Everyone knows they will eventually die, yet death remains a taboo topic. But avoiding the discussion doesn't make death go away — it just leaves us unprepared emotionally, psychologically and practically. Around 187,000 Australians die each year. Average life expectancy is now around 82 years and more than three quarters of deaths occur in people over 70. On average, around six Australians per thousand die each year. This is a very different pattern than around a century ago. In 1900, at 11 deaths per 1,000 population, the mortality rate was almost twice what it is today. A century ago, most deaths were from infectious disease and nearly 2...

This week we will be talking about and listening to Tom Petty’s album “Wildflowers” from 1993. Tom left this world in 2017, but he left an incredible legacy of pop/folk music which has stood the test of time. “Wildflowers” was one of his most critically acclaimed but lesser-known albums. Many will be familiar with the “Full Moon Fever” album in 1989, which garnered his greatest hit, “Won’t Back Down” which was followed by “Into the Great Wide Open” in 1992, which included another of his best-known songs, “Learning to Fly”. The video of the eponymous song featured Johnny Depp and Faye Dunnaway. So where does “Wildflowers” fit into the...

I chance upon this place of old-world charm,All crafted in the bloom of rich delightWhich steals my conscious mind in peaceful calmAnd presses me...

As we mark National Reconciliation Week, I am reflecting on how government decisions shape people’s lives across generations, for better or worse. It is a...