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Stephen Duckett

Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute

Professor Stephen Duckett is Director of the Health Program at Grattan Institute and Emeritus Professor of Health Policy at La Trobe University. He has held top operational and policy leadership positions in health care in Australia and Canada, including as Secretary of what is now the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. He has a reputation for creativity, evidence-based innovation and reform in areas ranging from the introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals to new systems of accountability for the safety of hospital care. An economist, he is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

What is the hospital funding agreement politicians are talking about today?

Dec 06, 2023 07:47 am UTC| Politics

National Cabinet meets today to discuss three big issues in Commonwealth-state financial relations: GST allocation, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding, and a Commonwealth government proposal to kick-start...

How does Australia's health system stack up internationally? Not bad, if you're willing to wait for it

Nov 28, 2023 23:15 pm UTC| Health

When things are going bad in the health system, we are reassured weve got one of the best health systems in the world. But were rarely told where we actually stand relative to others. A new report from the Organisation...

When aged care workers earn just $22 an hour, a one-off payment won’t fix the wage problem

Feb 02, 2022 08:57 am UTC| Economy

The federal governments promise of up to A$800 between now and May for aged care workers is a short-term political fix designed to cover over a long-term policy failure. Numerous reports have pointed out Australias more...

Vaccine Rollout 2.0: Australia needs to do 3 things differently

Jul 01, 2021 03:19 am UTC| Health

Australias vaccine rollout started just over four months ago. It has not gone well, to put it mildly. To date, only 24% of the population have had at least one dose of a vaccine, and nearly 5% 1.2 million people have...

New aged care data on hospitalisation rates show significant problem areas in residential aged care

Feb 02, 2021 13:13 pm UTC| Life Health

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety released new data overnight comparing hospitalisation rates from residential aged care facilities. The report found 36.9% of nursing home residents presented to an...

Young people dropping private health hurts insurers most, not public hospitals

Feb 19, 2020 01:49 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing. New data for the three months to the end of 2019,...

How do you stop the youth exodus from private health insurance? Cut premiums for under-55s

Dec 04, 2019 11:26 am UTC| Insights & Views Business Health

Young people dont see private health insurance as good value for money. And theyre right: the cost of their expected use of private health care is significantly below what they pay in insurance premiums. Unsurprisingly,...

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Economy

Moody’s Downgrade Sparks GOP Divide Over U.S. Debt and Trump’s Tax Bill

Moodys recent downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating from AAA to Aa1 has stirred a sharp response from Republicans in Congress, revealing deep divisions over fiscal policy and President Donald Trumps proposed tax...

Trump Urges Fed to Cut Interest Rates, Criticizes Powell

U.S. President Donald Trump called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner rather than later, emphasizing the growing consensus for easing monetary policy. In a social media post on Saturday, Trump also took a...

Vietnam, U.S. Begin Key Trade Talks Amid Looming Tariff Threat

Vietnam and the United States held their first direct ministerial-level trade negotiations on Friday in Jeju, South Korea, following the APEC Ministerial Meeting. The discussions come ahead of a potentially crippling 46%...

GOP Infighting Blocks Trump Tax Bill Amid Moody’s U.S. Credit Downgrade

Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House blocked President Donald Trumps proposed tax bill on Friday, just hours before Moodys downgraded the U.S. governments credit rating due to surging debt. The bill, aimed at extending...

Wall Street Rallies for Fifth Day Amid Tariff Truce and Rate Cut Hopes

Wall Street closed higher on Friday, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, as investors reacted positively to easing U.S.-China trade tensions despite concerning economic data. The SP 500, Nasdaq, and Dow all posted...

Politics

Trump to Speak With Putin and Zelenskiy Amid Renewed Ceasefire Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump announced he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday in a push to broker a ceasefire in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. This...

Trump Urges Walmart to Absorb Tariffs Amid Rising Prices

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Walmart for attributing rising prices to tariffs on Chinese imports, urging the retail giant to eat the tariffs instead of passing costs to consumers. Trumps remarks followed Walmarts...

Europe Focuses on Ukraine Ceasefire, Not Troop Deployment

Europe is prioritizing an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine over any discussions of deploying troops, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Speaking in Rome, Merz...

Germany Rules Out UniCredit Takeover Bid for Commerzbank—For Now

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has downplayed the likelihood of Italys UniCredit launching a full acquisition of German lender Commerzbank (ETR: CBKG) in the near term. Speaking at a press conference in Rome after...

EU Plans New Sanctions on Russia as Peace Talks Stall

The European Union is preparing a new round of sanctions to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during the European...

Science

Kennedy Sets September Deadline to Uncover Autism Causes Amid Controversy

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a bold plan to identify the cause of autism by September 2025. Speaking at a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Kennedy declared a global...

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy

Ice cores in freezers, dinosaurs on display, fish in jars, birds in boxes, human remains and ancient artifacts from long gone civilizations that few people ever see museum collections are filled with all this and more....

Technology

xAI Responds to Grok Chatbot Controversy Over South Africa Comments

Elon Musks AI company, xAI, has addressed growing concerns after its Grok chatbot referenced a debunked conspiracy theory about a white genocide in South Africa. The company said on Thursday that the incident stemmed from...

Fortnite Blocked on iPhones Amid Ongoing Epic Games and Apple Dispute

Fortnite, the globally popular video game by Epic Games, is currently unavailable on Apples iPhone devices across the U.S. and European Union. Epic confirmed that the game cannot be accessed via Apples iOS or App Store...

xAI Investigates Grok Incident Involving Unsolicited South Africa Comments

Elon Musks AI startup xAI addressed concerns on Friday following a controversial incident where its Grok chatbot made unsolicited remarks about race relations in South Africa. The company attributed the issue to an...

Nvidia to Launch Shanghai R&D Hub Amid Stricter US Export Curbs

Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) is set to establish a research and development center in Shanghai, according to a report by the Financial Times. The move comes as the U.S. intensifies export restrictions on advanced...

China Criticizes U.S. Over Export Guidance Targeting Huawei AI Chips

China has sharply criticized recent U.S. export guidance targeting Huaweis Ascend AI chips, claiming it threatens the stability of global semiconductor supply chains. The warning followed new guidance from the U.S....