'Hard-headed but not hard-hearted' is how Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston describes the 22 recommendations he and his expert panel handed down this week for asylum seeker policy in Australia. The recommendations included increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake by up to 14,000 people over the next five years, processing asylum seekers at off-shore facilities on Nauru...

Just over 12 months ago the alcohol industry initiated Drinkwise with the aim of providing consumers with information about health risks and alcohol. But a report just released from the Ipsos Social Research Institute found that only a small percentage of the alcohol products sampled carried any Drinkwise messages. So is Drinkwise failing to deliver...

For parents a pretty constant dilemma is how much time should the kids spend looking at a screen? How much is too much screen time? And what about the pre-schoolers -- is it OK for a four-year-old to play interactive games on a smart phone or iPad? Could a small person’s brain be harmed or...

It's a word that is used quite liberally: community gardens, community hall, community fundraiser, and maybe a community protest. But what does it mean, what defines a community? Is it about sharing a suburb, a culture, or a language -- can it be more than these obvious and defined shared elements? So, how is our...

There's a skill shortage in trades and as the baby boomers retire it's set to become more acute. RMIT University academic Alan Montague believes students need better careers counselling to think beyond the current focus on a university degree so they see trade training as a positive alternative. Listen in full