Past Programs
Family and Children - 2007
Our defenceless children
10/12/2007
In a Federal election campaign strewn with slogans and catchphrases; 'economic prosperity' was probably the most repeated - but a report just published by the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare concludes that increases in our disposable income don't necessarily translate into greater security for the socially vulnerable. 'Australia's Welfare 2007'; is the eighth report card released by the AIHW in 15 years. Amongst the figures it quotes - a thirty-four percent increase in household disposable income in the ten years since 1995-96.
Despite this, the report finds that a considerable number of Australian children - and not just indigenous children - are still subject to violence and abuse. The number of Australian children on care and protection orders rose by almost a third between 2002 and 2006; and if this year's media coverage of the issue is any guide; things haven't improved.
So, are child protection authorities and systems to blame, or is it the values of the community at large that need to be questioned? Why does a country as prosperous as Australia seem to struggle to look after its vulnerable children?
Plastic surgery for under 18's
20/11/2007
The Queensland Government is circulating a discussion paper on whether it should become the first State to regulate - or possibly ban - non-essential cosmetic surgery for under 18s.
While some teenagers need transformative surgery; others are choosing to have surgery for non-medical reasons. Does media and peer pressure play a role in this and is counselling a better first step towards a healthy body image?
The future of rural healthcare
07/11/2007
The drought barely rated a mention in the Great Debate, and at this stage of the election campaign, rural health seems to rate fairly low on the agenda.
A new Rural Health Action Group -- an unusual alliance including the Farmers' Federation and the Rural Doctors Association -- is hoping to solve the problem of diminishing primary healthcare in the bush.
So, what works and what doesn't work for health services in the rural and regional Australia? Is it rating high enough on the election barometer? Do we need a national approach?
Memory - what's your experience?
26/10/2007
In giving evidence to the Diana inquest yesterday, two witnesses remembered that night in the tunnel in fundamentally different ways.
And - apparently - it's not unusual for many of us to remember an event in a more positive way than it actually happened.
So, the fragility of memory - how well do you perform in exams?
Adopting children of drug-addicted parents
19/09/2007
A federal parliamentary committee into the effect of illicit drug use on families is recommending zero tolerance for drugs, and that more children of drug-addicted parents should be adopted rather than fostered.
Is adoption in the best interests of the child and, how will the removal of children help their parents to clean up?
Will cancelling funding for 'harm minimisation' programs and replacing it with an ad campaign for 'zero tolerance' advance the war on drugs?
Suicide and the elderly
17/09/2007
While it's usually younger men who are seen to be at risk; new research released by Griffith University indicates that a growing number of Australian men aged 75 and over are committing suicide. What do the figures tell us about the distress of an ageing male population?
Child Abuse
23/08/2007
Child abuse - are we neglecting a national problem?
Reports of child abuse have doubled in the last five years and it's not just a problem in the Northern Territory.
How effective are the current child protection measures, and how do they complement the criminal justice systems? Do we need a national intervention?
Living positive
26/07/2007
What's it like for a successful, single, heterosexual American female to be HIV positive? We will introduce you to Regan Hofmann, editor-in-chief of Poz magazine in New York, who guarded her secret for 10 years before going public in 2006 amid considerable media attention.
And Bill Bowtell, from the Lowy Institute, will discuss how the Asia Pacific region is now the key battleground in the global war to bring the AIDS epidemic under control. What are the policies that need to be deployed to stop the global infection? We'll also look at the current 'coalface' of the epidemic in Australia, the Torres Strait, where the free-crossing agreement with PNG is placing considerable strain on community resources.
Government intervention in Indigenous communities
18/07/2007
An update on the federal government's response to the child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory ... with the Western Australian government also requesting help.
But is the need to upgrade the permit system and wanting to reclaim Aboriginal land a step too far?
Conditional welfare
09/07/2007
The net has widened for all Australian parents who don't send their children to school, or who waste their welfare benefits.
Under a new plan endorsed by Federal Cabinet last week, food stamps, a smart card, or swipe card could be the only way that many Australian families will be able to 'buy' food.
Who will judge whether parents deserve their full welfare payment? And if there's only one food store in town, will this breed an unfair monopoly?
Indigenous self determination and the federal intervention
25/06/2007
After an enormous week in indigenous affairs in Australia our first program of the week will ask what the federal government's intervention means for Aboriginal self-determination, a key indigenous aspiration. And we'll touch on another issue that hasn't gone away; aboriginal deaths in custody...
Bullying
16/05/2007
Today on the program we're looking at the Prime Minister's pledge to tie future state education funding with reforms; including the reporting and handling of violence and bullying.
It coincides with the million-dollar compensation payout to a victim of school bullying. Is better reporting going to help keep vulnerable children safe in our schools?
The Forgotten Children
10/05/2007
The betrayal of Australia's child migrants. We will discuss The Forgotten Children, a new book by David Hill, which looks at a long-suppressed scandal at the Fairbridge Farm School, a school to which poverty-stricken mothers in Britain sent their children, from the late 1930s, in the hope of a better life. Instead they went through an existence of sexual abuse, loneliness and virtual slavery. How institutional brutality was covered up with silence and what happens behind closed doors in some Australian institutions.
Crime in rural Australia
08/05/2007
Our national conversation today is about rural crime. Far from the myth of 'the bush' being an idyllic setting for harmonious family relationships, the gap between 'rural' and 'urban' is narrowing, and there's far more violent crime happening there than previously realised.
A new book Crime in Rural Australia shows that the incidence of violent crime is twice as high in the regions as metropolitan centres ... but only half of those crimes are actually reported.
And the term 'indigenous crime' is used as a cover for the silence around violent crimes within rural white families.
So, what are the community dynamics around the reporting of crime and violence in rural Australia?
A New Era In Homework
19/04/2007
On Australia Talks.... Are we looking at a new era in homework? The Australian Council of School organisations has called for a ban on homework for the early years of primary school arguing that there is no data to show that children benefit from doing homework. Can homework in the early years actually improve children's education or is it a waste of time? Are primary school children robbed off their childhood if they have to complete a little homework every day?
Child labour
20/02/2007
Did you know that 175,000 Australian children were employed in paid work last financial year? That's 7% of all children aged between 5 and 14. So are these kids being blatantly exploited? Or simply earning a bit of pocket money ... and learning about the value of work?
HIV/AIDS - Illusions and Truths Read Transcript
07/02/2007
Back in 1981 when AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency - was first declared a deadly communicable disease, Australia dealt with the problem head-on - through a public scare campaign, and an efficient needle exchange program - but in 2007 the numbers of people contracting HIV-AIDS are once again increasing.
So, how do we talk about high-risk behaviour and the culture around a disease that's ravaging new populations here and in the South Pacific?
