New Research

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).

Dental health behaviours among children 2002–2004

31 January 2012A study of almost 17,500 children from four Australian states (Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) conducted across 2002–2004 provided comprehensive information on the dental health behaviours of Australian children.

Can cultural differences affect access of families to health care?

30 December 2011Differences in culture can become apparent when families seek out or require access to health care in Australia.

Australian dietary guidelines: draft for public consultation

13 December 2011Drafts of the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating are now available for public comment.

An overview of global food losses and waste

An overview of global food losses and waste

25 November 2011According to this report, almost one-third of food produced for human consumption -approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year, which could feed the total global population of 7 billion - is either lost or wasted.

Obesity and injury in Australia: a review of the literature

07 November 2011Obesity and injury are major health burdens on society. This report presents summary information from an overview of the existing literature to investigate obesity–injury relationships. It also surveys opportunities to fill relevant gaps in knowledge in Australia.

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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

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.

Primary healthcare reform: learning from Philadelphia

10 June 2011Public health nurses at the 11th Street Family Health Services Center are committed to developing long-term relationships with the community, reports Melissa Sweet in Inside Story

"It’s much more fun in general practice..."

13 October 2010Talk about health policy reform often loses sight of the people in the system and their stories. For Inside Story, Melissa Sweet watches two GPs in action

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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

Peak fish: Rising human consumption of seafood, and its implications

Listen to audio
16 January 2012Fisheries scientists Dr Tim Dempster and Dr Reg Watson discuss the pressures on wild fish stocks and debate the role of aquaculture in feeding an increasingly populous world.

Wellbeing quantified

Listen to audio
08 November 2010There's a good news story which hasn't made the headlines: compared to 20 years ago, the world is a better place.

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).

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

Rosemary Stanton on ethical eating

Listen to audio
27 April 2009There once was a time when what to have for dinner was a simple choice, decided by cost and availability. But no longer. In a world with increasingly diminishing resources, eating is now complicated by a range of social, environmental and agricultural concerns.

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

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.

Better Health Channel

18 May 2009This site's aim is to provide free health and medical information in an easy to understand format and language.

Most viewed: This week

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The experience of education: The impacts of high stakes testing on school students and their families
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Juvenile detention population in Australia 2011
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Can nations measure well-being?
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Australian Policy Online top reports for Health 2011
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Gender indicators, Australia, Jan 2012

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.

Noticeboard

Lifestyles, consumption and environmental impact: National Household Consumption Survey
23 June 2009

The National Household Consumption Survey is open to all Australian residents until 30 June 2009.

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.

Topics

APO