Money is, as Bernard Lietaer describes it: the ‘iron ring’ we have put through our own noses which now drags us around. We’ve forgotten that we designed the ring in the first place, and that it is within our capacity to reshape it. What Lietaer is telling us is that […]

Recently voted the world’s most liveable city, Melbourne is known for its food, festivals and football. Poverty is not a theme often attributed to Australia’s second largest city. However as the city rapidly expands – three of the country’s fastest growing postcodes are in Melbourne’s north – not everyone is […]

In our fragmented world, one important question that needs to be asked is whether economic imperatives can force nations to overcome their political differences and act in unison to tackle the pressing global challenges of today, such as human rights and climate change? Such goals may seem unrealistic or unachievable […]

Australians’ out-of-pocket healthcare expenses are the fifth highest in the world and amount to twice the sum paid by those in the United Kingdom and France. Almost two decades ago, the Australian government established Medicare, a publicly funded universal health care system, to provide Australians with equitable and affordable medical care, […]

Despite popular opinion that Australia has been immune to the worst of the global financial crisis, it’s the stories you don’t hear about, that tell us the woes Australia’s economy is traversing. Both federal and state governments have implemented a variety of austerity policies in an effort to “bring the budget […]