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Stephen Duckett

Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute

Professor Stephen Duckett is Director of the Health Program at Grattan Institute and Emeritus Professor of Health Policy at La Trobe University. He has held top operational and policy leadership positions in health care in Australia and Canada, including as Secretary of what is now the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. He has a reputation for creativity, evidence-based innovation and reform in areas ranging from the introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals to new systems of accountability for the safety of hospital care. An economist, he is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

We can cut private health insurance costs by fixing how we pay for hip replacements and other implants

Aug 06, 2019 03:52 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

As we age, were more likely to need a prosthesis to help us function like we used to. It may be a hip or knee prosthesis to replace a worn-out joint, a new lens after a cataract has been removed, or a pacemaker or cardiac...

What are the major parties promising on health this election?

May 07, 2019 03:07 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The major parties manifestos for the 2019 federal election present voters with starkly contrasting health policies. These policies are shaped and constrained by the overall themes presented by the party leaders, but have...

Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics)

Dec 15, 2018 16:31 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

The A$1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week should be awarded a big policy fail. The move sets back Commonwealth-state relations by decades and its...

Waiting for better care: why Australia’s hospitals and health care is failing

Oct 30, 2018 12:28 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

This week were exploring nine different policy areas across Australias states, as detailed in Grattan Institutes State Orange Book 2018. Read the other articles in the series here. Australia has a good health system by...

Changes to lure young people into private health insurance won't slow increase in premiums

Oct 13, 2017 09:28 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Australians will be able to choose lower premiums for higher excess, and insurers required to more clearly categorise their policies, under the federal governments shake up of private health insurance announced...

Why it costs you so much to see a specialist – and what the government should do about it

Aug 13, 2017 23:08 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

Australians pay too much when they go to medical specialists. The government can and should do more to drive prices down. A current Senate Inquiry on out-of-pocket costs will hopefully lead to some policy action. The...

Don't be fooled, the Medicare Guarantee Fund provides no real guarantee

May 12, 2017 06:04 am UTC| Insights & Views Health Politics

Treasurer Scott Morrison pulled a health-related rabbit out of his hat on budget night, announcing the government will guarantee the future of Medicare. It will do this by allocating any extra revenue from the recently...

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Economy

JGBs close mixed in silent trading session ahead of long weekend

The Japanese government bonds closed mixed on Friday as investors remained divided amid a silent session that barely witnessed data of major economic significance ahead of the countrys long weekend, following Autumn...

Yuan exchange rate likely to be defended by Chinese regulators as long as trade talks continue, says Scotiabank

The yuan exchange rate is expected to be defended by the Chinese regulators as long as the trade talks continue, according to the latest research report from Scotiabank. Foreign investors have been pouring funds into...

Australian bonds rally amid muted trading session tracing Fed’s 25bp rate cut

The Australian government bonds rallied during Asian session of the last trading day of the week Friday amid a muted session that witnessed data of little economic significance. However, the Federal Reserves 25bp rate cut...

New Zealand economy grows 0.5 pct q/q in June quarter, in line with RBNZ’s May MPS forecast

The New Zealand economy grew 0.5 percent q/q in three months to June 2019, a touch stronger than the 0.4 percent pencilled in by ANZ Research. The small positive surprise means annual growth has been running a touch...

EM Asian currencies likely to advance if US and China make concrete progress in renewed trade negotiations, says Scotiabank

The emerging market Asian currencies are expected to advance if the US and China make a concrete progress in the renewed trade negotiations, remaining susceptible to the headlines in the coming weeks till the Washington...

Politics

Melania Trump faces backlash over fashion choices on 9/11 anniversary

Melania Trumps commemoration of the September 11 attacks 18th anniversary has been marred with yet another fashion-related controversy. Online critics claimed that the stitch work on the back portion of the First Ladys...

Destroying parliaments leads to war – just look at history

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnsons recent prorogation of parliament has led many to fear that parliamentary democracy in Britain is unravelling. And now the High Court has ruled that Johnson acted lawfully in suspending it....

Where 'woke' came from and why marketers should think twice before jumping on the social activism bandwagon

First used in the 1940s, the term woke has resurfaced in recent years as a concept that symbolises awareness of social issues and movement against injustice, inequality, and prejudice. But popularity has diluted its...

Rudd's rental affordability scheme was a $1 billion gift to developers; Abbott was right to axe it

Most Australians are spending more of their income on housing than they used to, but low-income households are being squeezed the hardest. Many are in poverty, and many more are suffering financial stress. A growing...

John Legend tweets Melania Trump should praise Donald Trump more

The United States President Donald Trump has once again had a tweetstorm directed, this time, at John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. The All of Me singer responded by suggesting that POTUS might have calmed down if only the...

Science

New prostate cancer treatment delivers good result in week

There may not be a one-stop cancer cure available to the market yet, but scientists have developed more advanced treatment strategies that increase the survivability rate among cancer patients. Researchers from the United...

HIV hides in many places in the body, Belgian researchers confirm

HIV can hide within the patients body, making it difficult to completely eradicate. With the hopes of finding an HIV cure, researchers from the Belgium-based university UZ Gent recently reported a milestone of locating...

Can we really know what animals are thinking?

Sarah, the worlds smartest chimp, died in July 2019, just before her 60th birthday. For the majority of her life she served as a research subject, providing scientists with a window into the thoughts of homo sapiens...

Cancer cells naturally die in microgravity, scientist finds

The possibilities are endless when it comes to studying potential factors that could stop the growth of cancer cells. For one, a scientist based in Australia discovered that cancer cells naturally die when exposed to...

HIV cure study finds good results from a rare muscle illness

One of the greatest tasks of medical science experts today is finding a cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While that has not been achieved yet, many studies have resulted in further understanding the...

Technology

‘Dota 2’ trolls, account buyers hit by ban hammers; Valve rolling out changes to decrease in-game toxicity

The Dota 2 community has been asking Valve time and again to provide some form of solution to the persisting presence of smurfing, account buying, and overall toxic behavior. Now, the company is finally rolling out some...

Warriors apparently interested in adding Giannis Antetokounmpo into their roster

The rumor about Giannis Antetokounmpo possibly getting poached by the Golden State Warriors has resurfaced again. The narrative first emerged in February when Marc Stein of the New York Times said that the Warriors has...

Nvidia could launch 2 new Turing-based GPUs next month

While Intel still dominates the CPU and GPU markets, Nvidia and AMD are having a more exciting competition in the graphics card department. Leaks about the Navi 14 series have been the talk of the town in recent months,...

OnePlus 7T standard specs include 8GB RAM, Android 10

OnePlus 7T will be launched in a few more days, but more information leaks are surfacing online. A benchmark test confirms the device will have 8GB RAM and powered by Android 10. Both appear to be standard specs for the...

‘Final Fantasy 7 Remake’ release date: Classic Mode will be handled by AI as players focus on tactics, spell casting

Before all the information about Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been revealed, there were numerous concerns from players regarding the games combat system. The complaints stem from the fact that Square Enix appeared to have...