of what is wrong with a lot of coverage here - we know who's in front but very little about what they stand for. Yet if we can't get into issues at election time, when can we? Read the piece at http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=61133
Posted by belinda at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Pornography in the hi-tech age

Porn over wireless connections? It'll be coming at you soon, and it could be "the end of privacy as we know it", according to Larry Flynt, long time publisher of Hustler magazine. He talks to Wired News about the changes technology has wrought in the porn industry. Flynt hasn't done badly out of pornography. As he says: "When I went into this business in the 1970s it was a $600 million a year business. Today it's an $11 billion a year business. It's not going away. People aren't interested in others controlling what they can do or read or see in the privacy of their own homes." Read the full interview at http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62343,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by belinda at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2004

Bad sports

While on paper Australia is a champion of the international human rights framework, in practice Australia is increasingly defiant of the umpire's decision on current human rights practices. The Gilbert +Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW has produced a paper on the topic, The sovereignty stratagem: Australia’s response to UN human rights treaty bodies, written by Devika Hovell. The piece includes a potted summary of Australian responses to human rights treaty bodies - which makes for depressing reading since much of it is along the lines of 'we'll take our bat and ball and go home because you're picking on us'. So mature. The research is at http://www.gtcentre.unsw.edu.au/Hovell-no-cartoon.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)

For the Record

Each year, the United Nations publishes For the Record, a country-by-country overview of human rights issues with links to relevant United Nations documents. The latest to appear is 2003 at http://www.hri.ca/fortherecord2003/ . A few sections are still under construction but as these are the introduction, foreword, etc., this is not a huge problem. The other six volumes, which cover, in turn, Thematic Mechanisms & Approaches; Africa; Asia; Latin America & the Caribbean; Central & Eastern Europe; and Western Europe & Other (which bewidleringly includes both Australia and the United States) are all there. There are also Appendices. Older issues of the annual going back to 1997 are available at the site.
Posted by belinda at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2003

Born under unlucky stars

If being born here doesn't make you an Australian citizen, what does? Good question. Apparently there are rules for refugees' children and then rules for the rest of us. The Parliamentary Library has done a Research Paper on the topic "We are Australian – The Constitution and Deportation of Australian-born Children". According to Australian Policy Online (http://www.apo.org.au/), which has posted the document, "The Citizenship Act was amended in 1986 to remove automatic citizenship at birth from children of 'illegal' immigrants and temporary visa holders, including visitors and refugees. Now such children only become citizens if they are 'ordinarily resident' in Australia for the first ten years of their lives." With this government's track record, chances are they wouldn't be allowed to stay that long. The full text of this Research Paper is at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/2003-04/04rp03.htm.
Posted by belinda at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2003

No way in

Peter Mares, author of Borderline: Australia’s response to refugees and asylum seekers in the wake of the Tampa, looks at the Government's refugee policy in action after the 14 Kurds arriving at Melville Island were turned back to indonesia. Read his thinkpiece at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00519.shtml.
Posted by belinda at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

November 07, 2003

Reporting gay and lesbian issues

A new reference toolbox for journalists reporting on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues has been created by the US-based National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (http://www.nlgja.org/). The toolbox (http://www.nlgja.org/pubs/toolbox_intro.htm) provides advice on sensitive issues such as same sex marriages and hate crimes against gays. As the site says : "No journalist would cover a professional tennis match without getting an education in backhands, foot faults, player rankings and grand slams. But some reporters step into the world of lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people without taking the time to know what they're reporting about. "
Posted by belinda at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2003

Putting in the time

If you want background on family/work issues such as working hours and conditions, parental leave, women and work, childcare, family-friendly workplaces and more, have a look at the bibliography prepared by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It's at http://www.aifs.org.au/institute/info/bib/wf.html. Many of the items listed are linked to online publications.
Posted by belinda at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2003

Tough at the top?

It's better to be a sales or service person than a professional these days, according to a new study by ACIRRT. Their publication, "Quality of working life: comparing the perceptions of professionals and clerical sales and service workers" is at http://www.acirrt.com/pubs/WP86.pdf. It covered issues such as pay, security of employment, bullying and harassment, recognition for work well done and feeling included. The professional groups surveyed included doctors, nurses, accountants and teachers.
Posted by belinda at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2003

Charities - the limits to action

Mark Lyons, a professor of social economy at the University of Technology, Sydney examines whether charities should be able to engage in political lobbying or not in a piece called "Charities: Conspiracy or confusion?" posted on Australian Policy Online. Lyons notes that the Treasurer, Peter Costello, spoke on the topic of ‘Building Social Capital’ in a speech to the Sydney Institute in mid-July. He 'spoke of the importance of trust to a market economy and of the role of "networks and associations" in building trust ... The remarks were the first public endorsement of social capital and the importance of nonprofit organisations by a senior government minister ... But, as several commentators observed, he made no attempt to review the practices of the government of which he is Treasurer against the sentiments he espoused – not surprisingly, as the government would be found sadly wanting. As the crisis that erupted later that month made clear, no one in the government has much knowledge about nonprofit organisations and the legal and policy regimes under which they labour.' The article is at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00463.shtml.
Posted by belinda at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2003

Women and development

The World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/) has developed a new site, called GenderNet, to try to 'reduce gender disparities and enhance women's participation in economic development through its programs and projects'. It is a good place to find relevant gender statistics, information on the Millennium Goals as they relate to women, and to find people to discuss issues with in forums. See for yourself at http://www.worldbank.org/gender/.
Posted by belinda at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2003

