• Health

    Healthy minds need healthy bodies


    Open Forum |  December 13, 2024


    Higher cardio fitness in older age may preserve several core aspects of our mental ability that are vulnerable to age-related decline, according to international researchers, who say this holds true irrespective of key factors for mental decline including age and high-risk genetics.


  • Science and Technology

    Body power


    Open Forum |  December 13, 2024


    A QUT-led research team has developed an ultra-thin, flexible film that could power next-generation wearable devices using body heat, eliminating the need for batteries. This technology could also be used to cool electronic chips, helping smartphones and computers run more efficiently.


  • Business

    The grey area


    Open Forum |  December 13, 2024


    A new study from the University of Adelaide has revealed key markers that influence how commercial behaviour is perceived by courts, clarifying the line between legal and illegal conduct in commercial law.


Latest Story

  • A Place to Call Home

    editor     |      August 5, 2010

    Since the age of 14, South African born Slide has been couch surfing her way between different homes in Canberra, trying to find the next couch to sleep on for the night. Seven years on, Slide now has a place she can call home and is ready to help others facing similar situations through Red Cross.  

    ‘Well my life was pretty crazy back then, massive family fights and then my parents split up. I was sort of in the middle of their fighting; always asking me to spy on the other one and so it didn’t really work out.’

  • Building Skills for a Happy Family

    editor     |      August 5, 2010

    Luke and Alicia are a young couple who met through mutual friends, they have a beautiful baby and are working together to face the challenges of their child’s first year.

    To add to the challenge, Alicia and Luke are teenagers, they have struggled to secure stable housing and they have had to face time away from their baby when he spent time in care.

    Alicia, 16, gave birth to their baby a few months ago after leaving home the year before. Soon after she gave birth, the baby was taken into care while she found somewhere permanent to live.

    ‘It was devastating losing the baby – I didn’t like it at all,’ said Alicia.

  • Anyone can become homeless

    Ian Coverdale     |      August 2, 2010

    Understanding how anyone can become homeless is an important part of understanding how to tackle homelessness.

    Anyone can become homeless” is the key theme in Red Cross Homeless Persons’ Week campaign this year.  We want to raise awareness of the different pathways into homelessness that people may take.

  • Planning an end to homelessness

    Matthew Cox     |      August 2, 2010

    Some homeless people overcome enormous ostacles to radically reinvent their lives. It is difficult but possible. Changing the state of homelessness in Australia is a challenge our generation should rise to meet.

    I first met K not long after I began working at Red Cross.  She was 18 and a participant at Red Cross’ Night Café – a crisis support service in Brisbane’s CBD for young people living on the streets.  K ran away from home in her early teens to escape the worst things that can happen to a child at the hands of their parents. 

  • From living on the streets to helping the homeless: One woman’s tale of how she turned her life around

    Kirstie Papanikolaou     |      July 30, 2010

    First hand knowledge of homlessness and 14 years experience working in vendor support for the Big Issue combine for some powerfully simple advice about creating opportunities.

    I have two dogs. I’ve also got three cats and two rabbits; one of whom weighs 12 kilos and swings on a hammock. I’ve got two kids, one husband and some great in-laws. I consider myself lucky. I’ve got a stable, supportive family, a job that I am passionate about and my own home. But it wasn’t always like this…

  • Australia’ s Mineral Resources

    Les Pickett     |      July 28, 2010

    Are our policy makers and strategic thinkers paying sufficient attention to the role of Australia’s mineral resources in international affairs?

    Mineral resources play a role in international affairs that far outweighs the attention paid to the sector by policy makers and strategic thinkers Dr Michael Wesley Executive Director Lowy Institute told participants in a Food for Thought presentation at Victoria University earlier this month.

    Modern societies are becoming ever more dependent on mineral resources but increasingly less self-sufficient in their production, making access to stable and reasonably priced resources central to their functioning. And yet there is little awareness of the general dynamics, trends and forces governing the global production and trade in strategic resources.

  • Uncategorised

    Australia Welcomes New Privacy Commissioner

    editor     |      July 27, 2010

    It’s been a good week for privacy in Australia, with Timothy Pilgrim appointed the new Privacy Commissioner on 19 July 2010.  Read more at www.privacy.gov.au

  • Thinking about Trees

    Anna Bowden     |      July 26, 2010
    National Tree Day requires us to undergo an important change of mindset.
     
    I came to my job as the project manager for National Tree Day by a rather sideways route after marketing green products and administering a brand licensing program for Planet Ark.
     
    Although a committed “greenie” I came from a business and marketing background and was more focused on ways to leverage the consumer dollar to bring about environmental change. And so I found myself faced with a different challenge; how to generate a change in attitude & behaviour towards the natural world and trees in particular.
     
    The evidence on our need to change behaviour is overwhelming, with unprecedented losses of native animals, and damage to biodiversity.

  • International Day of Co-operatives

    David Griffiths     |      July 22, 2010

    On 3 July 2010 co-operatives throughout the world celebrated the International Day of Co-operatives. The theme for the day was how co-operatives can empower women.

     "Co-operative enterprise empowers women"
    "La empresa cooperativa empodera a la mujeres"
    "L’entreprise coopérative autonomise les femmes"

    The  International Day of Co-operatives is celebrated on the first Saturday of July every year. Its aim is to increase awareness on co-operatives and promote  the movement’s successes and ideals.

    The scope and role of co-operatives in Australia is, for example, not sufficiently understood. To address this, in June 2009 Co-operatives Australia published a list of the top 100 co-operatives, credit unions and mutuals. Co-operatives Australia is the national body for State Co-operative Federations.

  • Award winning NZ sheep drencher an innovation the whole family can enjoy

    Kate Williamson     |      July 20, 2010

    Rod Walker, Director and Research and Development Manager at Simcro speaks to Open Forum’s Kate Williamson about OPTILINE; winner of a 2010 Australian International Design Award  (medical and scientific category). 

  • Corporate reporting is no longer working

    Les Pickett     |      July 19, 2010

    Corporate reporting is no longer working – so what needs to be done to make it fit for purpose in the future?

    Corporate reporting plays an essential role in the effective functioning of the market economy. It provides the building blocks of information necessary for effective decision-making by investors and other key stakeholders.

    The financial crises of the last decade have demonstrated serious shortcomings in the understanding of corporate business models, the alignment of incentives, and the management of risk. The current corporate reporting model has not highlighted where these shortcomings exist.

  • Privacy by Design: An oxymoron, an impossibility or the way to go? A Big Picture seminar in Brisbane

    Malcolm Crompton     |      July 19, 2010
    Privacy by Design incorporates privacy from the planning stage rather than tacking it on at the end.
     
    What is privacy, REALLY?
     
    What is ‘Privacy by Design’?