Expect weak economic growth for quite some time. What Wednesday's national accounts tell us

Jun 07, 2019 16:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The Australian economy grew by just 0.4% in the March quarter. It was a pick up from 0.2% in the December quarter, but over the year the four quarters taken together amounted to only 1.8%. Its the first time Australias...

To tackle our mental health crisis, career guidance could be surprisingly important

Jun 07, 2019 16:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Being unemployed tends to be bad for your mental heath. We know this from long-term studies which show that peoples mental health often deteriorates when they become unemployed and can improve when they get a new job. It...

Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks were meant for international audience, but have local consequences

Jun 07, 2019 16:01 pm UTC| Insights & Views

I was in Sri Lanka, near the city of Matale, when the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks happened. The last time I was in the country was in 2008, when the war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) and...

Grattan on Friday: Media freedom joins the current 'freedoms' agenda

Jun 07, 2019 16:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views

Scott Morrison is very concerned to protect freedom of religion, and many Liberals tell us we dont have enough safeguards for freedom of speech. Now the prime minister has on his hands a massive, unexpected and, for him,...

A urinal in a Scottish pub reveals why toilets matter in international politics

Jun 07, 2019 16:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

If you wanted to see international politics in action, where would you go? Maybe the UN headquarters in New York to see diplomats debating resolutions of global import? Or drop in on one of the worlds many financial hubs,...

Social care crisis is letting down professional carers too

Jun 07, 2019 16:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

I started as a care worker in August 2012, a year after a BBC Panorama documentary exposing abuse at Winterbourne View sent shock waves through the social care system. During my time care working, between 2012 to 2014,...

Vegans and vegetarians: the history of how plant-based diets grew out of left-wing ideology

Jun 07, 2019 15:59 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

The rise of the vegetarian and, more recently, the vegan diet is generally perceived to be a new phenomenon. So, too, is their association with contemporary progressive ideas, politics and lifestyles. But plant-based diets...