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Fri, 23/07/2010 - 15:26 — Site Administrator
During National Homeless Person’s Week from August 2-9, Australian Red Cross is highlighting the fact that homelessness affects the lives of ordinary people and that anyone can become homeless.
On any given night there are about 105,000 homeless people – of these, more than 15 per cent are sleeping rough; 45 per cent stay with family or friends; 21 per cent are living in boarding or rooming houses and 19 per cent are in temporary accommodation.
Open Forum and the Australian Red Cross will be sharing stories throughout Homeless Persons Week 2010. To participate, simply follow the links below to read the related blogs and login to leave a comment. You can also email Open Forum your own contribution or contributor suggestion to srose@openforum.com.au, or phone +61 2 8303 2430.
To make a donation or find out more about our programs and services, visit www.redcross.org.au
Tue, 08/06/2010 - 16:43 — Site Administrator
Open Forum is proud to present this Spotlight on the Australian International Design Awards with thanks to our sponsors Standards Australia.
Founded by the Industrial Design Council of Australia, an agency first established in 1958 to support Australia’s local industrial design community, the program experienced much change before its 1991 acquisition by Australia’s peak Standards body, Standards Australia.
Today, the Australian International Design Awards plays a vital role in stimulating innovation and a culture of creativity and competitiveness in Australian and overseas business.
The 2010 program attracted a record 202 industry entries and a further 98 student entries, representing a 27% increase on 2009.
Judges awarded 42 Design Awards in recognition of design excellence, with the Australian International Design Award of the Year presented to New Zealand-based hospital bed manufacturer Howard Wright for its M8 Intensive Care bed.
The full list of winners in the 2010 Australian International Design Awards, including the winner of the Award for Excellence in Sustainable Design, 42 Design Award winners and 69 Design Mark winners can be viewed on at www.designawards.com.au.
Winners in the student category, recognising emerging industrial design talent, can be viewed online at www.student.designawards.com.au.
We hope you’ll enjoy this opportunity to hear directly from a few of the 111 finalists. Simply follow the links below to read what they have to say about good design in their own words, login to leave them your comments and questions.
Thu, 18/02/2010 - 11:37 — Site Administrator
One in five Australians will suffer chronic pain in their lifetime, yet up to 80% living with this debilitating condition are missing out on treatment that could improve their health and quality of life. People with acute pain (after surgery or trauma) or cancer pain are effectively treated only 50% of the time.
An MBF Foundation report conducted by Access Economics has estimated that chronic pain costs the Australian economy $34 billion per annum.
Expert and community feedback is currently being sought on the Draft National Pain Strategy. Some of the key issues up for discussion are: recognising pain as a disease, destigmatising pain, recognising pain as the fifth vital sign and how to help people better manage their pain.
Open Forum will be featuring the ideas of some of the speakers and delegates of the upcoming National Pain Summit in Canberra, in this online discussion forum dedicated to Pain Management. To participate, simply follow the links below to read the related blogs and login to leave a comment.
Mon, 21/12/2009 - 15:36 — Site Administrator
Health care remains one of the major political, financial and social issues in Australia and other OECD countries. National surveys reveal a common contradiction between people’s greater satisfaction with their personal experience of care and a high level of dissatisfaction with “the system” as a whole. The growing proportion of elderly people and those with chronic conditions, escalating costs and increased expectations make the need for a comprehensive health sector reform as urgent and compelling as ever.
The GAP/ACHR Congress on Australia’s Health, held on 30 November 2009 at Parliament House of Victoria, was brought together to produce a policy document in response to “A Healthier Future for All Australians” report released by the National Health & Hospitals Reform Commission. Keynote speakers and delegates have been 'handpicked' according to their credentials as changemakers and thought leaders for Australia’s health reform.
Open Forum will be featuring the ideas of the speakers and delegates in an online discussion forum dedicated to Australia’s Health, proudly supported by the Australian Centre for Health Research. To participate, simply follow the links to read the related blogs, log in to leave a comment, email us your own contribution or phone +61 2 8303 2420.
