This e-Brief reviews the development of paid and unpaid maternity leave, the various international instruments concerning maternity leave and canvasses some of the arguments for and against such leave.

This e-Brief provides an overview of child abuse and some of the measures aimed at reducing its incidence in Australia. Various data on child abuse is included, as well as a broad summary of its consequences. The roles of both the Commonwealth and the states/territories in child abuse prevention are outlined and some links to...

This e-Brief covers many of the developments that have occurred since the Kyoto meeting to the near finalisation of all outstanding issues at the COP7 meeting at Marrakesh in late 2001. It now appears that the required threshold number of countries willing to ratify the Protocol to allow it to come into effect has been...

In the Australian political party system Members of Parliament are sometimes given the opportunity to exercise a "conscience vote" on moral and social issues such as abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment. \The decision of the major parties to allow members a free vote on the Research Involving Embryos and Prohibition of Cloning Bill 2002 has...

The latest developments in advanced economies, like Australia, have seen the emergence of a phenomenon variously referred to as the "new economy", "knowledge economy" or "information economy". The ABS data indicate that in Australia's case this is most evident in those industries that utilise high technology products rather than produce them. This conclusion seems to...