December 22, 2013

Grattan Institute On Our Hugely Overpriced Drugs

Australia has a long way to go before consumers pay fair prices for pharmaceuticals report Stephen Duckett and Peter Breadon of the Grattan Institute. Their report Poor Pricing Progress states that price disclosure isn’t the answer to high drug prices. […]
December 22, 2013

Nan Bray’s Sheep ‘Families’ Doing Extremely Well In Tas.

Ten years ago Nan Bray was Chief of CSIRO’s Marine Research Division in Hobart. She has since branched out’ into superfine wool, running 1600 Saxon Merinos in Tassy’s Southern Midlands. Her particular – radical? – method of wool production has […]
December 17, 2013

Food Production & Parliament – Conversations, Explanation, Policy Development

Gough Whitlam’s valedictory point in ‘The Whitlam Legacy’ has stayed with me. His advice is: “Never forget the primacy of parliament as the great forum for developing, presenting and explaining policy. If we develop, define and defend our policies thoroughly […]
December 1, 2013

Centralised Education NOT The Way To Go?

Amid all the ‘Gonski noise’ about funding, Kevin Donnelly, director of the Melbourne-based Education Standards Institute, writes about the education process saying we need: Greater Autonomy, Flexibility In Schools’ Decision-Making Needed “Students perform better in schools that have autonomy in […]
December 1, 2013

Pozible, Tas Symphony Orchestra & Music To Soothe Sick Kids

Hospital procedures can be very scary – especially for children. The Hush Music Foundation, the ongoing work of mother of five, Dr Catherine Crock, is about to launch Hush volume 13 – The Magic Island in conjunction with the Tasmanian […]