How bad will the recession be and how long will it last?

The belief that we will ultimately cope better that other countries might be mistaken.

Room for Public & Private Providers

Transparency and ending the ideological battle is the way forward.

How to trust in the Internet when nothing there is real?

Suspension of disbelief when using the web is what enables most of the safety problems today, but the solution isn't to try to make people more wary "viewers".

Making Childcare Choices Real

Blaming the childcare crisis on the evil empire won't help.  We need to provide real choices first.

Childcare at the Crossroads

While I don't doubt the Government‘s commitment in preventing the loss of any further childcare places, I am concerned that there seems to be little planned beyond March 31, when its second prop-up of $34 million expires.

Childcare in crisis – did anyone not know?

We need a plan for a universal, high quality childcare program in Australia with supply-side funding provided by government.

Childcare in Crisis?

Childcare in Australia is at a turning point as the country enters 2009.

Religion & Euthanasia

Legislation is needed to define doctors' obligations to turn off life-support systems when appropriate.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are issues that affect the whole of society, and can have a significant impact on family relationships. Euthanasia (either passive or active methods of ending life with the direct supervision of a doctor) and assisted suicide (a patient's actions to end their own life following advice from a doctor) are difficult decisions which deserve to be understood in terms of human rights, freedom and personal choice.

It's abhorrent that our system imposes religious dogma upon non-religious people who are near death and want nothing to do with religious slogans, whilst enduring unbearable suffering at the end of their temporary existence.

South African experience…

From bungy jumping to visiting Soweto on children’s day, from seeing the very poorest and most violent parts of Johannesburg, every day on this South African trip was an experience.

I can honestly say, straight up, that I have just had the most wonderful experience of my life. I was so nervous before I went, wondering if I had made the right decision, wondering if I could I handle it and whether South Africa was a wise choice. Despite spending the entire first week in bed with a terrible stomach bug, every fear I had disappeared upon my arrival.

I was welcomed with open arms and made to feel a member of the Bushpigs family.

During the week in bed I never once felt alone. People I’d just met were continually checking in on me; bringing me food and water, coming to say hello and make me smile, and taking me to the doctors when I needed it. My experience only got better from there.

Good Politics / Bad Economics (Blessed are the young!)

Ron Manners from the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation (www.mannkal.org) presents economic theory in verse.

“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway…”

Every year, a group of young Australians commit themselves to go overseas solely with the purpose of helping disadvantaged people, environmental groups or human rights organisations.

Australia Needs Home-Based Employment

The idea of home-based employment has truly come of age.

Technology has evolved to a point where much of the work currently done in centralised office blocks can now be done at home. However, much of the benefit of a remote workplace is not being realised. Rural communities are starved of people who move to evermore bloated cities. Society is reluctant to move away from an economic and social model that is now, more than ever, just an anachronism.

Home-based employment has the power to change Australian society for the better. Not only does it benefit people whose work adapts to a remote work setting, but it has flow on effects that yield positive consequences to remote communities and large cities alike.