Since the earliest days of white settlement, Australia has benefited extensively from foreign investment, often helping to sustain vigorous growth rates and an enviable standard of living. But foreign investment in assets perceived to be of significant national strategic, economic, social or cultural value still raises substantial public concern. Jeffrey Robertson looks at the issues...

The ageing of Australia's population has been particularly apparent since the 1960s and is attributed to falling mortality and fertility rates combined with the effect of a baby boom generation as it moves into the older age brackets. For similar reasons the workforce has also been ageing, but over the past two decades at a...

During the period 1949 to 2004, there have been 23 general elections for the House of Representatives and 22 Senate elections. Gerard Newman provides a summary of each election, together with tables summarising the results in each state and territory. A brief commentary on each election is also provided.

Much of the recent debate on abortion in Australia has focused on the question of how many abortions take place in Australia each year. Angela Pratt, Amanda Biggs and Luke Buckmaster discuss the existing statistics on abortion in Australia, their limitations for accurately quantifying how many abortions take place each year, and some options for...

This research brief, updated for the 2004-05 financial year, and now including additional material on co-contributions, self managed superannuation funds and the social security assessment of superannuation, is designed to provide readers with a 'ready reckoner' - a simple, easy to use summary of superannuation taxation and preservation rules.