The Australian government recently announced a parliamentary inquiry to investigate whether a legal presumption of joint residence should become part of Australian family law - that is, if parents separate and cannot agree on arrangements for their children, the starting point should be that children spend equal time with each parent. The AIFS submission to...

This e-brief is a guide to Internet resources and research on domestic violence in Australia. It includes a survey of Commonwealth government programs and initiatives and an overview of the research on the prevalence of domestic violence, at risk groups and communities, the costs of domestic violence to business and the community, and policy approaches...

This update of a chronology first released in 2000 describes the major changes that have taken place in the Australian Public Service since the 1970s, focusing on changes in the areas of accountability, openness, equity, and efficiency. The chronology is supplemented by tables of parliamentary publications related to the public service.

In this paper Wendy Stone, Matthew Gray and Jody Hughes investigate the extent to which an individual's 'stock' of social capital relates to labour force outcomes, over and above more well established determinants. In particular, they examine how family and kinship networks, friends and neighbours relate to individual labour market outcomes, compared with the role...

One of the ripples to flow out from the attacks on 11 September 2001 was the requirement for greater security at America's ports. Coming from one of Australia's largest trading partners, the US Container Security Initiative has significant implications for future policy direction, in particular given the Free Trade Agreement currently under consideration between Australia...