Preparing to Grow: Proactive Risk Mitigation in the Hemp Textile Industry
Australia's hemp industry is poised for dramatic growth. Yet as production scales, occupational health risks are emerging faster than the regulatory frameworks and infrastructure to manage them. Hemp fibre processing comes with manageable risks, yet fragmented state-based regulation, absent safe-by-design equipment standards, and skills shortages in regional areas are leaving workers vulnerable. There is huge potential for the Australian industry; by learning from the global success stories and employing proactive risk mitigation we can build a world-leading industry where growth does not outpace worker protections.
Maggie Davidson, Peter Irga and Nic Surawski
Beyond the Health Ministry: Why Climate Policy Is Now Health Policy
Australia's chronic disease burden is skyrocketing, yet half of all health spending addresses conditions shaped not solely by individual choices alone, but by policies governing energy, transport, housing, and food systems. Just as with the impact of climate change, policy impacts on health cut across all sectors and ministries. Siloed approaches to governance are not able to handle the complexity of issues we are faced with. The stakes are clear—without collaborative decision-making spanning government departments, Australia's health and wellbeing will continue to suffer. Our health won't be protected by health policy alone.
Annabelle Workman, Eugenie Kayak, Hannah Morrice, Kathryn Bowen, Rebecca Patrick
Have Universities Lost Their Social Licence?
Western universities face a crisis of public trust—not because degrees have lost their economic value, but because institutional incentives have become misaligned with the public good. With per-student funding down 37 percent since 2001 and enrolments up 38 percentage points, universities are asked to do more with less. Budget constraints, competitive pressures, and regulatory burdens have created a self-reinforcing trap from which no single institution can escape. Rebuilding social licence requires rethinking the structure of higher education itself—and recognising where mistakes were made.
Ken Gannicott
Sparking Connection: Mobilising Communities to End Loneliness
Loneliness costs Australia $2.7 billion annually and claims nearly a million lives globally each year. Yet amid this epidemic of social disconnection, ordinary community members are pioneering practical solutions. Drawing on behavioural science and two years of real-world implementation, this essay reveals how "Sparkies"—volunteer community connectors—can mobilise neighbourhoods to rebuild belonging. By understanding the psychology of social contagion and removing barriers to participation, communities can transform everyday interactions into powerful antidotes to isolation. A hopeful blueprint for rekindling the social infrastructure that sustains us all.
Nadia Corsini
