When it comes to shelling out for private health insurance a key reason is to avoid the perceived long waiting times in public hospitals. But we may be wrong, with new research revealing the waits for elective surgery, ie not emergency operations, have been stable for some years. If that comes as a surprise so did (at least to me) the existence of a government-run website www.myhospitals.... read more>

It’s been a bad news week for our Victorian members this week with households facing a combined electricity and gas bill blowout of up to $310 next year as retailers raise prices. There are a couple of factors at play according to Karen Collier from the Herald Sun. The looming closure of the Hazelwood power plant is being blamed for electricity cost spikes in January, while gas price rises a... read more>

Susan Boyle, the singing sensation who catapulted to international stardom in 2009, today returns with her seventh album in seven years,  A WONDERFUL WORLD, out now through Sony Music Entertainment Australia.    Featuring spectacular duets and renditions of Nat King Cole's ‘When I Fall In Love’, Madonna’s, ‘Like A Prayer’,  Robbie William’s ‘Angels’, Michael Bolton's ‘Somewhere Out There’ an... read more>

Whilst driving with my 17 year old red p-plater the other day, he put my automatic car into neutral whilst cruising down the road at 70kmh. When I asked him why he did that, he said “to save money on petrol”. When I explained that the fuel he would be saving would be absolutely minimal, it got me thinking about our petrol-price obsessed culture. Nightly news bulletins now feature a “fuel-wat... read more>

  When a wedding anniversary break from the kids took us down to the idyllic South Coast of NSW our minds playfully  turned to retirement and where we might eventually end our days in peace. I should have kept quiet. What might have been an idle speculation as to the dream location soon turned into a more fraught negotiation about the relative merits of the beach, bush and even inner city... read more>