The wait for elective surgery in our public hospitals is longer than ever, but it seems there’s a way to jump the queue. If you can afford to pay for private care in a public hospital, you might find yourself being offered more perks than just a free bathrobe and some slippers.

Today, lawyer and contributor to The Monthly Russell Marks, on whether our public health system is truly fair and what happens when your own child’s health is on the line.

A string of recent incidents involving the use of force has raised questions about the way in which Australia’s police forces wield power. The officer who allegedly Tasered a 95-year old woman will see court next month, and a Queensland police officer is under investigation after being caught on video punching and tasering a man who’d been in a car crash.

Today, Russell Marks, on the use of force and the relationship between the police and the public.

For decades, house prices in Australia have been accelerating and defying every prediction of a crash. The pandemic has done nothing to slow down that trajectory, with prices continuing to go up, despite economic uncertainty. Today, Russell Marks on why Australia’s housing market continues to confound expectations and what might actually make a difference.

Frontline charity workers say that the sector's dependency on government funding means that the people they’re supposed to be helping are instead sidelined and betrayed. Today, contributor to The Monthly Russell Marks on how charities are becoming complicit in their own silencing.

As a judge’s comments about Aboriginal people cause outrage, lawyers in the Northern Territory wonder why a key body hasn’t made a complaint.

Almost two years since changes were implemented following a royal commission into youth detention, tear gas is again being used on children in the Northern Territory.