health
health
law & crime July 7, 2018
The long fight for safe injecting rooms
Last Saturday, the second medically supervised injecting centre (MSIC) in Australia opened its doors in Melbourne’s North Richmond. It was a long time coming. Nearly two decades ago, I met with a group of nurses, doctors, drug users and their...
health June 30, 2018
Back in the day, before the National Disability Insurance Scheme arrived in our area, my son was supported by the community mental health system – a network of services focused on keeping people out of the acute hospital system. There was always...
religion March 31, 2018
There was an awful fascination to watching the Australian cricket captain destroy himself on the television news. It was almost as grisly as those shots of the Mad Monk kissing Hanson at her “book” launch on Tuesday, although for different reasons...
law & crime April 7, 2018
When Stormy Daniels sat down with American 60 Minutes ’ Anderson Cooper to discuss her alleged affair with Donald Trump, a compelling dynamic emerged. Daniels shared near-satirical details of the encounter, such as spanking the future president with...
law & crime November 25, 2017
The state and the right to die
Wednesday was a momentous day for Victoria. It was a momentous day for Australia. November 22, 2017, will be remembered as the day the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill passed through the Legislative Council. It will return to the Legislative Assembly...
religion September 23, 2017
Correcting the debate on gender identity
Two weeks in, I find myself punch-drunk and utterly perplexed. As a transgender advocate who has spent more than 25 years working to expand the legal and cultural recognition of universal human rights and to demystify gender diversity more generally...
health August 12, 2017
Responding to Martin Place’s tent city
If it weren’t so serious, you might call it irony. As it stands, it’s a grim symbol of how we treat our most vulnerable. This week is national Homelessness Week – a time to raise awareness of people experiencing homelessness and the issues they face...
health June 17, 2017
The religious lobby against assisted dying
For those who like to watch reruns of old dramas, there’s one happening right now in Victoria. It’s playing out in real time and it has a depressingly familiar storyline: how the Christian political lobby, which represents a small minority of the...
education May 27, 2017
Labor pushes on with budget reply
On Monday, the first day back for parliament since budget week, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce almost blew a gasket attacking Labor’s Bill Shorten. The opposition leader’s days were numbered, Joyce fulminated, because Anthony Albanese was going...
health December 10, 2016
Anti-euthanasia laws hurt families
“She’s in a lot of pain.” Kay – all the names in this piece have been changed – looked at her 93-year-old grandmother who had been unconscious in her bed for what seemed like days. The old lady looked like a wizened five-year-...
environment June 4, 2016
Parties adjust rhetoric after Turnbull-Shorten TV debate
For the most unwatched leaders’ debate in the 32-year history of the ritual, last Sunday’s joust caused a huge rethink of the Liberals’ campaign. Though most of the paid commentariat thought it was either a narrow Turnbull win...
