Hugh McDermott for Prospect

The Abbott Government has broken its promise not to cut hospital funding by slashing funding for Westmead Hospital by $100 million.

Treasurer Joe Hockey also slashed $12 million in funding for St George Hospital, $10 million in funding for Nepean Hospital and $6 million for a new MRI at Mount Druitt Hospital.

A new report from the Grattan Institute's Energy program, Putting the customer back in front: how to make electricity cheaper, presents a concrete set of proposals for substantially reducing the power bills of Australian households.

Since taking office in March 2011, Barry O’Farrell and his Government have made a number of cuts to funding, jobs, workers’ rights and services. Here is an overview of what the workers of NSW have endured thus far.

by Karl Fitzgerald

All other things being equal, the owners of the earth have a comparative advantage over those in business or earning a wage. With $21 trillion hidden in global tax havens revealed this year (), and Starbucks, Amazon and Google being grilled in the UK Parliament this week, the need for a fairer tax system is growing.

The clamour for the expansion of the GST is at fever pitch here in Australia. What are the motivations behind this?

by James Farrell

The number of Australians who were homeless on census night increased by 17% to 105,237 in the five years to August 2011. When adjusted for population growth, the increase the increase is still worryingly high, at around 8%. It’s clear we need a stronger commitment to address this significant social issue.

The census data, released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), continues to shatter the stereotype of homelessness: the middle-aged alcoholic or drug-addicted man sleeping in a park.

by Flavio Menezes

News that BrisConnections, which operate Brisbane’s Airport Link M7, has suspended trade on the ASX as it continues to talk with its debtors is likely to again lead to a debate about the role of Public-Private-Partnerships – or PPPs – in providing government infrastructure.

PPPs have been criticised in the wake of several high profile failures including Sydney’s cross-city tunnel, Brisbane’s Clem 7 tunnel and the consortium building the Ararat prison in Victoria, as well as the high cost to the public of PPPs undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s.

by Adam Corner

There are few cardinal sins in politics – but campaigning on behalf of your opponent has to be one of them. So when news broke this week that the British Conservative Party MP Chris Heaton Harris had boasted on camera of providing resources and support to an opposition anti-wind farm candidate in order to “cause some hassle”, it was widely expected that the axe would fall.

New guidelines for the classification of videogames have been released by Federal Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare and, despite being a step in the right direction, the revisions are largely disappointing and a missed opportunity.

The Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games – which were revised to account for the introduction of an R18+ classification – are an important step towards the enhanced protection of minors which has been held out as a result of the reform.

Anyone who would like to witness a vivid example of modern warfare that adheres to the laws of war -- that corpus of regulations developed painstakingly over centuries by jurists, humanitarians, and soldiers, a body of rules that is now an essential, institutionalized part of the U.S. armed forces and indeed all modern militaries -- should simply click here and watch the video.