Behind the labels: who is really on the disability support pension and why

Judith Ireland, Conrad Walters We dig into the much-criticised benefit.

Number of displaced people worldwide exceeds 50 million: UN report

Sarah Whyte and Inga Ting The number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has exceeded 50 million for the first time since World War II, a United Nations report shows.

Dating scams leave victims broke and broken-hearted

Esther Han and Inga Ting Dating and romance-related fraud netted $25.2 million last year.

Pensioners lose savings in government cash grab

Esther Han, Inga Ting The government has bagged an unprecedented $360 million from household bank accounts since a controversial change to unclaimed money laws.

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Women being left behind in Queen's Birthday Honours

CONRAD WALTERS Female librarians and women working with the disabled, take a bow. Since 2001, you have received more Order of Australia honours than your male counterparts. That's 185 of you, compared with 145 men.

Post-Gonski fortune to private schools

ANNA PATTY Termination of schools funding under the Gonski model after four years will deliver an ''overpayment'' of $169 million a year to 163 wealthy independent schools in NSW, analysis shows.

The royal we

PETER MUNRO We are not amused ... well, certainly Republicans aren't, as support for the monarchy among Australia's youth soars. Peter Munro meets those young 'uns who proudly dips their lids to Lizzie, Wills and Kate.

Life outside jail proves fatal

INGA TING A prison sentence - even after it has been served - can be a death sentence.

United States Correspondent

A slice of pizza and a one-way ticket to the big house: the three-strikes law

NICK O'MALLEY The way Jerry Williams tells the story he was just mucking around with friends when some kids said he stole a slice of pizza. He ended up with a 25-to-life prison sentence under California's ''three strikes'' law.

Science

Icy trip to the core of climate change

Nicky Phillips, Conrad Walters A puddle of water was not what Mark Curran expected to find when he arrived at the Australian Antarctic Division in Kingston to check the ice cores he helped drill in Antarctica over summer.

Asylum seekers' time in detention soars

Inga Ting, Conrad Walters The average number of days in detention has risen every month for the past eight months.

International drug cartels target wealthy Australian market

Nick Ralston International drug cartels are increasingly targeting the Australian market due to a rise in demand and the price consumers are willing to pay, with latest figures showing drug seizures and arrests at record highs.

Doctors fail to wash hands before treating patients, study finds

AMY CORDEROY Doctors in Australia's biggest hospitals are routinely failing to wash their hands before touching patients, new figures show.

Children left untreated as hospital waiting times 'blowout'

Kate Hagan, Craig Butt Victorian children are waiting too long for elective surgery with hundreds of patients listed for semi-urgent operations at the Royal Children's Hospital missing out on treatment within 90 days, new data shows.

Overlapping health system just helps to 'jump queue'

INGA TING Sam Taylor's children were just 6 and 14 when she was asked to make a choice no woman ever wants to make.

Drinkers in danger rate their usage as average: study

Amy Corderoy, Lucy Carroll Australians are in denial about their alcohol use, tens of thousands are potentially drinking at risky levels and those in the most danger are seemingly clueless they have a problem, the Global Drug Survey has found.

Food Authority inspections reveal worst-offending grocery stores

Esther Han, Inga Ting Rodents, bugs, filth and expired food have caused nearly 300 supermarkets, greengrocers and delis to be slapped with fines over the past six years, data from the NSW Food Authority shows.

University census date arrives: One in five students quit by first year

HEATH GILMORE It is the great university purge. Nearly one in five domestic students will probably leave their studies by the end of their first year.

Story of farming a saga of boom or bust

CONRAD WALTERS Drought kicked Cameron Rowntree in the gut this week. Spurred by the costs of feeding his cattle, the fourth-generation Walgett farmer thinned his herd by selling stock.

Private insurance-based healthcare 'the most expensive', Commission of Audit told

INGA TING Countries that rely strongly on private insurance to fund healthcare have more expensive health systems, the federal government's Commission of Audit has been told.

Freedom and control are why the rich really are charitable

INGA TING Among taxpayers who claim a deduction for their generosity, the proportion of money given away by low-income earners is 11 times higher than that of wealthy taxpayers.

Revealed: The women we failed

Nick Ralston, Amy Corderoy, Inga Ting Three-quarters of women killed in NSW die at the hands of loved ones, a statistic that has led the NSW Police Commissioner to warn that domestic violence is one of the ''biggest issues modern society has to face''.

When food goes wrong

Richard Cornish Salmonella poisoning has almost doubled in the past decade. Following a spate of local and international incidents, we investigate why this is happening.

