In Australia, success still depends on your suburb

Editor's note

It isn’t just low incomes holding back young people in Australia’s most disadvantaged communities. They miss out on a host of out-of-school social activities that build the ‘soft skills’ that would improve their prospects. Significantly, write Gerry Redmond and Jennifer Skattebol, their research finds that the children of low-income families living in better-off areas have higher aspirations and a better idea of how to achieve them.

But there are places where equality is being boosted: one of those is the Uniting Church, which this week will become the first of the major Christian denominations to allow same-sex marriage. As Robyn Whitaker writes, it has by no means been an easy journey, but the fact the church has actively engaged in discussions of sexuality and faith since the early 1980s has stood it in good stead for dealing with such changes.

John Watson

Section Editor: Cities + Policy

Top story

Children in suburbs with low levels of education and employment and high rates of poverty and crime are also missing out on the experiences that help make upwards social mobility possible. Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Young Australians’ prospects still come down to where they grow up

Gerry Redmond, Flinders University; Jennifer Skattebol, UNSW

Children growing up in the most disadvantaged suburbs also lack the social opportunities to develop skills and aspirations that would improve their prospects in life.

Politics + Society

For some, this recent decision is a source of celebration and perhaps even symbolic, finally, of full equality in the church for gay and lesbian members. Wes Mountain/The Conversation

After a long struggle, the Uniting Church becomes the first to offer same-sex marriage

Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity

The Uniting Church has been grappling with questions of faith and sexuality for decades - and its openness has led to relatively smooth changes to doctrine and practice.

Health + Medicine

Daily low-dose aspirin doesn’t reduce heart-attack risk in healthy people

John McNeil, Monash University

Taking low-dose aspirin daily doesn't delay the onset of disability in healthy older people. Nor does it prevent heart attack or stroke in those who hadn't experienced either condition before.
New law won’t safeguard medicine supply – it’ll only ensure we know there’s a shortage

Stephen Carter, University of Sydney; Carl Schneider, University of Sydney; Rebekah Moles, University of Sydney

Recently passed legislation will ensure pharmaceutical companies report shortages of medicines. This is only about notifications. It won't prevent medicine shortages themselves.

Science + Technology

An artist’s surreal view of Australia – created from satellite data captured 700km above Earth

Grayson Cooke, Southern Cross University

The Open Air project features satellite data interpreted and coloured to produce beautiful, surreal images of Australian landforms.
Vital for life, heat and power – what you never knew about salt water

Timothy Duignan, The University of Queensland

We take salt water for granted, and often overlook how important it is for our own lives and in sustaining a healthy planet.

Business + Economy

Why yet another visa for farm work makes no sense

Stephen Howes, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Introducing yet another special agricultural employment visa might destroy the good things about the ones we've got.
Evictions versus holdouts. How to painlessly dissolve a strata title

Duygu Yengin, University of Adelaide; Jonathan Pincus, University of Adelaide

It's not fair to evict people against their will. On the other hand, one holdout shouldn't be able to derail the sale of an entire strata-titled apartment block. Now an international team has come up with an ingenious solution.

Arts + Culture
Spartacus: the rise and rise of an unlikely hero Alastair Blanshard, The University of Queensland When Spartacus and 70 or so of his comrades revolted and escaped from their gladiatorial school near Capua in 73 BC, everyone imagined the matter would soon be dealt with. But his rebellion has continued to inspire political movements.

Environment + Energy

How better tests and legal deterrence could clean up the sticky mess left behind by fake honey row

Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington; Hongzhi Gao, Victoria University of Wellington; Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of Wellington

The bee product industry is booming and in unregulated markets, there is a strong economic incentive to cheat. Self regulation combined with legal deterrence could help clean up the sticky mess.
It’s hard to spread the idiot fruit

Stuart Worboys, James Cook University

In a few idyllic parts of Queensland grows the idiot fruit, a tall tree with intricate flowers and some of the largest seeds in Australia.