New Research

Drinking cultures and social occasions

24 January 2012This study, conducted by Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre and Eastern Health, provides evidence that acute intoxication increased numbers of injuries due to assaults and traffic accidents on public holidays and other major celebratory events and rises in incidents on the day before.

What are the options? Pricing and taxation policy reforms to redress excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in Australia

24 January 2012Increasing community and political concern about excessive alcohol consumption and related harms in Australia has prompted calls for the introduction of tighter regulatory controls.

Evaluation of the impact of febfast participation: final report

19 January 2012This evaluation examines the febfast (alcohol-free month) event to understand who took part and why, and what impacts the event had on their alcohol awareness, health and subsequent drinking behaviours with the aim of increasing participation rates in the future.

Driving behaviours among people who inject drugs in South Australia, 2006-2011

30 December 2011Motor vehicle accidents are a major cause of mortality around the world.

Problem gambling and health

23 December 2011This document outlines the debate around gambling reform in Australia and looks at some proposed reforms through the lens of health policy.

Intensive judicial supervision and drug court outcomes: interim findings from a randomised controlled trial

19 December 2011There is strong evidence that intensively supervising drug court participants in the early phases reduces early-phase substance use and sanctioning rates.

Ageing

State Trustees Limited: management of represented persons

08 February 2012This audit found that State Trustees is not able to clearly demonstrate that it is fulfilling its obligations to represented persons.

Service costs in modern residential aged care facilities

31 January 2012This paper presents the results of a national study of the cost of delivering residential aged care services in modern and efficient facilities.

2010-11 report on the operation of the Aged Care Act 1997

23 January 2012Recent reviews of the Aged Care Act of 1997 have led to increases in government funding in particular, aged care facilites and the services they provide to indigenous communities.

Mental health

Care and support of male survivors of conflict-related sexual violence

02 February 2012Sexual violence against men and boys is a pervasive feature of armed conflicts. This paper provides commentary, recent data, and promising programming and therapeutic approaches in the care and support of male survivors.

Improving Indigenous community governance

02 February 2012Strengthening the organisational capacity of both Indigenous and government organisations is critical to raising the health, wellbeing and prosperity of Indigenous Australian communities.

The role of informal community resources in supporting independent housing for young people recovering from mental illness

30 January 2012This project looks at the housing issues facing young independant people with mental illness.

Commentary

The true origins of anti-paternalism

31 January 2012Opposition to government paternalism wasn't always a conservative or libertarian thing, writes Chris Berg in The Drum.

What's data got to do with it? Reassessing the NT intervention

25 January 2012Income management should be one of the easier programs to measure writes Eva Cox for The Conversation.

Cheers to health warning labels for alcoholic drinks

18 August 2011Warning labels are noticeably absent from alcoholic beverages in Australia, writes Robin Room in The Conversation.

Topic Guides

A guide to understanding and working with General Practice in NSW

20 May 2011Providing an outline of general practice, this resource considers its uniformity and diversity; its funding arrangements, service delivery, workforce, training, capacity and supporting structures.

Guideline on the application of the premises standards - 2011

  • Australian Human Rights Commission

04 April 2011This guide has been issued to help designers, architects, builders and clients to better understand the Disability (Access to Premises - buildings) Standards 2010  which will commence on 1 May 2011.

Arts for all: opening doors to people with a disability

15 February 2010This guide provides practical and long-term ways for artists and arts organisations to enhance their access, market their events to the disabled community and build new audiences.

Audio

A noble cause

Listen to audio
21 October 2011Producing new medicines to extend lives and reduce suffering is a noble cause. The marketing of those drugs is often ignoble, with the wining and dining of doctors and the use of specialists to spruik the company line.

Working together for a better health care system

Listen to audio
20 November 2009Research findings and government reports indicate Australia's primary health care workforce is facing significant challenges and is lagging behind in its use of teamwork approaches.

Health policy

Diabetes indicators in Australia

01 February 2012Diabetes has increased significantly among the Australian population over the past 20 years, however the rate of diabetes-related deaths is falling, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Healthy lifestyle programs for physical activity and nutrition

01 February 2012Over half (51%) of Indigenous people living in non-remote parts of Australia aged 15 and over do very little or no exercise, compared with 33% of non-Indigenous Australians (AIHW 2011a).

Health; Community services; Housing and homelessness

30 January 2012This report  provides an overview of the health sector, presenting both contextual information and high level performance information.

Video

Bess Nungarrayi Price on the NT Intervention

Listen to audio
15 February 2010Bess Nungarrayi Price, a Walpiri woman from Yuendemu in the N.T. discusses the issues facing her community and explains why she thinks policies such as enforced income management are needed and welcome.

Change the 'lock em up' mentality

Listen to audio
23 October 2009Ted Wilkes, Chair, National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee, speaks about alcohol use in Indigenous Communities and the links between self esteem, substance abuse and incarceration. The Australian Drug Foundation's conference Thinking Drinking 3 held in Brisbane in August 2009, looked at the role of alcohol in entertainment, violence and crime, the night-time economy, marketing, taxation, competition policy, alcogenic environments and more. 9.59 minutes

Disability

Work-related injuries in Australia: Who did and didn't receive workers' compensation in 2009-10

09 January 2012Analysing the results of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Work-related Injuries Survey, this report finds that of the 567 500 employees injured while working in 2009-10, only 38 per cent of them received workers' compensation.

Websites

AFRC Bibliography Collection

12 May 2011The Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse now provides real-time searches for bibliographies on a range of topics related to family, family relationships and issues that affect Australian families.

Index of Victorian Women’s Health and Wellbeing

08 September 2010An online gateway to evidence-based health and wellbeing data on Victorian women and girls across a wide variety of indicators relevant to a social model of health.

Croakey: the Crikey health blog

25 August 2009The Croakey blog is a forum for debate and discussion about health issues and policy.

Books

A Decent Provision: Australian Welfare Policy, 1870 to 1949

A Decent Provision: Australian Welfare Policy, 1870 to 1949

  • John Murphy
  • Ashgate
A Decent Provision is a narrative history of how and why Australia built a distinctive welfare regime in the period from the 1870s to 1949.
Leadership Beyond Good Intentions - What It Takes To Really Make A Difference

Leadership Beyond Good Intentions - What It Takes To Really Make A Difference

  • Geoff Aigner
  • Allen & Unwin
Good intentions are not enough. You want to change things in your organisation or in the world, but despite your best efforts you run into obstacles and resistance. The temptation is to see the challenges as lying outside ourselves. We grasp at a model or a tool, or we find other people slow to get the point or worse - obstructive. But the real challenge we face is often ourselves.

Topic Guides

A guide to understanding and working with General Practice in NSW

20 May 2011Providing an outline of general practice, this resource considers its uniformity and diversity; its funding arrangements, service delivery, workforce, training, capacity and supporting structures.