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At a time when the labour-market is failing as a source of security and identity for many, domestic tinkering is emerging as a legitimate occupation in a way we have not seen since pre-industrial times. In Australia, practices of repair, invention, building, improvising and crafting, that take place in sheds, back-yards, paddocks, kitchens and home-workshops, are becoming an important part of the informal economy and social cohesion, complicating distinctions between work and leisure, amateur and professional, production and consumption. Building on the work of historians, sociologists, psychologists and economists, but with a journalists impulse for the currency of her story, Katherine Wilson documents domestic tinkering as an undervalued form of material creativity, social connection, psychological sanctuary, personal identity and even political activism. This book mounts a surprising case for the profound value of domestic tinkering in contemporary Australia.

How Australians fund schooling has been a source of bitter political, social and religious division for almost two hundred years. And it remains so. The latest attempt to resolve the issue has been the Gonski Review, a 2012 report urging all jurisdictions to move towards consensus on a needs-based and socially just education system. The review almost immediately encountered forms of political obstruction that, in their class-based character, have their origins in the Menzies era. By examining the principles, the motives and the means of those who, since Menzies, have fought to develop and maintain a class-based education system at the expense of a broader view of social justice, this book explains how and why Australian education policy remains mired in political controversy.

If you've ever suffered from a throbbing guilt-gland when your kids are glued to the screen - here's your antidote. Kathy Lette Ground-breaking research into the importance of screen time, and fun, for our over-regulated children. A compelling book. Catharine Lumby Troubled by what her daughter was watching, and by how this made her feel as a parent, Emily Booker set out to learn more about children and television by listening not only to scholars and experts in the field, but to children themselves. What she found was that the problem of children's addiction to screens is actually, in part, a grown-ups' problem. Speaking to children about what they watch and why reveals a steadily consistent response: they love to seek out programs that are 'fun'. But their choices are often a source of anxiety for parents, and appear to provoke a need to censure and control the child's enjoyment. At a time when children's lives are increasingly regulated, and the pressures of parenting are felt ever more keenly, this important book teaches us much about the value of entertainment, not only for children but for adults.

In 1969 car crashes killed over 1000 Victorians, making Victorias roads some of the worlds most deadly. By 2016, the fatality rate had been cut by 85% and Victorians are now taking seriously the goal of eliminating death on the roads altogether. This extraordinary achievement is the product of sustained and ground-breaking approaches to preventing injury, saving lives and optimising recovery. Beginning with the worlds first seatbelt legislation in 1970, Victorians repeatedly charted new territory in health and public policy. In 2001 the system to care for severely injured people received a major overhaul. The new Victorian State Trauma System halved the risk anyone injured would die, and became the envy of the world. From Roadside to Recovery is the story of the evolution, implementation and impact of the Victorian State Trauma System, and those who championed it. It is a story of vision, leadership, determination, and achievement, about which there is much to celebrate. As road trauma is now one of the worlds leading causes of death there is also much to learn from it. For those who care about making a difference, this story will guide and inspire showing what is possible when a community is determined to address the tragedy and cost of road trauma.