Mission & Justice

Henrietta H. Fore; 12/8/08

Young people under the age of 25 make up more than 50 per cent of the population in the Middle East and North Africa. More than 100 million are between the ages of 15 and 29. Youth are three-and-a-half times as likely as older workers to be unemployed, and their sheer numbers tax already overstretched health and education systems. Yet, with this challenge comes a great demographic opportunity. A large youth generation is the region’s best hope for economic growth and progress. The last similar regional demographic bulge was in Southeast Asia in the late 1980s. The countries of that region harnessed the power and creativity of their young people and fuelled an economic boom, a boom that weathered multiple financial crises and continues to pay rich dividends today. Young people are energetic and productive workers. They are avid consumers of goods and services. And when the ratio between the working age population and the nonworking age group shifts in favour of those working - as will soon happen in the Middle East and North Africa - it opens up the door to even higher productivity and incomes.

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Susan Maushart; 26/7/08

A Rhode Island school district that last month began micro-chipping students to allow parents to “monitor their children’s school experience” has drawn fire from civil liberties groups - and rightly so. In a free society, the right of parents to remain ignorant has become an increasingly fragile entitlement. These days we are encouraged to be transparent in the way we conduct family life. (Maybe that’s why our kids can see straight through us). Personally, I’m hanging out for a little old-fashioned opacity. Of course, no responsible parent wishes to be left out of the picture entirely, and many of the rest of us don’t, either. But there are times when a low-resolution image will do nicely.

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10/6/08

The Rudd government’s controversial $3.1 billion tax hike on so-called alcopops will be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. The government increased the excise on ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages by 70 per cent to bring them in line with unmixed spirits, closing a loophole created when the GST was introduced in 2000. The move was originally predicted to raise $2 billion, but budget papers forecast $3.1 billion revenue in 2008-09 and higher thereafter. The coalition successfully moved to have the increase investigated by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, which will hold a public hearing in Canberra.

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Lenore Taylor; 10/6/08

Excessive alcohol consumption by young people has not increased significantly in recent years, but there has been a rise in the small minority who are drinking to the point of hospitalisation. A new analysis of six studies into youth drinking in Victoria, to be published in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, found “few significant trends and almost no notable increases in risky drinking in recent years” among Victorians aged 12 to 24. But the study, by Michael Livingston of the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, did find a “deeply concerning” sharp increase in the small numbers of young drinkers in Victoria being hospitalised because of alcohol consumption.  For women aged 18 to 24, the rate of alcohol-caused hospital admissions rose from six per 10,000 people in 1998-99 to 14.6per 10,000 in 2005-06.

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Dewi Cooke; 4/6/08

Rates of self-harm among young people aged 12 to 24 have risen by 43% in 10 years — and young women are considered to be at greatest risk. Disturbing figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that from 1996 to 2006 the incidence of young women hospitalised for intentional self-harm, mostly by self-poisoning through medical overdose or cutting their skin, had grown by 51%. This far outstripped the rate among young men, although there was still a 27% growth in the number of young men hospitalised for self-harm over the decade. “The preponderance of females in self-harm is well-recognised,” Professor Susan Sawyer from the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital said. “What it’s demonstrating is that we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels. We really need to be taking youth mental health seriously.”

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Adam Cresswell; 31/5/08

It took a while for Sydney mother Jan to realise something wasn’t quite right with her daughter Ashleigh, then aged 13 1/2. At that stage weighing 62 kilograms, Ashleigh was sensitive about her weight - which was perfectly healthy, but towards the upper end of the normal range. Ashleigh mentioned to Jan (not their real names) that she wanted to shed a bit of the “puppy fat” that was making her unhappy. For the next couple of months, until about October 2006, all seemed to be going well. Ashleigh continued to eat well, was sporty, healthy and - so it seemed - happy. Her mother noticed a bit of weight had come off, but nothing to cause concern. Slowly, that changed. “I started to notice that she was making different choices about food,” says Jan. “There was always an excuse - ‘No, I don’t want a salad sandwich, I’ll just have the salad without the bread’.”

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Shadiah Abdullah; 26/5/08

The Dubai Police, in coordination with the Ministry of Social Affairs, have launched an awareness campaign against cross-dressing by young people. The phenomenon of girls dressing and acting like the opposite sex and vice versa has increased among Emirati youth in high schools and colleges, especially during the past five years. Launching the educational campaign, the Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said that the phe-nomenon goes against the teachings of Islam. “What is happening among our youth is unnatural and is a result of lack of religious awareness,” he said. Tamim blamed parents saying that they were failing in their duty toward their children because they did not spend enough time with them.

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1/5/08

Japanese police have asked internet providers to censor websites giving information on what have become known as “detergent suicides”, following a spate of chemically-induced deaths across the country. About 50 people have reportedly killed themselves in the past month by inhaling toxic hydrogen sulphide gas, made by mixing washing detergent with other chemicals. The national police agency filed the request with the internet industry, telecommunications companies and cable broadcasters on Wednesday, saying “the risk is high for third parties to inhale the gas and, in worst case scenarios, die”.

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Kerry-Anne Walsh; 27/4/08

The Rudd Government last night made a daring assault on teenage binge drinking by lifting taxes on lollypop alcohol drinks. The lightning tax change - which increased excise on “alcopop” drinks from 39.36 cents a litre to 66.67 cents - took effect as the clock struck midnight. The impact on the cost of ready-to-drink products - a soaring market aimed squarely at young drinkers - will be between 30 cents and $1.30 a drink. The move was prompted by alarming findings in the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey which tracked a steep rise in drinking among teenage girls. The survey found that teenage girls bucked the norm of females having more responsible drinking habits than males.

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Josh Gordon & Dan Harrison; 27/4/08

Federal taxes on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks were increased without warning at midnight last night by 70% under a Rudd Government plan to fund a new preventive health program and tackle binge-drinking among teenagers, particularly girls. The tax hike — the first for the Labor Government — is expected to raise more than $2 billion in extra revenue over the next four years. A senior Government source last night confirmed that part of the windfall would be used to fund Australia’s largest ever investment in preventive health, focusing on alcohol, smoking, diet and exercise.

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