Having a second child worsens parents' mental health: new research
While the first child improves parents' mental health, a second child does not.ShutterstockChildren are a wonderful gift, bringing joy, laughter, and love. But, then there are the toys, the sleepless ...
Home alone: how to keep your kids safe (and out of trouble) when you’re at work these holidays
If your child is staying home or allowed to go out without supervision while on school holidays, it's a good idea to set some ground rules for their safety.ShutterstockMany working parents battle with...
How to have yourself a plastic-free Christmas
Paper not plastic.Adina Habich/Shutterstock.comResearch shows that waste can double during the Christmas period, and most of it is plastic from gift wrapping and packaging. The British, for example, g...
Children's health hit for six as industry fails to regulate alcohol ads
Alcohol ads can be broadcast during sports on weekends and public holidays. from shutterstock.comAustralia is kicking off another summer of cricket. And if watching the series is a family affair, you ...
The great movie scenes: Back to the Future
Still from Back to the Future, 1985.What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance.Back to the Future (1985) Rea...
Broken records, 'crunch' and freemium that's not free: 2018 was a huge year in gaming
Digital games are incredibly time-consuming and costly to produce.Shutterstock2018 has been a big year for video games – and not just because of the games that were released. We’ve seen br...
Afterlife of the mine: lessons in how towns remake challenging sites
Old mine sites suffer many fates, which range from simply being abandoned to being incorporated into towns or turned into an open-air museum in the case of Gwalia, Western Australia.Author providedThe...
View from The Hill: Morrison goes a bridge too far to outsmart Shorten
The Morrison government is going over the top in trying to outsmart and smother Bill Shorten and the Labor national conference.Leaving aside the holding of the July Super Saturday byelections when the...
Labor promises a comprehensive overhaul of federal environmental framework
Australia will get the biggest overhaul of its federal environment laws in two decades if a Labor government is elected next year.Labor would establish a new Australian Environment Act and create a fe...
NSW Governor David Hurley will be Australia's new Governor-General
Scott Morrison has announced that New South Wales Governor David Hurley will become Australia’s next Governor-General, succeeding Sir Peter Cosgrove. The Prime Minister timed his news conference...
Shorten's subsidy plan to boost affordable housing
Labor would work with community housing providers, the residential construction sector and institutional investors. Flickr, CC BYInstitutional investors would receive longterm subsidies to build ne…
Government hopes Jerusalem compromise will smooth Indonesian trade deal
Scott Morrison has announced a compromise position that recognises West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but does not move Australia’s embassy there until a peace settlement determines Jerusa…
It's despair, not depression, that's responsible for Indigenous suicide
A history of dispossession and transgenerational trauma underlie the day-to-day struggles of Indigenous people.from shutterstock.comThis article was written with Rob McPhee, Deputy CEO of the Kimberle…
Can the Big Bash League's backyard cricket bat flip truly be fair?
Would you go 'flats' or 'hills'?Shutterstock/Brian A Jackson Ahead of the start of the 2018-19 Big Bash League season comes news of a radical change that will bring a smile to the faces of backyard cr…
Native cherries are a bit mysterious, and possibly inside-out
John Tann/Flickr, CC BY-SAPeople don’t like parasites. But there’s a local Aussie tree that’s only a little bit parasitic: the native cherry, or cherry ballart.It’s what we cal…
Women don't speak up over workplace harassment because no one hears them if they do
Women are not reporting workplace harassment even when the behaviour is clearly out of bounds.ShutterstockThere are good reasons why those experiencing sexual harassment – particularly in the wo…
Some sharks have declined by 92% in the past half-century off Queensland's coast
Scalloped hammerhead entangled in a Queensland shark control net at Magnetic Island, Townsville.Courtesy of Nicole McLachlanThere has been a striking decline in the number of large sharks caught off Q…
How to narrow the gap between Ardern's foreign policy aspirations and domestic debate
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called for more kindness in politics. AAP/Mick Tsikas, CC BY-NDNew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stands out on the international stage. In an er…
Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics)
The funding proposal is no fix for Australia's health system but it could take some political pressure off the Coalition in the lead up to the 2019 federal election.OnE studio/ShutterstockThe A$1.25 b…
How people seeking asylum in Australia access higher education, and the enormous barriers they face
There are about 30,000 refugees in Australia, and just over 200 of them have been able to study at a university.www.shutterstock.comAccessing higher education is critical for many people seeking asylu…
It's not so easy to gain the true measure of things
Some things are just tricky to measure.Flickr/Patty O'Hearn Kickham, CC BYI teach measurement – the quantification of things. Some people think this is the most objective of the sciences; just n…
Monday's MYEFO will look good, but it will set the budget up for awful trouble down the track
An appallingly perfect storm is brewing for the federal budget: a government with much more income than expecteda federal election due within months a government well behind in the pollsWith the elect…
Vital Signs: No, Joe, America should not be copying Australia's 'asset recycling' misdirection
Asset recycling is a shell game, a way to get around government accounting rules.ShutterstockAnyone who has been to La Guardia airport in New York can attest the dire need in the United States for inf…
Our cities fall short on sustainability, but planning innovations offer local solutions
Australia's sprawling cities present many challenges to sustainability, but planning innovations can help achieve at least half of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Nils Versemann/ShutterstockThirt…
Friday essay: back to Moore River and finding family
Children at Norseman Mission. The author's mum, Violet Newman is in the middle row on the far left.Image from the collection of Elsie Lambadgee (dec.)Untangling the web that is the history of the stol…
I Got Faith You Got Faith All God’s Children Got Faith
Pastor John Osteen the father of Mega Church Joel used to lead his congregation in this confession, “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can…
Grattan on Friday: Unions likely to be more challenging for a Shorten government than boats
In this week’s Newspoll 55% believed Labor would win next year’s election, compared with just 24% who thought the Coalition would. These are figures to frighten Scott Morrison, and make Bi…
A tale of two media reports: one poses challenges for digital media; the other gives ABC and SBS a clean…
The competitive neutrality report has given the ABC, and SBS, a clean bill of health.ShutterstockTwo reports out this week – one into the operations of Facebook and Google, the other into the co…