This monograph argues that the rising size, cost, and complexity of the out-of-home care system in Australia is directly linked to child protection failures. Children are entering care later and more damaged, and are spending longer in care due to the misguided emphasis placed on family preservation by child welfare agencies.

Reestablishing local hospital boards is wrongly described as a quick fix for the problems in the Australian public hospital system. The trilogy of essays in this collection describes the negative impact the bureaucratisation of the system has had on staff and patients in the last 30 years. The authors argue that unless accountable pro bono...

Instead of centrally planning the future of Australian health care as recommended by the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission, the federal government should establish a national health voucher system and let choice, competition, and patient need determine the right supply of health services required in an ageing Australia. The final report of the National...

The three-hundred page reform ‘blue print’ from the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission has endorsed a range of health reform measures that will not solve the hospital crisis in this country, argues Jeremy Sammut. Executive Summary Beside the perennial and serious problem of ever-lengthening waiting lists for elective surgery, major public hospitals are unable...

It is not underfunding or an overwhelming workload that has caused child protection services to fail the vulnerable children they exist to protect, it is the failure to investigate reports and remove children in danger, argues this report.