Social capital is a contentious and multifaceted topic. A broad consensus has been reached, however, that norms such as trust, networks of association membership, and practices of volunteering and socialising are essential to its makeup. It is also increasingly recognised that such elements fall into two distinct types of social capital - bonding and bridging...

Although working parents are obliged to use non-parental childcare, this does not reduce their parental childcare time on an hour-for-hour basis. How do parents continue to be engaged in direct care of their own children while also committing significant time to the labour market activities? Using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use...

Peter Siminski and Peter Saunders present regional comparisons of income both before and after housing costs, derived from the latest (1998-99) Household Expenditure Survey and from the 2001 Census. Both sources indicate that while the percentage of people in low-income households is lower in major urban locations than in the rest of Australia, these differences...

The NSW Youth Drug Court (YDC) pilot program is aimed at reducing offending and drug use amongst young people who have become entrenched in the criminal justice system. Many participants have a range of other difficulties including poor educational achievement, dysfunctional family backgrounds and psychological problems. The YDC attempts to address this wide range of...

Underlying the emphasis in current policy on providing services in the early years of life is the recognition that these years set the base for competence and coping skills that affect learning, behaviour and health outcomes throughout life. The Early Learning Project aimed to increase formal early learning opportunities for children 0-5 years in the...