Mifepristone (RU 486) registered for use in Australia

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the regulator of medicines and therapeutic devices in Australia, has announced that from 29 August 2012 the abortifacient mifepristone (RU 486) will be listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). Misoprostol, a drug that can be used in conjunction with mifepristone but already available in Australia, has also been approved for use in medical abortion. Medical abortion is a method of pregnancy termination that involves the administration of a drug or drugs to induce an abortion, and is distinct from surgical abortion.

UK People Trafficking Assessment Published

The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) has published its first public intelligence assessment of people trafficking in the UK, A Baseline Assessment on the Nature and Scale of Human Trafficking in 2011. This is the first time that government authorities have attempted to describe the nature and scale of people trafficking in the UK. 

New dental package announced—but it’s not Denticare

Image source: NT Health

Today the Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced a new dental package worth $4 billion over six years. The government will provide Medicare funded dental services to children and an expanded public dental service for low income adults and those in rural and regional areas, as well as an additional investment in dental infrastructure and workforce.

From January 2014, children aged 2 to 17 will be entitled to up to $1000 for ‘basic’ dental work over a 2 year period from a dentist of their choice on presentation of their Medicare card. Services funded will reportedly include a dental check-up, scale and clean, fissure sealants, and basic restorative work including fillings, but not more complex work such as orthodontics or crowns. The government estimates some 3.4 million children will be eligible.

Who is on Newstart?

Image source: British Library

Given the current Senate Committee inquiry into the adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others it is perhaps worth considering what sort of people are reliant on these payments? Recent data released by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs enables us to explore the characteristics of those receiving these allowances as at June 2011.

Opposition Leaders suspended from the House of Representatives

On 20 August 2012 Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, was ejected from the House of Representatives. Since Federation no Prime Minister has been suspended or ejected from the House, but Mr Abbott became the fourth Leader of the Opposition to be ordered from the chamber. Three other Opposition leaders have been ordered from the House but their suspensions did not proceed.

Community cabinets in Australia

Image source: DPMC

A new Background Note examines the background, context, approach and activities of community cabinets in Australia. Community cabinets are part of a broader sweep of community engagement initiatives that have been introduced by Australian governments since the 1990s, principally as a means of addressing declining community trust in governments and opening up the policymaking process to greater scrutiny.

More funding for all schools—an update on Gonski

Image source: Victorian Government

The Government’s previous commitment that no school would lose a dollar in funding per student has been extended. The Prime Minister and the Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, have announced that all schools will receive increased funding under the Government’s new plans for school funding. Peter Garrett has also confirmed that funding will be increased in real terms.

This newly announced commitment follows the release on the News Limited website of a list of 3254 schools (about one-third of all schools) that would lose funding. State governments and non-government education authorities used data provided by the Australian Government for their modelling to calculate funding for individual schools under the Gonski proposals. According to the list, the significant majority of schools (72 per cent) that would lose funding are government schools, and the list includes schools in rural areas and special schools. The 2010 funding data referred to in the list is total government recurrent funding (federal and state and territory) as published on the My School website.

Time for a change? Access to support and visas for trafficking victims

Image source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Slavery, Slavery-like Conditions and People Trafficking) Bill 2012 (Trafficking Bill) will update Australia’s offence regime to criminalise a broader range of exploitative conduct, including by introducing new offences of forced labour, forced marriage and harbouring a victim.  While these are welcome changes, there is a strong call from stakeholders to improve other aspects of Australia’s anti-people trafficking framework, including the support available to victims and their access to visas.

Parliamentary remuneration

Recent legislative changes have given the Remuneration Tribunal the power to determine MPs’ base salary and removed the Parliament’s power to disallow these determinations. Further information on parliamentary salaries and entitlements is available in the Parliamentary Library publications, The basic salary of senators and members Parliamentary remuneration and entitlements and Superannuation benefits for senators and members elected before 2004.

Children in immigration detention



Image source: A last resort? National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention


As part of the Government’s response to the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, it would appear that children will again be held in processing centres on Nauru. This policy has been subject to sustained criticisms by refugee advocates, human rights groups and government backbenchers. The debate in the Parliament last week reflected this, with many voicing opposition and deep disquiet to the return of such an approach. While not much is known about the arrangements and conditions specifically for children on Nauru in the past, this Flag Post provides a brief history of the effects on children in detention in the Australian context and a summary of some of the key research papers about the impact on children in detention.

Expert panel member provides insight into Asian Century White Paper

Image source: Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet

Emeritus Professor Peter Drysdale, a member of the advisory panel helping put together the Government’s much anticipated White Paper on ‘Australia in the Asian Century’, delivered a presentation on the White Paper at the Parliamentary Library on 16 August.  A full recording of Professor Drysdale’s lecture can be found here.

