This study examines the socioeconomic status of NSW hospital patients in 1999-2000 and projects likely hospital costs to 2009-10. It draws upon unique patient based datasets from NSW public and private hospitals that include hospital admissions, as well as the associated treatment costs in each of the four years to 1999-2000.

Sean McNelis and Tania Herbert investigate the current status of Independent Living Units, which operate outside current housing and aged care regulatory frameworks, to ascertain how well they are meeting the needs of older people and the issues surrounding the ageing of this form.

Do grown up children have obligations to their parents? Do the younger members of a society have obligations to their elders? Most people think that the question in both cases is answered by an appeal to the benefits which those now old conferred on the young. Janna Thompson argues that the duties of the young...

Australia's population is ageing. While the population has increased more than fourfold since the beginning of the 20th century, fertility and mortality rates have undergone significant changes, and overseas migration has fluctuated substantially. Ageing Yet Diverse: The Changing Shape of Australia's Population focuses on the changing demographic face of Australia, its age structure, sex ratio...

THE Intergenerational Report, released in the 2002-03 Federal Budget, is another sleight of hand. It claims to be about ageing and a blow out in health costs. But a closer look reveals that it identifies only a blow out in pharmaceutical costs. Moreover, the report itself reiterates the views that moderate and respected commentators have...