OECD Development Co-operation Peer Review: Australia 2013

Image source: OECD

On 6 May 2013, the Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the OECD Development Co-operation Peer Review: Australia 2013. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD carries out peer reviews of member countries’ aid programs approximately every four years. Australia’s last review was undertaken in 2008.

The current Review notes that since the 2008 Review, ‘AusAID has gone through the biggest change in its history’ which represents an ‘unprecedented reform of Australian development co-operation’ (p.13). The Review points out that 80 per cent (16 recommendations) of the 2008 Review has been implemented and 20 per cent (4 recommendations) partially implemented (pp. 9; 107–111).

Food Allergy Week 2013

Image source: US National Library of Medicine

This week (13–19 May 2013) is national Food Allergy Week, organised by Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA), a non-profit allergy advocacy and support group now in its 20th year. Reflecting what is sometimes referred to as the ‘allergy epidemic’, Australia has one of the highest reported rates of food allergy in the world. Current research suggests that one in ten 12 month old infants in Australia has a food allergy, and according to A&AA, ‘life threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) in children aged under five years old have increased five-fold over the last 10 years in Australia’. There are nine foods known to be responsible for 90% of food allergic reactions, with allergies in childhood to cow’s milk, egg, peanut, and tree nuts being the most common.

Paid Parental Leave: Robin Hood or piggy bank?

Image source: fahcsia.gov.au

While there are numerous differences between the Labor and Coalition policies on parental leave pay, the most controversial is the rate of payment. While the current Government scheme is paid at the National Minimum Wage ($606.50 per week), the Coalition proposal is for parents to be paid at their full salary capped at an income level of $150,000.

The difference between the two approaches highlights the complicated relationship present in both schemes between the idea of Parental Leave Pay as a workplace entitlement and a payment made through the social security system.

Surviving the first day of life

Image source:
 Wikimedia Commons

Every year three million babies die within the first month of life, with one million dying on the day they are born.

Most babies die from preventable causes such as infections. 

Every day, 800 women die during pregnancy or childbirth.

These statistics, released this week, are published in the 14th annual State of the World’s Mothers report by the organisation Save the Children. This FlagPost will show that the new born baby is still the most vulnerable and at risk of dying in both the developing and industrialised nations.

Asylum seekers and refugees—how will they be affected by this year’s Budget?

It is expected that there will be several items in this year’s Budget directly affecting asylum seekers and refugees, some of which will require significant increases in expenditure. In particular, funding associated with the cost of intercepting and detaining irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) is likely to increase significantly.

However, other recent Government announcements affecting asylum seekers and refugees will also require additional funding—most notably the Government’s decision to increase the number of places available under the Humanitarian Program and the decision to increase the family reunion stream of the Migration Program by 4000 places for humanitarian entrants (and remove access to family reunion under the Humanitarian Program for IMAs). This FlagPost provides background on the changes to the Migration and Humanitarian programs that will have flow on effects for asylum seekers and refugees, both offshore and onshore.

Can means testing of welfare really save the budget?

Image: Robin shoots with Sir Guy (Louis Rhead, 1912),
 Wikimedia Commons

One suggestion for addressing Australia's budget deficit has been to make cuts to 'middle class welfare'are'—that is, welfare payments made to households other than those with low incomes.

The problem with such suggestions is that they are frequently light on details about precisely which welfare payments are the source of the 'problem' and what 'middle class' means. Nor do they tend to address the unintended consequences of making changes to eligibility for payments though tightening of means tests.

Raoul Wallenberg (4 August 1912–17 July 1947 (?))—Australia’s first posthumous Honorary Citizen

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

On 6 May 2013 the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, will bestow Australia’s first posthumous Honorary Citizenship award to a former Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. In a covert diplomatic operation involving hundreds of people, Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jewish people from the Nazi concentration camps in occupied Hungary during the Second World War by issuing them with a Swedish Government protective travel document known as ‘the Schutzpass’. Wallenberg was detained by Soviet authorities on 17 January 1945 and was reported to have died while in prison on 17 July 1947. He has already been granted posthumous honorary citizenship by the United States (1981), Canada (1985), Israel (1986), and Hungary (2003).

A short history of increases to the Medicare levy

The Government is proposing to introduce legislation during budget week to raise the Medicare levy by 0.5% in order to help fund DisabilityCare, the name of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme. This recent Flagpost outlined some of the reasons for securing funding for the scheme. The Medicare levy has been increased a number of times, and there have also been occasions where an increase has been proposed in order to fund other proposals.

Health spending: patients bearing higher costs



Recent reports have highlighted the growing cost of health services and the increasing financial burden on individuals. According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australia spent more than $130 billion on health in 2010–11, or around 9.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Around 70% of this was spending by Government—the Commonwealth and the states and territories combined, through programs such as Medicare, public hospital services and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). But a significant and growing component of health expenditure comes from individuals.

Paying for the NDIS: what about a levy?

Image source: Australian Government

There is increasing speculation that the Gillard Government is considering introducing a levy to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The question of how the NDIS would be financed was one of the key issues examined by the Productivity Commission (PC) in its inquiry which lead the Government to introduce the scheme.

This post outlines the importance of the financing issue and what the Productivity Commission recommended as a model for funding the NDIS. It highlights some of the key questions relating to the design of a levy for the NDIS.

Where in the world is doping a crime? (doping in sports pt. 6)

In the previous FlagPost in this series we examined actions related to doping in sport that can also be prosecuted as crimes in Australia. Do other countries criminalise doping in sport, or is Australia unique in having criminal offences that apply to conduct associated with Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs)?

Is doping in sport a crime? (doping in sports pt. 5)

The previous FlagPost in this series explored the dual use of evidence in both sports tribunals and criminal proceedings.

Whilst it is commonly understood that doping is prohibited in sport, is it also a criminal offence?