Health

No jurisdiction has managed a flawless COVID response, says Richard Cullen. But China, despite its imperfect COVID management experience, did better than any other major jurisdiction and, in fact, displayed many examples of early-best-practice unseen elsewhere. Exasperatingly, the West found, yet again, that it there is much it can learn from China – and then, Continue reading »

We need a radical rethink of the way we structure a 100-year life. Stephen Duckett welcomes the shift in focus of health care policy from the extreme end of hospitalisation to making primary care a priority – improvements to Medicare, cheaper access to medications, bulk-billing incentives for GPs. These measures will help many older people, Continue reading »

There were four major changes for health care in the 2023-24 budget: prioritising primary care, funding to strengthen Medicare, cheaper access to common medicines, and new funding to keep the digital health system going. Many of these changes were foreshadowed in recent weeks. The big news on budget night was a tripling of the bulk-billing incentive, a Continue reading »

For someone who is experiencing gambling harm, either due to their own gambling or someone else’s gambling, finding a quality service is often difficult. People with lived experience regularly tell us they struggle to find independent and quality information about what is on offer and the likely outcomes of any referral. The harms from gambling Continue reading »

Or will it  fiddle around the edges like the Rudd/Gillard Governments? After seven years of struggle against the AMA and others ,Gough Whitlam and Bill Hayden launched Medibank/Medicare in 1975. Bob Hawke and Neal Blewett then put Medicare back in place after Fraser tried to destroy it. Despite a lot of good intentions and bold Continue reading »

A new report lifts the lid on the urgent need for a strategy on how this ignored group can be supported to lead fulfilling lives

The nation is bracing for austere budgets. Grim foreshadowing has prepared us for a challenging federal budget. The Victorian Premier has warned of “very difficult measures” in his state’s budget, and NSW has delayed its budget while the new cabinet grapples with “tough choices”. Budget expectation management is a perennial rite of autumn. But with Continue reading »

In 2006, someone supposedly speaking for Generation Y wrote a book addressed to baby Boomers called “Please Just F* Off: It’s Our Turn Now.” The person who wrote that book in 2006 at the age of 25 is now 42. One day we will all be cast as the villains. It’s just a matter of Continue reading »

A very comprehensive review of drug policy in NSW completed in 2020 was largely ignored for two and a half years. The Commissioner of the Inquiry understandably believes further consideration is redundant. The newly elected NSW government intends to keep a commitment made before the election to conduct a Drug Summit. They are right to Continue reading »

Here I go again - visiting the home of my first 20 years, Cornwall.
I went this time last year as soon as the flights had resumed after all that covid bullshit. I flew home and caught covid at the Blue Anchor. I had never been as sick …