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Clinical Trials can be for People and Country
wliauw | February 9, 2010Clinical trials involving volunteer patients form an integral part of the development of new healthcare interventions.
Clinical trials also form an important industry in Australia; injecting an estimated $450 million dollars to the Australian knowledge economy.
But like the healthcare system itself the clinical trials industry is ailing. Many barriers to the more efficient approval and conduct of clinical trials are reducing the incentives for both local and foreign companies to conduct clinical trials in Australia.
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Correcting the Australian Government – natural gas is NOT “clean energy”
Dr Gideon Polya | February 7, 2010On a weight basis, liquid natural gas is twice as dirty as brown coal, high school chemistry tells us.
The Australian Labor Government has repeatedly declared that it is instituting an “education revolution”. However a key element of the teaching and learning process called “education” is correct information. I must note my credentials here: this is my 5th decade of teaching science students at a leading Australian university and, unlike most of my Australian academic colleagues, I have a postgraduate qualification in teaching in Higher Education, in addition to my first degree and PhD.
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The Market Fever Index: Part 2
patrickcallioni | February 5, 2010Last month I published the first iteration of the Market Fever Index (MFI).In my forthcoming book, Waves of Change: Managing Global Trends in the Financial Services Industry, due out in May 2010, I suggest that it would be useful for investors, especially unsophisticated investors, to have access to a market fever index.My proposal is based on the same logic that underpins bushfire warnings: to let people know that while they are free to invest as they please, they ought to be aware of the risk that is inherent in the environment.It is almost impossible for retail i
Ahead of the Curve? Recent trans-Atlantic thinking on privacy that sounds familiar
Malcolm Crompton | February 1, 2010At the risk of mixing metaphors, it seems that there is movement at the station, on both sides of the Atlantic, on the need for new thinking on how best to respect personal information about individuals and manage the risks to which they might be exposed as a consequence of its collection, use and disclosure.
Throughout 2009 as the word was getting around you could hear the horsemen gathering in the distance, now they can be seen gathering on the horizon.
UncategorisedCongratulations to our bloggers on 2010 Australia Day honours
editor | February 1, 2010Steve Lawrence was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the community through leadership roles in the development and implementation of not-for-profit ventures to create social change, particularly for youth and the long-term unemployed. Warwick Watkins was made a member of the Order of Australia for service to spatial information and natural resource management through leadership roles within a range of public sector agencies. To find out more about their passions in their own words check out Steve’s blog and Warwick’s blog today.
Charter of Rights no protection for the vulnerable
Elise Parham | February 1, 2010The peculiarly moral nature of human rights can make it difficult to analyse the way a law enumerating those rights, a charter of rights, would operate in practice.
Supporters and opponents often talk in sweeping generalities about the value of minorities, the need to care for those who slip through the cracks, and increasing government accountability. Yet it is critical that the government take an evidence-based approach to the question, to the extent possible.
To wade through the rhetoric and research the practical operation of a charter is difficult, especially when the government has not yet indicated its intention to introduce a charter and has offered no particular charter model. There are, however, some good indications of what might happen if the government does propose a charter of the kind recommended late last year by the National Human Rights Consultation.
Forgotten Consumers: The History of Medicine as a Marketplace
GabeJames | January 31, 2010The health system is yearning to be a freer market.
The history of modern health begins with medical care as a freely available ‘consumer good’ that was regulated by a royal decree. Now we have come full circle. The system is straining under its own weight and lack of flexibility.
Car Accidents and Speeding
Open Forum | January 28, 2010I am not an expert of any form however I have been thinking on this for many years. You see my brother died many years ago in a car accident and over the years I have heard of so many tragic stories.
It seems to me that technology has improved so much especially in the last few years and yet we don’t seem to be utilising it in respect of the road toll.
The latest innovation I have heard of is about GPS. Apparently nowadays they can not only provide us with our current location but also inform us of up to the minute road conditions.
My question: why doesn’t some intelligent being utilise this technology and provide a computer system installed in a vehicle with localised speed limits which are then fed into a speed limiter so it becomes extremely difficult for anyone to speed on our roads.
Cloud Computing Made Simple
Malcolm Crompton | January 28, 2010Cloud computing has been a popular term for a year or two now, but many of us still don’t know what it is or its implications. To a degree, it is old wine in new bottles (hotmail has been around for over a decade now) but it is also so much more.
This has led to some pretty slick selling of the concept without being entirely straight forward as to the impact on the interests of all stakeholders. In an article titled “Salesforce.com: Cloud Computing is a game-changer”, Peter Coffee is quoted as saying:
Bogans and their Flags
sally.rose | January 28, 2010“In Australia we eat meat, drink beer and speak ****EN ENGLISH”.
Heading for another great recession?
patrickcallioni | January 28, 2010As I predicted in earlier posts, governments are reacting to the financial crisis by indulging in populist reforms that are intended to punish the culprits – banks and financial institutions – and to stop them from doing again whatever they did that caused the US and global economies to crash in 2008-9. The form and character of what President Obama has said he wants to do – if Congress allows him to do it – is a typical example (this is what the President said, in part):