Tue, 03/11/2009 - 14:24 — Site Administrator
What happens after the COAG regulation 'hotspots' agenda? What role is there for codes, standards and charters as alternatives to detailed, black-letter regulation?
Throughout November 2009, with the support of Standards Australia, Better Regulation Choices is Open Forum’s Topic of the Month. It should explore the regulatory spectrum from self-regulation to black-letter law and everything in between.
- Better regulation - What do we mean by this? How far has the COAG regulatory agenda taken us towards better regulation? What happens next?
- Dimensions of choice - What regulatory options exist? What lessons can we learn from existing cases? Who wins and loses from different regulatory approaches?
- Global perspective/new frontiers - How can better regulation extend across national boundaries? How can the quality of regulation be improved by new ways of consulting?
To participate, simply follow the links below to read the related blogs, login to leave a comment, or email us your own contribution or contributor suggestion to srose@openforum.com.au or phone +61 2 8303 2430.
Fri, 02/10/2009 - 12:54 — Site Administrator
Understanding how Sydney features in the strategies, organisation and location decisions of multinational corporations is critical for governments, multi-national companies and resident firms alike.
In 2009, The Australian Business Foundation released the report "Global Connections: A study of multinational companies in Sydney". Its findings have some massive implications for the future innovation and prosperity of NSW and Australia.
Open Forum and the Australian Business Foundation are launching this online forum as a space to invite some of the thought leaders in this area to share their ideas about the report and how we can learn from the lessons it provides.
Log in below and post your comments in response to the questions posed on this forum. Follow the links below to read the related blogs and articles. Write your own blog. If you are new to blogging, check out our Top 10 Blogging Tips for a headstart or contact srose@openforum.com.au.
Tue, 01/09/2009 - 12:51 — Site Administrator
As a platform for citizen journalists, Open Forum features the stories which are in large part responsive to the issues you write in to tell us you care about. It is surprising that over the last twelve months we have not received one single contribution that dealt with Australia’s foreign policies or military engagement in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If there was ever an area of government expenditure and public policy debate we expected to incite some passions - Iraq was it.
During September, Open Forum will be showcasing International Voices. Expect perspectives on some of the big issues affecting our neighbours, bloggers from around the globe, and articles from foreign citizens living in Australia.
As Murdoch pushes ahead with plans to charge for online content, the consumers' role in the demand and supply chain of financing “content” is about to shift towards a more explicit responsibility.
For a multicultural society such as Australia, in the age of the internet, is there really any excuse for not including opinions and news from around the world in our media diet? International Voices are all around us, if only we make the effort to hear them.
Fri, 31/07/2009 - 12:32 — Site Administrator
To the uninitiated, it can sound complicated and technical, but spatial data is part of everyday life. Mobile phones, eTags, credit card statements, Facebook profiles and the humble postcode all contain important personal spatial information.
Since our 2008 online forum on Spatial Data, spatial has been making the headlines. Google’s bushfire map mashup and the Victorian Country Fire Service’s RSS feed during the 2009 Victorian bushfires are great examples of open spatial information in action. However, how much public information governments can and should make available for such mashups is a topic of hot debate.
Currently one of the key areas of interest for the Federal Government 2.0 Taskforce is to examine the possibilities of making government data more open. This presents a number of interesting questions about how individuals as well as organisations from the public and private sectors manage spatial data.
Please share your views on the issue by completing our short survey "What does Spatial Information mean to you?" or joining this forum as a commentator.
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 14:01 — Site Administrator
If only we could all die young, but at a very old age.
In the midst of winter, when it is that little bit harder to go for a walk in the morning and that whole lot more tempting to spend the evenings snuggled on the couch watching a DVD with tea and tim-tams, July is the perfect month to promote Healthy Ageing as our featured 'Topic of the Month' here on Open Forum.
Healthy Ageing isn't about feeling inadequate because you're 50 and you don't have pecs like Madonna. Healthy Ageing is about promoting ongoing physical and psychological wellness to live the best life possible. And remember, you're never too young to begin.
Healthy Ageing concerns us all, whether as individuals, children of ageing parents, or parents of growing kids; indeed it's a vital issue for Australia as a whole.
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