Editor's note
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Journalism in Australia has never seemed so vulnerable. The US tech giants Google and Facebook have quickly established market dominance, and, as a Senate inquiry heard this week, the implications of these rapid changes in the media landscape for local public interest journalism are stark.
But, as Ben Eltham writes, there are solutions to help tackle this current malaise. We could and should, for instance, impose local content levies on Facebook and Google to help fund public interest journalism. Doing so would take Australia toward a more European model of media regulation and subsidy, in which the state plays a prominent role.
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Suzy Freeman-Greene
Arts and Culture Editor
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Arts + Culture
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Staff from The Age protest Fairfax Media cuts in May.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Ben Eltham, Monash University
Imposing local content levies on Facebook and Google to help fund public interest journalism would take Australia towards a more European model of media regulation.
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Sarah and Olive Kanake read one of the new breed of girl-power picture books.
Miriam Ackroyd from Life is Beautiful Photography
Sarah Kanake, University of the Sunshine Coast
The lack of strong female characters in children's picture books is oft-lamented. But a new crop of books invites girls to write themselves into history.
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FactCheck
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The AiGroup’s Innes Willox, speaking on Q&A.
Q&A
Kathrin Bain, UNSW
The AiGroup's Innes Willox told Q&A that Australia has one of the highest progressive tax rates in the developed world. Is that true?
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Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison says the big banks should be able to absorb the cost of a new bank levy.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Jim Minifie, Grattan Institute
Treasurer Scott Morrison said Australia's banks have a return on equity about twice that of banks in other advanced economies. Is that right?
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Politics + Society
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The White House appears to be in disarray amid outrage at reports that Donald Trump shared sensitive information with Russia.
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Kumuda Simpson, La Trobe University
The US president's sharing of sensitive information with the Russian foreign minister is not only inept, it shows an alarming lack of understanding of Russia's role in the Syrian conflict.
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There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of steroids seized at the Australian border over time.
AAP
Katinka van de Ven, UNSW; Renee Zahnow, The University of Queensland
There is an urgent need to reconsider steroid use as a public health issue as opposed to a criminal justice concern.
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Business + Economy
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Recent figures show that women are adversely effected by the 2017 federal budget.
AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
Helen Hodgson, Curtin University
The 2017 budget contains initiatives that help alleviate some of the worst aspects of its predecessors. However, it doesn't radically turn things around for women.
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Because the threshold for the Medicare levy exemption is based on family income, the reform will reinforce the move towards higher effective tax rates on low income second earners in a family.
Joe Castro/AAP
Patricia Apps, University of Sydney
With its recent budget changes, the government is proposing a rise in marginal tax rates across a wide band of middle incomes and a marginal tax rate cut for the top.
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Health + Medicine
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Feeling tired or being unable to concentrate is common even days after surgery. But there are simple ways to help speed up your recovery.
Jason Jones/Flickr
Kate Leslie, University of Melbourne; Megan Allen, University of Melbourne
Some people can feel drowsy or can't concentrate days after an operation. While it's easy to blame the anaesthetics, the real picture is usually more complicated.
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Our results are an important gain for couples facing the diagnosis of infertility.
from shutterstock.com
Ben Mol, University of Adelaide
Women have been getting their fallopian tubes flushed for 100 years to help them conceive. Studies show it works, all the better if you use an oil-based liquid.
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Environment + Energy
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Australia has a complex relationship with the dingo.
Angus Emmott
Euan Ritchie, Deakin University
Australian farmers and graziers have historically been against dingoes on their lands. But in a bid to adapt to changing conditions, some are embracing the predators and their potential.
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Church and climate: two issues that are close to many Pacific Islanders’ hearts.
Seaphotoart/Shutterstock.com
Patrick D. Nunn, University of the Sunshine Coast
What does God have to do with climate change? A lot, if you want to engage with communities in the Pacific Islands, where almost everyone goes to church and religious leaders are hugely influential.
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Cities
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The Rental Vulnerability Index for Queensland shows the cumulative impact of factors affecting renters across the state.
City Futures Research Centre
Chris Martin, UNSW; Laurence Troy, UNSW
Almost nowhere in our capital cities can low-income households – and those on average incomes in Sydney – afford the median rent . Mapping rental vulnerability finds it in regional areas too.
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St Canice’s rooftop garden, where a horticultural therapy program demonstrated its benefits for mental health and wellbeing.
Sara Wilkinson, University of Technology Sydney; Fiona Orr, University of Technology Sydney
In a world of increasing urbanisation, density, pressure and, some say, isolation, there's a natural salve for stress, pressure and mental illness. And it’s right above our heads.
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Education
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Not everyone is in a position to start university straight away.
from shutterstock.com
Anna Bennett, University of Newcastle; Andrew Harvey, La Trobe University; Seamus Fagan, University of Newcastle
Students on 'enabling' courses may now have to pay substantial fees under higher education reforms.
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Journalism is changing - unis need to adapt courses to reflect this.
from shutterstock.com
Phil Lewis, University of Canberra
It's time to think more broadly about the work that journalists do.
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Science + Technology
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A young Bornean orangutan nursing.
Erin Vogel
Tanya M. Smith, Griffith University
Young orangutans are dependent on their mother's milk for many years and that could have an impact on the survival of the critically endangered species.
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When black holes collide, gravitational waves are created in space itself (image is a computer simulation).
The SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project
David Blair, University of Western Australia
Einstein called entanglement "spooky action at a distance”. But now it's been used to design an incredibly sensitive detection method for gravitational waves.
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Featured events
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