Throughout the Western world, the changing nature of families has led to a highly charged debate and when commentators talk of how families have changed they usually compare family structures now to those of the 1950s and 1960s. Families are changing, but for reasons far more complex than declining moral values and rising selfish individualism.

The ‘ageing crisis’ is founded on three main assumptions: that older people are a social and economic burden; that population ageing will result in a serious dependency ratio imbalance; and, that there is a close correspondence between the size of the aged population and increased public expenditure. This paper argues that the transition to an

Submission No.2: Full fee-paying students and standards

This is an exploratory study of social scientists’ perceptions and experiences of academic freedom in the new commercial realities of Australian higher education. Focusing specifically on the social sciences this study gives cause for concern about the future of academic freedom.

This paper is a philosophical investigation of the mutual obligation principle and its application to current welfare policy.