In the May 2005 budget the federal government announced a range of proposed welfare to work measures, including significant changes which would significatly reduce weekly incomes and sharply increase effective marginal tax rates for sole parents and people with disabilities. In this report Ann Harding, Quoc Ngu Vu and Richard Percival canvass options for reducing...

Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are demanding education that will lead to productive employment opportunities with mainstream earnings, decent health outcomes, decent housing and the same security that other Australians enjoy. Helen Hughes argues that reforming separatist policies that have resulted in Indigenous deprivation is essential if Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are...

There has been escalating media coverage of the view that Indigenous economic disadvantage and housing and infrastructure shortages are linked to communal title to land resulting from land rights and native title. Jon Altman, Craig Linkhorn and Jennifer Clarke challenge the view that privatising or individuating this land might generate better economic and social outcomes...

On 14-16 September 2005, more than 170 heads of state and government will gather at the United Nations in New York for the 2005 World Summit. Leaders will review progress made since the UN Millennium Declaration adopted by all member states in 2000.

The federal government plans to repeal the Workplace Relations Act either in part or in full, replacing key sections with either new or minimal prescriptions, possibly introducing ancillary legislation to the Act. This chronology, prepared by Stephen O'Neill, Indra Kuruppu and Barbara Harris, provides key dates and links to key documents since the federal election...