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The deaths of 80 elderly people are imminent as a result of COVID-19 spreading through private aged care homes. Aged care behemoths were granted an extra $200m to cope with the pandemic but refuse to provide critical paid pandemic leave to an overwhelmingly casualised workforce, saying it’s the government’s responsibility.

The nation’s flawed dietary guidelines have much to answer for, with more than 5000 people losing their lives “unnecessarily” from Type 2 diabetes in the past three months. With evidence showing diet can improve underlying health conditions, in a time of rising COVID-19 infections it is more important than ever to revise the dietary guidelines, writes Maryanne Demasi.

Australia’s university vice-chancellors last year spent many hundreds of millions of dollars on “professional services”. Now that the over-reliance on overseas student has exposed the university sector and put thousands of academic jobs at risk

The role of medical journals is again in the spotlight after The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine retracted studies that raised alarms about the safety of experimental Covid-19 treatments. Dr Maryanne Demasi reports.

The Andrews Labor government pumped $27.5 million into the long-failing, high-end wheel maker to help it limp across the line to an ASX listing last year. The float was a bonanza for it and a handful of other “existing investors” including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. But the stock exchange was so concerned about the vast gains being made that it placed a freeze over all 5.4 million shares the state government ended up with after the float, writes Anthony Klan in Part II of his investigation into Carbon Revolution. Read Part I here.

The Government has grovelled to its billionaire donors yet again, killing a Senate amendment to force the richest Australians to disclose their financial statements. Michael West reports on the crusade by independent senator Rex Patrick to hold the Morrison Government and its corporate mates such as the Packers, Murdochs and Lowys while putting property giant LendLease to the sword over its JobKeeper rorts.

As the Government lavishes stimulus on home renovators, the pandemic has revealed Australia’s economy to be fragile, with an export profile more akin to a developing nation, and a huge trade deficit in high-end manufactures. “We have to start making things again,” writes Peter Roberts of our narrow manufacturing base. 

Scott Morrison’s JobMaker plan unveiled to the National Press Club this week, was high on catchy slogans but won’t fix Australia’s “ideologically damaged” Vocational Education Training (VET) system, writes Mackenzie Institute’s Bruce MacKenzie.

As the Virgin administrators assess the bids for the failed airline, they will also grapple with the question of when air travel resumes. Domestic interstate travel may open in a few months, there is talk of a New Zealand travel “bubble”, too. Beyond that is anybody’s...

Rolling in cash, Mirvac has just confirmed plans to build Australia’s tallest building while leaning on taxpayers for the JobKeeper subsidy. Who else is rorting JobKeeper?

Families are more worried their nursing home relatives will die of neglect than coronavirus yet aged care operators are demanding more money from government

Do we keep him on? As Josh Frydenberg’s employers, should Australians put Josh on JobKeeper? Or JobSeeker, which is only a few bucks less, after admin fees and tax? It is crunch time for Australia’s biggest rescue package.

The push is on around Australia to re-open club pokies dens. At RSL Victoria, the old guard board has been caught out conducting a fire sale of veteran aged care accommodation to finance pokies licences.

A split between the nation’s economists is emerging over the immediate future of Australia’s COVID-19 lock-down. Marcus Reubenstein reports.

Regulators expect Google and Facebook to sue the Government over a looming “mates-deal” to protect Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Nine Entertainment from competition. Taxpayers will be on the hook.

Last month, an announcement by Iran’s news agencies on the successful treatment of COVID-19 patients appears to have slipped beneath the radar. Unusually, contrary to customary reporting, the names of the drugs and the treatment were withheld. Has Iran found a cure for COVID-19? Dr James Freeman investigates.

Australia’s universities face $5 billion in losses and are crying poor. Their highly paid bosses can make more money in a week than the casual staff, many of whom they have consigned to the dole queue, make in a year. Michael Sainsbury runs the ruler over the numbers and asks why those universities with high reliance on international students have shown such poor risk management.

The pokies are shut. Thousands of Australians believe they should stay shut for as long as possible. Meanwhile, more of the big pokies players are looking to quit the toxic industry. Journalist and anti-gambling campaigner Stephen Mayne reports on the latest dramatic developments in pokies-land, particularly RSL Victoria as its overpaid “pokies manager” Tabcorp tries to sell out.