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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

Gold Prices Surge Past $4,800 as Geopolitical Tensions and Trade Fears Fuel Safe-Haven Demand

Gold prices soared to unprecedented levels on Wednesday, breaking above the $4,800 per ounce mark as intensifying geopolitical tensions and renewed trade uncertainty rattled global financial markets. Investors flocked to...

Arctic Ambitions and Tariff Tremors: Trump’s Greenland Gambit Rattles Global Markets

Geopolitical Ambitions: The U.S. aims to establish a missile defense system (Golden Dome) in the Arctic, secure critical minerals and rare earths, and control Arctic shipping lanes, reflecting the increasing strategic...

Asian Fund Managers Favor Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea for 2026 Amid AI and Chip Boom

Asian fund managers are growing increasingly bullish on Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, while sentiment toward India has turned negative, according to Bank of Americas January fund manager survey. The shift reflects...

Trump Says $2,000 Tariff Dividend Possible Without Congress Approval

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration may be able to issue a $2,000 payout to American citizens without needing approval from Congress, citing the surge in revenue generated from his trade...

Japan Government Bond Rout Deepens as Election Spending Fears Shake Markets

Japans government bond market is experiencing a sharp sell-off as investors react nervously to rising political promises of tax cuts and fiscal stimulus ahead of a snap election. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichis decision to...

Politics

Trump Signs Executive Order to Limit Wall Street Investment in Single-Family Homes

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening signed a new executive order designed to curb Wall Street investors from buying and speculating on single-family homes, a move aimed at improving housing affordability and...

Trump’s Greenland Ambition Sparks NATO Tensions, Trade War Fears, and Global Market Turmoil

U.S. President Donald Trump has reignited international controversy by declaring there is no going back on his ambition to control Greenland, a move that has unsettled NATO allies, strained U.S.-Europe relations, and...

Syria Announces Ceasefire With Kurdish Forces as U.S. Pushes Integration Deal

Syria has announced a four-day ceasefire with Kurdish-led forces in the northeast, marking one of the most significant shifts in territorial control since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad over a year ago. The...

U.S. Plans NATO Staff Reductions, Raising Fresh Concerns Over Alliance Commitment

The United States is planning to reduce the number of personnel stationed at several key NATO command centers, a move that is already heightening concerns across Europe about Washingtons long-term commitment to the...

Trump Says U.S. and NATO Will Reach Agreement on Greenland’s Future

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States and NATO will eventually come to an agreement regarding the future of Greenland, emphasizing that any deal would satisfy both Washington and the military...

Science

NASA and SpaceX Target Crew-11 Undocking From ISS Amid Medical Concern

NASA has confirmed that the agency, in coordination with SpaceX, is targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. Eastern Time (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, January 14, for the undocking of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International...

Neuralink Plans High-Volume Brain Implant Production and Fully Automated Surgery by 2026

Elon Musks brain-computer interface company Neuralink is preparing for a major expansion, announcing plans to begin high-volume production of its brain implant devices and transition to a fully automated surgical procedure...

Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator, Becomes 15th Leader of U.S. Space Agency

The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, making him the 15th leader in the agencys history. The confirmation, which took place on Wednesday, marks...

Senate Sets December 8 Vote on Trump’s NASA Nominee Jared Isaacman

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee announced it will vote on December 8 on President Donald Trumps renewed nomination of private astronaut and tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman, known for his...

NASA Cuts Boeing Starliner Missions as SpaceX Pulls Ahead

NASA has significantly scaled back Boeings Starliner program after years of technical issues and delays, announcing that the next Starliner mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will fly without astronauts. The...

Technology

Global DRAM Chip Shortage Puts Automakers Under New Cost and Supply Pressure

Automakers worldwide are bracing for renewed cost pressures and potential production disruptions as a deepening global shortage of memory chips, particularly DRAM, intensifies due to surging demand from data centres and...

OpenAI Launches Stargate Community Plan to Offset Energy Costs and Support Local Power Infrastructure

OpenAI has officially unveiled its Stargate Community plan, a new initiative designed to ensure that the massive energy demands of its AI data centers do not drive up electricity costs for local communities. Announced on...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Plans China Visit Amid AI Chip Market Uncertainty

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is reportedly planning a trip to China in late January as the company seeks to revive access to one of its most important markets for artificial intelligence chips. According to a Bloomberg News...

Elon Musk Says Tesla Cybercab and Optimus Production Will Start Slowly Before Rapid Growth

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has cautioned investors and technology enthusiasts that the early production rate of the companys highly anticipated Cybercab robotaxi and Optimus humanoid robot will be agonizingly slow before...

Micron to Buy Powerchip Fab for $1.8 Billion, Shares Surge Nearly 10%

Shares of Taiwans Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp jumped nearly 10% on Monday following news that U.S. memory chip giant Micron Technology plans to acquire one of Powerchips fabrication facilities in Taiwan,...