In a tough political and budget year with several major initiatives to be funded - most notably the Gonski education reforms and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, now known as DisabilityCare Australia - the health and ageing section of the 2013-14 Budget has fared reasonably well. Overall the Budget contained $43 billion in savings over...

This paper presents the author’s analysis of the Indigenous provisions in the Australian Government’s 2013-14 Budget in the context of current and past strategies, policies, programs and funding support. It also looks at the implementation and impact of the Commonwealth’s Indigenous Chronic Disease Package. This work has been done using only materials and data that...

In December 2011, the Expert Panel on the Constitutional Recognition of Local Government recommended that a referendum be held to amend s 96 of the Commonwealth Constitution to allow the Commonwealth Parliament to make grants of financial assistance to ‘any local government body formed by State or Territory Legislation on such terms and conditions as...

'Researching the researchers' reports on a study of policy research activities in the non-government human services sector. Undertaken in 2010, the study identified over 50 human service NGOs across Australia that had policy research units or policy research positions.

As the evidence mounts that efforts to ‘close the gap’ on Indigenous disadvantage are faltering, and with the recognition that much more is needed to address the health care needs across all Indigenous communities, we are confronted with a situation where a key mechanism for uncovering and addressing health problems is ineffectual. Health assessment or...