Job Network

With the demise of the Commonwealth Employment Service by 1998, employment assistance services began to be delivered by for-profit and community-based providers such as Job Network. Job Network has just been awarded its third contract by the Federal government. The Parliamentary Library has released an e-brief on this third contract and what it means for the unemployed. It's at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/INTGUIDE/ECON/JobNetwork.htm.
Posted by belinda at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2003

Helping the elderly cope

Wired News has an interesting story about how hi-tech gadgets are helping frail and elderly people stay in their homes, rather than be forced into care. The gadgetry includes "kitchen appliances that remind dementia patients how to use the coffee pot", and "prototypes that incorporate networks of wireless sensors and digital devices to issue medication reminders and even determine a senior's level of activity". All a very good story idea - it's at http://go.hotwired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,60439,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by belinda at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2003

What's happening for young people

Still at school? In full or part-time study? Working? In an apprenticeship? Or on the dole? A new report, How young people are faring 2003, looks at the work and education prospects of 15-24-year-olds now and gives numbers and statistics on who is doing what. The report, prepared by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum, is at http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/dl/How_Young_Faring_AUG2003/How_Young_Faring_AUG2003.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2003

What sort of aid should we give?

Australia needs to work out what aid it gives to Pacific nations - as the Solomons crisis has shown, things can get pretty complicated if we get it wrong. An Australian Policy Online article by Pierre Huetter opens a discussion on the matter at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00405.shtml.
Posted by belinda at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2003

Amnesty International's latest report

Amnesty International's latest report documents human rights abuses in 151 countries and territories during 2002. Alas, Australia hardly comes out smelling of roses. AI states: "The government continued its controversial policy on refugees and asylum-seekers and sought international support for its restrictions on the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers under international law. Under the "Pacific Solution" approach, so-called boat people seeking asylum in Australia were arbitrarily detained and transferred between detention facilities in Australia, Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.". See even more for yourself at http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/index-eng
Posted by belinda at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2003

RAMming home the message

The UK-based RAM Project (Refugees, Asylum Seekers & Media) at http://www.ramproject.org.uk/ has created a directory to assist refugee journalists find work in the media. The directory is currently being developed - see it at http://www.ramproject.org.uk/directory/. In addition to placing journalists in jobs, the project aims to help create more balanced coverage of refugee/asylum seeker stories in the news.
Posted by belinda at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2003

Shared care of children after divorce - is it a goer?

The Australian Institute of Family Studies has a new paper out called Some whens, hows and whys of shared care: What separated parents who spend equal time with their children say about shared parenting. The paper was presented to the recent Australian Social Policy Conference (http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/ASPC2003/) and can be found at http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/ASPC2003/papers/Paper134.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2003

Social inclusion or not?

Many papers from the Australian Social Policy Conference 2003, held at the University of New South Wales from 9-11 July, are available in full text online. See some of the papers, including the Australian Institute of Family Studies' Social capital at work: how family, friends and civic ties relate to labour market outcomes and the Centre for Independent Studies' Why reform welfare? via Australian Policy Online (http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00352.shtml. Forty-two papers are available at the conference website at http://www.sprc1.sprc.unsw.edu.au/aspc2003/Downloads.asp.
Posted by belinda at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

July 03, 2003

Preventing child abuse

The Australian Institute of Family Studies has just put out an issues paper, Preventing child abuse: Changes to family support in the 21st century. The paper looks at how methods of family support have had to develop, particularly regarding prevention of child abuse and other family violence. Details of the paper are at http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/issues/issues17.html. The paper, in PDF, is at http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/issues/issues17.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

Working for our lives

Barbara Pocock has tackled some tricky issues in a new book, The Work/Life Collision, from Federation Press. The first chapter is available online at http://www.arts.adelaide.edu.au/social_inquiry/news/WLChap1.pdf. Pocock is from the Department of Social Inquiry, University of Adelaide, and her book deals with work and home issues such as longer working hours, parental leave, casual work, and the plummeting birth rate. You can see the full contents list at http://www.fedpress.aust.com/Books/Pocock.htm.
Posted by belinda at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2003

Sea change, anyone?

If you feel you'd like to chuck in the 9-5, the 8-midnight, or whatever shift you currently work in favour of a more leisurely pace, you're not alone. The Australia Institute has a report on changing your life, called 'Downshifting in Australia : a sea-change in the pursuit of happiness'. It's at http://www.tai.org.au/WhatsNew_Files/WhatsNew/DP50sum.pdf. It has figures on how many have abandoned the rat race.
Posted by belinda at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2003

Poor American kids

The Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, has produced a report that looks at the fix that low-income American children and their parents are in and suggests some ideas to improve the living standards of poor children. Find it at http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/dp/DP121.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2002

Labor and asylum seekers

In the wake of Carmen Lawrence's move to the backbench, Peter Mares examines Labor's new policy on asylum seekers at http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/items/00189.shtml.
Posted by belinda at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2002

Single parents and welfare reforms

The Australian Institute of Family Studies has published a report called Lessons of United States welfare reforms for Australian social policy which looks at the changing rates of welfare and employment in US lone parent families and examines what relevance such reforms have for Australia. Find it at http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/gray3.html
Posted by journoz at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

Middle class battlers?

The Australia Institute's report, Overconsumption in Australia: the rise of the middle-class battler, on how the middle class feel they're doing it tough is at http://www.tai.org.au/WhatsNew_Files/WhatsNew/DP49sum.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2002

Do we want to be multicultural?

The Centre for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney has published a study, Living Diversity, for SBS, of Australians’ engagement with multiculturalism, which includes their uses of media in a multicultural society. Find it at http://www.sbs.com.au/living_diversity/SBS_Living_Diversity.pdf.
Posted by belinda at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)