Mark Butler
Fix the planning system – now that’s a good plan
Successive governments over many decades have wound back spending on public housing, sending people into the private rental market. We need more modest, cheaper-to-build homes.
Latest
Investigation
Smoking & vaping
‘Big vape’: How Chinese multinationals and organised crime fuelled a public health crisis
The Albanese government has introduced some of the world’s toughest vaping laws, but the black market is thriving. Now pharmacists are in open rebellion.
- by Eryk Bagshaw and Laura Sparkes
Free RSV vaccines for mothers and babies as cases spike by 37,000
The respiratory virus is the leading cause of hospitalisation for infants, with 12,000 babies admitted each year. Before next winter, protection for mums and bubs will be free.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
About 1 million Australians use vapes. Chemists dispensed them just 3500 times last month
Data supplied to Senate estimates reveals a slow uptake in pharmacy vape sales during October, the first time e-cigarettes could be bought after a consultation with a chemist.
- by Natassia Chrysanthos
See the free flights our most senior MPs take
Who flew where, how and who paid are fast becoming the defining questions in politics.
- by Millie Muroi
We tax big tobacco due to its health impact. Why not social media companies?
Mental health advocates say the government is failing young people by pushing social media bans instead of improving access to unaffordable psychology services.
- by Mary Ward
Vape-flation: prices have surged, but retailers are still flouting the ban
Two months after a ban on selling vapes outside pharmacies, this masthead visited a dozen tobacco and convenience stores across Sydney. All had vapes available on request.
- by Millie Muroi
Exclusive
Mental health
‘Too-hard basket’: The workplace stigma against one in five Australians
One in four bosses would not hire someone with depression or bipolar disorder, according to a report that has revealed the depth of mental health discrimination in the workplace.
- by Broede Carmody
‘A potential wildlife massacre’: Eyes on the sky as virus wings its way towards Australia
A virulent strain of bird flu is morphing as it spreads around the world and Australia looks to be its end destination.
- by Mike Foley
Vapes to be sold behind the counter under watered-down ban
The last-minute changes have provoked the fury of pharmacists, who said they were healthcare professionals and not tobacconists.
- by Paul Sakkal and Natassia Chrysanthos
Exclusive
Healthcare
Health minister intervenes in chiropractors’ decision to allow spinal manipulation of babies
Mark Butler is seeking an urgent explanation from the Chiropractic Board of Australia after its controversial decision to allow practitioners to recommence spinal manipulations on babies.
- by Henrietta Cook
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/mark-butler-47a