In July I am presenting at the conference Developing and Implementing Policies for a Better Future at Work at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. My paper considers how the changing nature of employment – the future of work –  is set to compromise goals for women’s advancement in employment and equal opportunity. But governments have made…

The 2015 Federal Budget has been delivered and a very different kettle of fish from the 2014 Budget. But how well is it tackling the underlying issues facing the economy at this time with higher unemployment now than through the GFC and its aftermath? It looks like the Government is putting a lot of its hopes on small…

The 100th Anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli  recalls my maternal grandfather who was a Gallipoli veteran – and a member of the 9th Light Horse Regiment. He returned to Australia physically in tact but psychologically damaged*. He received a TPI pension in his latter years, paid for the condition, now termed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, that marked…

Australia’s unemployment rate has increased since the global financial crisis while across the OECD it has reduced but remains high. There is wide concern as to how slow the recovery in employment has been, the persistence of long term unemployment and how much  of what employment growth there has been has been is  in poor…

My article published on the ABC Drum website: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-25/sheen-welfare-review/6261862 The final report of the Review of Australia’s Welfare System has today been released. It continues with the main set of proposals made in the interim report July 2014 which I commented on for The Conversation. My reaction to the final report doesn’t really change but I…

There are a lot of reviews on the internet about Professor Guy Standing’s book A Precariat Charter published about a year ago. But it’s worth some reflections here especially in view of its focus on a reinvigorated rights based approach for dealing with the current crisis in employment and economic inequality and most particularly the…

I take forward my analysis of the human rights dimension of unemployment, commenced a couple of weeks ago, in this article published on the social policy website Power to Persuade – A human rights lens on unemployment and welfare-to-work My article reflects on the arguments made by Dr Tania Raffass in her article in the Australian Journal of Human…

At the National Press Club, 2 Feb 2015, Prime Minister Tony Abbott responded to the question on the fairness concerns about the 2014 Budget by resorting to the argument that his government’s aim is to help future generations by reducing the debt burden they would inherit. Hence, he argues, the 2014 budget and his government’s debt…

Unemployment and Punitive Activation as Human Rights Issues is an academic paper  published in the Australian Journal of Human Rights July 2014, Volume 20, No. 1. The paper, by Dr. Tania Raffass,  recalls the little acknowledged fact that the right to work is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). It is part of a core of…