7/ We’ll be discussing these books at an evening of sparkling conversation with Aruna Sathanapally, journalist @tomiscrowley.bsky.social and author @cordeliafine.bsky.social.

📅 Thursday, 11 December 2025
🕠 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
🏛 State Library Victoria
buff.ly/ptRE6us

6/ In Losing It, Jess Hill argues that our strategy for preventing violence against women is not working. But if we have the courage to act on the range of evidence-based approaches to tackling gender-based violence, Australia could be the first country to end it.

5/ At a time when we are becoming painfully aware of our shared destiny with the natural world – and when our technology is posing questions of what it really means to be living – @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social Is a River Alive? offers an encouraging path towards environmental optimism.

4/ Australia has made substantial progress on women’s rights and workforce participation, but gendered patterns of education and work remain. @cordeliafine.bsky.social Patriarchy Inc. proposes a new vision of gender equality.

3/ If you want clear facts for yourself about the pros and cons of tackling climate change, or if you feel frustrated because you don’t have the facts to push back on climate action naysayers, @hannahritchie.bsky.social Clearing the Air is the book for you.

2/ @benchu.bsky.social Exile Economics paints a picture of a world retreating from the global economic system. But cutting ourselves off from these trade and migration flows isn’t just economically damaging – in many cases it’s simply not possible.

9/ We need to end the annual budget rollercoaster of hospital blowouts and bailouts.

Fixing the broken hospital funding system could enable more care, at better cost. Our new report: buff.ly/Jg6jvVs

8/ State governments should change how they fund care to promote shorter stays, buy in bulk, consolidate some procedures in specialised centres, and help hospitals adopt best practices.

7/ The federal government's contribution to public hospital funding should rise in line with growing demand for care. It should fully fund the cost of care – provided states reform their systems to improve efficiency.

6/ Hospitals aren’t to blame – they are held back by bogus budgets.

State gov’ts set unrealistically low budgets at the start of the year, then bail out hospitals when they run a deficit at the end of the year.

5/ Second, there are many ways costs can be reduced without compromising care: shorter hospital stays, safer care, & making better use of workers’ skills.

Shorter stays for many surgeries are safer and cheaper, and yet, Australia is behind many other countries in same-day care.

4/ If costly hospitals reached the middle of the pack for efficiency in their state, that would save taxpayers $1.2 billion every year.

3/ First, some hospitals are much more expensive than others. Procedure prices vary wildly across the board.

The average cost of a knee replacement in Victoria varies by $13,600.

In Queensland, it’s $11,000. In NSW, $9,000.

2/ Governments will have to spend more. Today they waste $1.2b a year on avoidable spending in public hospitals which doesn’t improve care.

But in the case of healthcare, what’s avoidable?