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Measuring Australia’s economic and social progress
Stephen Bartos | September 8, 2011Australian measures of life satisfaction have declined in recent years, despite solid growth in GDP. The Global Access Partners Task Force on Progress in Society, established following the 2010 National Economic Review Summit, has been exploring how the ‘economics of happiness’ could be used to inform national policy.
Since last year, a group of senior public sector, private sector and academic thinkers, brought together under the auspices of Sydney-based public policy think tank Global Access Partners (GAP), has been addressing the issue of measures of progress.
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Stable population is Australia’s sustainable choice
William Bourke | September 8, 2011High population growth is now driving Australia’s major economic, environmental and social problems.
Increasing carbon emissions; Increasing costs of living, including housing, water and energy; Overloaded infrastructure, including roads, hospitals and schools; Destruction of our environment, including our native wildlife habitat; Increasing foreign debt are prime examples.
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UncategorisedScience takes a bow
Open Forum | September 7, 2011
Open Forum would to like to recognise the world-class achievements of Australia’s top scientists, science educators and communicators who have been awarded 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes. From sea pansy-powered drug development, to superfast computer chips, and research questioning the ethics and effectiveness of whipping horses, the 22nd Annual Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are a tour de force of Australian research and innovation.
The country’s brightest minds in scientific investigation, leadership, journalism and communication and school science gathered at Sydney‟s Hordern Pavilion on 6 September for Australian sciences "night of nights‟. Seventy-nine finalists were brought together from around the country, competing for more than $240 000 in prize money.
Raising a happy generation
Catherine Fritz-Kalish | September 6, 2011Positive thinking is important, but so is hard work.
I have three children and my main wish for them is that they grow up to be happy. The more I thought about happiness and how best to attain it, the more I wanted to hear other people’s views so I organised a series of informal focus group meetings for women aged between 30 and 45 to explore the topic. Some had children, some had partners and all of them had strong personal views on what made people happy. It was an eye-opening discussion.
I began our conversation with a few simple questions:
· What makes you happy?
· Are most people in your circle happy?
· How important is for you to be happy?
· Is happiness an overrated and unattainable state most of the time?
UncategorisedWorking Australia Census 2011 released
editor | September 4, 2011
Working Australia Census 2011 survey findings were released on 7 September. This is one of the biggest surveys of workers in Australian history, with 41,584 valid responses. The report dispels the myth that employees are to blame for the nation’s productivity, showing that Australians in 2011 are under more pressure than ever before, working longer hours without compensation and increasingly having work invade their home life.
Fatherlessness the silent killer
Warwick Marsh | September 2, 2011All of us have been shocked by the deadly rampage of the Norwegian mass murderer, Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people. The question is, “Are we shocked by the fact that Anders grew up as a fatherless child?.”
If we know our history and the social science statistics surrounding fatherlessness, this information should not surprise us. Anders was abandoned by his father or perhaps more accurately stolen from his father, Jens Breivik, when he was only one year old.
UncategorisedBlue September: promoting men’s cancer
Mike Chapman | September 1, 2011We lose a lot of dads, husbands, brothers, uncles and sons to cancers that are avoidable and treatable. It’s estimated that about a third of cancers are avoidable just by slightly altering lifestyle choices — the trick is to catch it early. Virtually no one needs to die of cancers of the bowel, prostate and testicles these days.
Blue September is about to complete its fourth year in NZ, third year in Australia, second year in California and has launched with remarkable energy this year in the UK and Ireland.
Shaping a vision for the future
Peter Fritz | August 31, 2011Australians don’t seem to have any ideas about the society we would like to live in. We don’t have a vision of what is worth fighting for or fighting against. We automatically oppose any proposal for change. However, unless we take charge of our own destiny, we will be forever just hostages to the fickle wind of fortune.
Over the last 40 years I have had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the world and have visited many countries, on four of the five continents. I recently returned from a month’s holiday in Europe and I have never felt so isolated as an Australian.
Sugar coated regulations fail to save children from fast food ads
Kathy Chapman | August 30, 2011Fast food companies have failed to clean up their act under voluntary self regulations, with the total number of fast foods ads increasing on television since 2009, and no change in children’s exposure to unhealthy fast food ads. It proves what many of us feared; that the industry only pays lip service to effective and responsible advertising.
Recent research we undertook (Medical Journal of Australia) shows that children who watch up to three hours of television per day are exposed to more than 1640 fast food ads per year – a jump of more than 430 ads per year since industry regulations were introduced in August 2009.
This is contrary to the recommendations put forward by the World Health Organisation that any standards should be to reduce children’s exposure to fast-food and unhealthy food and drink advertising.
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