As Q and A wrapped up on Monday night, one particularly poignant tweet caught my eye. “Just tells you how much we don’t matter.” It was one of a series of tweets from a Wiradjuri woman, Kath Grant, who lives in Sydney (you can see them at the bottom of this post). She was disappointed [...]
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Some important questions about health policy and the federal election (aka your #qanda cheat sheet)
Health policy is up for debate this week thanks to ABC TV’s Q and A program, featuring Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Opposition’s health spokesman Peter Dutton. You can pose a question online and see some of the other questions that have already been lodged, including: Large corporate organisations have become major players in [...]
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What are the critical health issues for rural and remote communities? A wide-ranging preview of the 12th National Rural Health Conference
The 12th National Rural Health Conference kicks off in Adelaide this Sunday. As previously reported, experienced rural health journalist Marge Overs will report from the conference for Croakey readers, and you can also follow her reports on Twitter – @movers5 (and check the #ruralhealthconf stream). As a preview, Marge conducted the Q and A below with [...]
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Profiling My QuitBuddy: an interactive app for those who want to stop smoking
The Australian National Preventive Health Agency (aka Promoting a Healthy Australia) is responsible for delivering the Commonwealth Government’s National Tobacco Campaign. In the article below, the Agency’s CEO, Louise Sylvan, describes how a personalised, interactive app, My QuitBuddy, is helping people who are trying to quit smoking. *** “Darling, we are totally proud of you”…and [...]
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Roxon’s public health legacy is plain
She may not have been the highest profile or most media-friendly health minister of recent times, but Mike Daube, former Deputy Chair of the Preventative Health Taskforce and Chair of the Tobacco Expert Committee, reminds us why Nicola Roxon may have left behind the greatest legacy…… All Ministerial portfolios are tough, but some are tougher [...]
READ MOREWhy Australia needs a junk food ad ban
Ex-Greens MLA in the ACT, Amanda Bresnan outlines why Australia is overdue for a junk food ad ban and what it will take to achieve this…. Banning junk food advertising on television to children is a much discussed and debated topic. It was even the subject of a Hollowmen episode, where an incoming government signals that [...]
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How Australia can learn from the Thai approach to better health
If Australia really wants to get serious about making health part of all policies, then we could look to the example that has been set in Thailand. That was one of the messages delivered to a recent national primary health care conference in Adelaide by Dr Rhonda Galbally, Deputy Chair of the National Disability Insurance Scheme [...]
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Why not a minimum price on alcohol in Australia?
In the first of a new regular column for Croakey, Louise Sylvan, CEO of Promoting a Healthy Australia (the Australian National Preventive Health Agency), makes the case against setting a floor price for alcohol. Around the world, as the harm from alcohol creates growing concerns for citizens, governments are looking to see what strategies can [...]
READ MOREWhat the Government didn’t mention: cuts to public health spending
Public health spending has taken a nasty hit in the Federal Government’s Mid‑Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), according to the analysis below by Dr Lesley Russell, Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute at the ANU. *** The stealthy cuts to public health spending Lesley Russell writes: The old adage [...]
READ MOREWhat is the Australian National Preventive Health Agency doing with social media and social marketing?
In a recent Croakey post, I took a minor swipe at the Australian National Preventive Health Agency for its apparent lack of digital engagement. The Agency has since been in touch to outline a number of its social media initiatives – as described in the article towards the bottom of this post. I responded that [...]
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