May 14, 2024

Federal budget 2024: UOW expert commentary

UOW academics can provide expert commentary, opinion and analysis on the 2024-25 federal budget.

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Indigenous affairs, housing and domestic violence

Ash Markstone can discuss Indigenous affairs, housing and domestic violence related budget announcements. The Dunghutti woman is a passionate advocate for Indigenous peoples and is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry. Ms Markstone’s research areas include environmental sustainability, global Indigenous studies, domestic violence, crime and social justice, digital technologies, futurisms, and history.

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Placement poverty

Associate Professor Kelly Lambert and Dr Anne McMahon can talk about placement poverty and the government’s plans to introduce a placement payment. The researchers recently finished interviewing more 600 Australasian students and said the results were alarming, with food insecurity being experienced by 77 per cent of students during placement, with 29 per cent sating they regularly skipped meals and experienced hunger due to poverty. Associate Professor Lambert and Dr McMahon are both researchers in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences.

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Domestic and family violence

Dr Kelly Lewer can discuss domestic and family violence, including funding announcements related to crisis accommodation. Dr Lewer’s research focuses on the impacts of domestic violence on health and wellbeing, and emphasises improving support responses across many settings. Dr Lewer says there needs to be more co-designed research undertaken in the area of domestic violence and says a whole of family approach is required. Dr Lewer is a researcher in the School of Nursing.

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Energy

Honorary Fellow Ty Christopher can comment on announcements related to energy. He is the Director of UOW’s Energy Futures Network. The Energy Futures Network’s research includes renewable energy systems and integration, power systems, sustainability (including building design), power quality and reliability, battery energy storage and management systems, distributed energy generation, microgrids, infrastructure modelling and economics, and R&D leading to a more hydrogen-intensive economy.

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Mental health

Professor Timothy Wand can talk about budget announcements relating to mental health. He is a Professor of Nursing (Mental Health) and an advocate for more dedicated mental health nurses in emergency departments. Professor Wand is a registered nurse and has worked in the field of emergency mental health for more than 20 years. Professor Wand is from the School of Nursing.

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Health

Professor Caleb Ferguson is a nursing expert who can discuss investment in health, chronic disease management, cardiovascular disease and stroke, digital health and sustainability in nursing. Professor Ferguson is a registered nurse, Professor of Nursing and Associate Head of School (Research Strategy, Development and Partnerships) in the School of Nursing. He is also the Academic Director of the Centre for Chronic and Complex Care Research, a collaborative research centre between UOW and Western Sydney Health.

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Household budgets

Professor Martin O’Brien is an economist who can comment on budget announcements related to the labour market, public sector wages, skills shortages and household budgets. Professor O’Brien is from the Centre for Human and Social Capital Research in the Faculty of Business and Law. 

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Aged care

Professor Victoria Traynor can discuss what the budget means for the aged care sector. Professor Traynor is from the School of Nursing. She is the Founding Director of Aged and Dementia Health Education Research, and Founding Co-President of the Gerontological Alliance of Nurses Australia.  

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Age verification technology

Honorary Professor Katina Michael is available for interviews about funding for a planned pilot for age verification technology. The pilot is intended to stop children accessing harmful content online. Honorary Professor Michael is from the School of Business and comments regularly on the social implications of emerging technologies with an emphasis on privacy and national security. She is also a Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University.

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Diet-related health investment

Professor Karen Charlton can discuss diet-related health investments to reduce preventable diseases. Professor Charlton can also talk about the impact financial distress is having on food budgets and the effect this can have on long-term health and well-being. Professor Charlton is a research dietician in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences.

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UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the University of Wollongong.