Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Australia’s children, especially those most vulnerable because of their circumstances, continues to be a contentious and elusive area of policy reform. This study aims to provide a national focus for reforms to the child protection and youth justice systems by examining the nature of recommendations from 61 reports and...

This report examines mothers’ take-up of Parental Leave Pay (PLP) and fathers’ take-up of Dad and Partner Pay (DAPP), two government payments designed to support eligible working mothers and fathers to take time off work to care for newborn or newly adopted children.

This report explores sharing child care within opposite-sex couple families using the 4 Families in Australia Surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021. A key aim of this work was to find out how diverse the arrangements of parents are when it comes to sharing child care between partnered parents.

The Better Access initiative provides Medicare rebates to eligible people (those with a diagnosed mental disorder) so that they can access the formal mental health support services they need. This research summary outlines the evidence base on the effectiveness of the Better Access policy in addressing mental ill-health among Australian men before, during and after...

Although alcohol use is high among Australian males, putting them at an increased risk of drinking harm, few longitudinal studies have specifically focused on male alcohol use, and even fewer have considered alcohol use patterns and predictors for men of various ages. This research summary provides new evidence of the patterns and predictors of alcohol...