Government announces $910 million funding boost for aged care

In a joint media release on March 18th 2016, Minister for Health, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP and Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP announced $910 million in funding to create 17,385 new aged care places in Australia.  The funding came as the Minister for Health announced the results of the 2015 Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) and new arrangements for the 2016 ACAR. The Minister said the funding would benefit thousands of older Australians. "These new home care places help our elderly remain in their homes and receive the care they need," the Minister...

Read more

How to strengthen your supply chain operations performance

Today's global corporations face risks that range from price fluctuations, currency volatility and market changes to those that are beyond our control such as natural disasters. To counter supply-chain disruptions, organisations must apply mature operations and risk management practices to reduce their exposure to these risks and maintain a competitive advantage. The questions you need to ask are: In the face of these supply chain risks, how does your company prepare? What are the most innovative ways to manage and mitigate risks? Who is responsible for managing them? Let’s take...

Read more

Insights from Akolade's Sell-Out Social Media for Gov event..

Last week, Akolade ran its 5th Social Media for Gov Conference in Canberra. A common question that was asked before the conference began “you’ve done this so many times, could there possibly be anything new in the social media space since the last conference?” Boy, were we all wrong. Throughout the two days, we were absolutely blown away with the tips, strategies and new cool tools that are emerging in the social media space. Key highlights from the conference includes Joe Mirabella, Director of Communications of City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development and Office...

Read more

How to build capacity for dementia care

Improving outcomes for people living with dementia is a key priority across Australia for aged care providers, healthcare, and government. Dementia care is core business for aged care providers, as the number of people living with dementia and the complexity of cases increases, the delivery of integrated and responsive care will also become progressively difficult. To make it really sink in, Alzheimer’s Australia provides us with some warning statistics – one states in Australia there is a new case of dementia every 6 minutes! Statistics show, the number of people living...

Read more

What is your life purpose?

“We don’t ever find our purpose by looking for it. Our purpose already lies within us.” Anonymous If you’re like me, you would have wondered and worried about your life purpose at some point in your life. Growing up I admired those people who had a life purpose – those who knew who they were, what they did, who they did it for, what those people want and need and how they changed as a result. One of the most difficult things that happens when you meet people for the first time is they ask you this question; “So what do you do?” And for some of us that’s a really challenging...

Read more

A Summons by any other Name.

A recent email scam has shown the growing sophistication of cyber based criminals, as "subpoenas" have begun arriving in people's inboxes, apparently from the Australian Federal Police.  At first glance the emails look as though they may be legitimate, but they are in fact a scam. The emails invite the named party to attend their local court because of "crime commitment." They also contain a link to download your file.  "The AFP does not issue subpoena's via email," an AFP spokesperson said to the ABC in an article about the scam. "Do not click on any links. Delete the email...

Read more

Best Practice strategies to handle stress

We all get stressed some time in our lives. Some handle it better, while others struggle to find the perfect balance. Although Australia offers 20 days annual leave per year plus public holidays, these holidays seem to just come and go! Not to mention, there’s a large proportion of people out there who don’t even take their breaks. This means they don’t even give their tired bodies the breaks required. Whether it’s because you have an imminent deadline that you have no idea how you will achieve, a colleague that has the knack of getting under your skin or just because you had a...

Read more

Best Practice Strategies to implement a cloud based disaster recovery plan

In the face of an increasing number of disasters, local councils are realising the crucial need for infrastructure resiliency, including IT systems. Both natural and man-made disasters can result in large numbers of human fatalities and significant financial damage. In fact, natural disasters are estimated to cost an average of $1.14 billion annually in Australia. Prevention of calamities and containment of damages are key challenges facing Australian local councils— and these agencies are incurring large planned and unplanned expenditures to address them. It is...

Read more

'Step it Up’ for gender equality

With International Women’s Day last week, the world is calling to ‘Step it Up’ to achieve gender equality. Courageous advocacy and dedicated funding needs to be established to assist the advancement of gender equal societies. To help celebrate this International Women’s Day, Senior United Nations officials gathered to discuss what advancements could be made. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “We have shattered so many glass ceilings we created a carpet of shards. Now we are sweeping away the assumptions and bias of the past so women can advance across new frontiers.” “The participation...

Read more

Is Big Brother Watching: Fraud, Security and Australia's Metadata Retention Laws

It's been 5 months since the introduction of Australia's meta data laws came into effect, and the general public's understanding of metadata remains vague, at best. The collection of data from every Australians internet interactions was once infamously described by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott as "the information on the front of the envelope."  It was an interesting turnaround for the LNP Government, given the law they enacted were practically the same as those introduced by former Attorney General Labor's Nicola Roxon in 2012. At the time Ms Roxon explained the intention behind...

Read more

Horrible Bosses: More than just a Hollywood movie

A couple of years ago a Hollywood movie named Horrible Bosses detailed the revenge plans of three down on their luck employees. It tapped a need in the cinema going market grossing over $100 million at the box office as workers the world over sat in darkened cinema's and enjoyed the screwball antics of the workers, and the downfall of the bosses. But having a horrible boss of your own is no laughing matter. A bad manager is a key ingredient in the scourge that is workplace stress, and the related illnesses increased stress brings. A recent report by researchers at Harvard Business School...

Read more