Professor Drysdale reinforced the enormous speed and scale of change in Asia, the major role (even on conservative estimates) that Asia would continue to play in the global economy, and its fundamental importance in shaping Australia’s future growth trajectory in the decades to come.

Trading aviation emissions – Part 3: Australia outlines its position

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The Government yesterday announced solidarity with a number of other countries opposing the EU’s move to include international aviation in its emission trading scheme. The motion was originally put forward by Nationals Leader Warren Truss who has been active in raising awareness on the issue. The Government supported Mr Truss’ motion. Two previous FlagPosts (this one and this one) outline why the EU's decision has been controversial and what reactions there have been. This FlagPost summarises Australia’s position and provides an update on international actions.

Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers and regional processing: legislation before the Senate

Image source: Australia Awards

The Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers released its Report on Monday 13 August 2012. On 14 August 2012, in response to the panel’s recommendation to reintroduce processing on Nauru and Manus Island, the Government resumed debate on the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011, which had been introduced in the House of Representatives on 21 September 2011.

Despite the GFC, income support reliance remains low

Image source: Western Australian Department of Health

The Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee is currently holding two separate but related enquiries, one into the adequacy of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, and the other into legislation to remove the ‘grandfathering’ transitional arrangements for parenting payment recipients (among other changes).

In this context, it is timely to look at the impact of previous changes to the welfare system and consider what proportion of the working age population is affected by issues being considered by the Committee.

Australia and the Arab-Israeli conflict: from ‘choosing the least of a number of evils’ to ‘strong backers of a two-state solution’

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Since the early days of Israel’s creation, the Australian Government’s position on the Arab-Israeli conflict has been of much public and political interest. The Parliamentary Library has just published two comprehensive Background Notes, Australia and the Middle East conflict: a history of key Government statements (1947–2007) and The Rudd and Gillard Governments and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: November 2007–May 2012, which outline the evolution of Australia’s position on the dispute and proposed solutions by exploring public statements made by each Australian Government over the past 65 years.

Breaking the deadlock? The Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers

Image source: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet

On 28 June 2012 the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced that the Government would establish an expert advisory panel to consider options for “the best way forward for our nation in dealing with asylum seeker issues”. This followed months of political deadlock over how to best manage the issue of increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat, following the High Court’s rejection of the Government’s planned transfer arrangement with Malaysia in August 2011.

In February 2012 independent Member Rob Oakeshott introduced a Bill aimed at breaking the deadlock, which was supported by the Government. The Bill passed through the House of Representatives on 27 June 2012 but was defeated in the Senate the following day, with neither the Opposition nor the Greens prepared to support it, albeit for very different reasons. With few options left available to it, the Government announced the creation of a panel to provide expert advice on the best way forward.

Managing the performance of the health care system

Image source: Health Statistics New South Wales

Performance of the health care system was put on the national agenda in 2010 when the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd outlined his vision for the National Health and Hospital Network (NHHN). One of the features of the NHHN was improved reporting and performance standards. The precursor to this were the objectives, outcomes, progress measures and outputs that were agreed by the Council of Australian governments (COAG) in 2008 as part of the National Healthcare Agreement (NHA). Although aspects of the NHHN were re-negotiated, the commitment to improved transparency and accountability remained.

Socioeconomic dimensions of pokie machine losses

Image source:

Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation

A recent Age article has highlighted the disproportionate financial losses incurred from pokie machine gambling in low income areas of Victoria, when compared to higher income areas. Using statistics from the Victorian regulator the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR), Craig Butt compared net weekly expenditure per adult (ie player losses) on pokies across local government areas (LGAs), with the average weekly income of those LGAs based on census data provided to the Age.

Melbourne by-election results for the Greens

Collins Street, Melbourne CBD
Image source: Wikimedia Commons

A by-election was conducted for the Victorian state electorate of Melbourne on Saturday 21 July 2012. Vote-counting and rechecking has now been completed, with the ALP emerging as the winning party with 51.51 per cent of votes after distribution of preferences. 

Australia’s current debt position – update July 2012

In recent times a lot has been spoken about Australia’s debt level. This was no more evident than in the lead up to the last Federal election where it seemed to dominate debate. This article updates the data published in an earlier FlagPost titled Australia’s current debt position. I therefore intend in this article to report the latest available data on Australia’s level of debt for both the public and private sectors in gross and net terms. For more information on gross and net debt the reader is referred to the earlier FlagPost.