Jane Caro

“Another decade of dribbling out small increases in schools funding leaves every public school, especially the 30 per cent serving the children with the highest needs, vulnerable to the biases and vested interests of successive governments.”

“Project 2025 recommends funding American schools via a voucher system, a device developed by economist Milton Friedman in 1955 … Australia has had an ersatz voucher system since 2000, when then prime minister John Howard and his education minister, …”

“If we are going to increase the participation of the least well-off students in tertiary education, we must first tackle their experience in primary and secondary education, not to mention early childhood, where the poorest are the ones most likely to …”

For mothers in rehabilitation, services that allow their children to stay with them in a therapeutic environment can help to both motivate recovery and break the cycle of drug abuse.

With fewer disadvantaged children completing high school, the federal government is under pressure to cover a shortfall with the states in public school funding.

“The unfairness is so stark and the outcomes so devastating … Surely the time has come for root and branch reform, not simply more fiddling around the edges. So what is stopping politicians from making what are obvious changes?”

NSW teachers strongly supported Chris Minns in the election. Now the withdrawal of a deal for pay rises that could help ease chronic staff shortages in public schools raises the risk of more industrial action.

Rising inequality in the Australian school system is leading to a drop in the standard of education as the public sector grapples with teacher burnout and a shortage of funding.

The Family Court’s emphasis on shared custody has left children vulnerable to abusive fathers, but changes are coming that should put the child’s interests first.

Australians have joined therapists around the world to help children in Ukraine cope with the trauma of war, and expand the use of a treatment aimed at preventing lifelong suffering.

Access to abortion remains difficult in Australia, and the persistent stigma around this and other crucial reproductive health services puts patients at risk.

For many women, the flushes and drenchings of menopause can make middle age a misery and professional life more precarious. Now, finally, workplaces are catching up.

More than 40 people a week are sexually assaulted in residential aged care. These dementia advocates are trying to change those numbers.

A years-long battle to have the psychological trauma caused by domestic violence correctly diagnosed and treated has finally resulted in Australia’s first specialised women-only mental health facility.

Even as school principals face more onerous workplace demands, they are receiving less support, leaving many burnt out and disillusioned – and some under investigation.

Trials of the cashless welfare card are effectively removing an escape path for women who are trying to flee violent and abusive relationships.

Monday’s March 4 Justice against the sexual abuse and harassment of women sent a powerful message. But for many long-term activists there is also a feeling of disbelief and despair that the same battles are still being fought.

Until recently, women had a sizeable platform through which to share their views and concerns in the mainstream media. Now, with dwindling revenue exacerbated by the coronavirus downturn, is the voice of modern feminism has being silenced?

“As a long-term campaigner for disadvantaged students and the schools that overwhelmingly enrol them – public schools – I was gobsmacked this week by the sudden concern our federal government expressed for these students, and the risk they are getting …”

Six women who have experienced the struggle of living on Newstart explain why they have turned to activism.

Survivors of domestic violence are being routinely let down by a system that misdiagnoses their trauma, leaving many women and children unsupported and stigmatised.

Where once school principals were treated with deference and respect, today they are often met with aggression and conflict.

“The Coalition won the recent federal election at least in part on its reputation as the better economic manager. It claimed it could be trusted to take care of taxpayer dollars. But does this stand up to scrutiny? Frankly, not when it comes to the way …”

Sexual abuse at the hands of a brother or sister is not as uncommon as society would like to believe. But it is a crime that must be acknowledged – by parents and authorities – in order to help both victims and perpetrators.

“I keep asking myself what I have done by putting up a tentative hand as a possible independent candidate for the seat currently held by former prime minister Tony Abbott. And, more to the point, why exactly have I done it? Do I really have anything worthwhile …”

“It is the secular nature of public education that Morrison and his fellow conservative believers don’t like. It’s why conservative prime ministers from John Howard onwards have sneered at the lack of values in public schools. What they really mean …”

“The LNP have been brazen about their commitment to what they call ‘independent’ schools, including those that charge high and ever-mounting fees. They have claimed their partiality towards these palaces of privilege is ‘part of their …”

“A country that permits and encourages private religious schooling should understand that such schools will expect to discriminate in their student admission and teacher employment practices in favour of those who are members of their faith communities, …”

“In the past few years, almost a quarter of the small number of women who lead nations have either lost office because of charges of corruption or other criminal behaviour, or are fighting such accusations, or have members of their families who have been …”

“While Birmingham and Turnbull adopted the original funding formula’s idea of an SRS – simply what a school needs to do its job properly – they appear to be using it in a way that risks abandoning the principle of funding schools according to student …”

As the federal government shies away from the full funding of Gonski, the successes of the model are becoming clearer.

“When he opened his eyes and saw his children, he realised he was still alive. He groaned, wept and turned his face to the wall. It seemed he must go on suffering.”