Local Futures
December 22, 2013
Australia has a long way to go before consumers pay fair prices for pharmaceuticals report Stephen Duckett and Peter Breadon of the Grattan Institute. Their report Poor Pricing Progress states that price disclosure isn’t the answer to high drug prices. […]
December 22, 2013
Ten years ago Nan Bray was Chief of CSIRO’s Marine Research Division in Hobart. She has since branched out’ into superfine wool, running 1600 Saxon Merinos in Tassy’s Southern Midlands. Her particular – radical? – method of wool production has […]
December 17, 2013
Gough Whitlam’s valedictory point in ‘The Whitlam Legacy’ has stayed with me. His advice is: “Never forget the primacy of parliament as the great forum for developing, presenting and explaining policy. If we develop, define and defend our policies thoroughly […]
December 1, 2013
Amid all the ‘Gonski noise’ about funding, Kevin Donnelly, director of the Melbourne-based Education Standards Institute, writes about the education process saying we need: Greater Autonomy, Flexibility In Schools’ Decision-Making Needed “Students perform better in schools that have autonomy in […]
December 1, 2013
Hospital procedures can be very scary – especially for children. The Hush Music Foundation, the ongoing work of mother of five, Dr Catherine Crock, is about to launch Hush volume 13 – The Magic Island in conjunction with the Tasmanian […]
November 26, 2013
Alan Greig, a Director of Social Business Australia, has advised PWF on co-ops and mutuals for years now, this social business model of collective self-help being one pathway to social impact. The West Belconnen Health Cooperative started in 2010 and […]
November 12, 2013
The Sharehood, Melbourne – 2806 people with 3208 shareables – is merging with Streetbank. Positive feedback on the idea seems like a win-win situation, so the merger should take place later this year or very early next year. The Sharehood […]
September 30, 2013
After having lived in Gippsland for 10 years and knowing the small timber town of Heyfield quite well, I was delighted to hear about its remarkable community-based environmental flag system that heaps in the community embraced – young and old! […]
September 29, 2013
I hear Mission Australia is having a near 100% success rate in a new program tackling homelessness. Apparently, horrifically, 50% of our homeless are young people. Australia is a late-adopter of ‘Youth foyers‘ but we are seeing success with these. […]
September 29, 2013
This week’s Koori Times front page is reporting ‘Scullion’s Pledge, saying despite initial appearances to the contrary, new federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion is keen to hear from community members. He says: “What’s important is that we listen to […]
September 29, 2013
A few days ago I came across three young women touching up an enormous banner in an inner Melbourne park. It was a sign to be photographed from the air in the Toolangi State Forest, northeast of Melbourne, home to […]
September 21, 2013
Just in case you missed it, the ABC’s 7.30 Report (Victoria) gives an excellent rundown on newly-elected Federal MP Cathy McGowan’s remarkable mobilisation of community effort across all political persuasions in Indi. Note the age of the campaign managers – […]