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Health system inefficiencies costing $3 billion a year, says expert

DAN HARRISON Billions of taxpayers' dollars could be saved from the public health budget without reducing levels of service and care, according to a former head of the federal Health Department.

Sydney schools face queues as sell-off scheme backfires

JOSEPHINE TOVEY 'Get rich quick'' schemes to sell schools in Sydney's inner suburbs over the past 20 years have backfired, parents and public education advocates say, with many of the remaining schools now close to full and the state government exploring the need for an inner-city high school.

A fare cop: state loses $120m every year to passengers who don't pay

Jacob Saulwick, Alexandra Back Public transport fare evaders cost NSW about $120 million a year, according to the first detailed survey of Sydney's bus, rail and ferry passengers.

Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics: Delphi's Oracle never foresaw this

Alex Nicholson Extreme sports have paved the way for Australia's hopes in the Winter Olympics.

Comments

Coalition wins money vote as $81m poured into its coffers

JONATHAN SWAN The Coalition appears to be vastly better off than Labor, with the Liberals and Nationals making about $26 million more than their political opponents last year.

NSW

Welcome to Sydney's new million-dollar suburbs

TOBY JOHNSTONE It is the only club in Sydney where Point Piper residents rub shoulders with the nouveau-riche of Kenthurst, where Mosman meets Matraville and Burwood and Birchgrove are equal.

Love your guts: world 'hearts' Aussie offal

ESTHER HAN Australians love steak, but our aversion to the bits left behind has made us one of the biggest purveyors of offal in the world.

EXCLUSIVE

Selective school fees five times higher than at other public schools

Josephine Tovey, Inga Ting Parents with children in NSW selective schools pay voluntary fees on average five times the amount of those with children in comprehensive public schools, creating a stark inequality within the public school system, an analysis by Fairfax Media reveals.

Lifting alcohol prices won't stop binges: experts

INGA TING Higher prices for alcohol will do little to curb high-intensity drinking because binge drinkers commonly drink little or nothing on some days so they can binge on the weekend, leading public health experts warn.

Steroid use soars among young men

Peter Munro Steroids have become the drug of choice for people who start injecting illicit substances, eclipsing methamphetamines and heroin in popularity among young men.

Australia's richest suburb: they're swimming in it

Matt Wade It has Taronga Zoo, Balmoral Beach and a higher annual income than several African nations. Mosman's postcode, 2088, has the largest combined taxable income in Australia - a handy $2.5 billion, the latest tax data shows.

Sydney gay capital but some are only homosexual couple in the village

Lucy Marks, Craig Butt, Caroline Zielinski Karen Di Stefano does not see her homosexuality as anything out of the ordinary. ''It doesn't define who I am,'' says Ms Di Stefano, who has lived with her partner Amanda Harris in Frenchs Forest for three years.

A new kind of neighbourly love in Airport West

Caroline Zielinski and Craig Butt Caroline Jemison says a trip to her local shopping centre often leaves her wondering if she and her partner Fiona Campbell are the only lesbians in Airport West.

Private health insurance: one in the hip pocket

RACHEL BROWNE With premiums steadily rising, many people are cutting back their healthcare cover, writes Rachel Browne.

Revealed: the high cost of being charitable

Rachel Browne, Michaela Whitbourn Almost half of donations to some popular charities are spent on fund-raising, prompting calls for more transparency as the Coalition prepares to abolish the body set up to regulate not-for-profit organisations.

HSC trends hark back to gender stereotypes of '50s

AMY MCNEILAGE Looking at trends in this year's HSC results, one could be forgiven for thinking the results were from the 1950s.

ATAR results: two years' hard work adds up to relative mystery

AMY MCNEILAGE Almost 55,000 of the state's school leavers will find out their ATAR on Thursday. But it is doubtful many, if any, will truly understand the intricacies of how it was calculated.

One year after Sandy Hook, Americans still up in arms

NICK O'MALLEY One year after the Sandy Hook massacre, America is still fiercely divided over its gun laws.

Automotive

Holden: Numbers tell the story for the small fry of General Motors' ecosystem

MARK HAWTHORNE The story of Holden and its demise needs to be viewed through a global lens if it's to be fully understood.

Sandy Hook massacre: Gun lobby targets Australia

NICK O'MALLEY Australia has again become a focus of the increasingly bitter debate over gun control in the United States.

Maths tutoring adds up for students: OECD study

AMY MCNEILAGE Many of the world's most mathematically gifted teenagers come from countries with the most lucrative tutoring industries.

University degrees worth billions to Australian wellbeing

MATT WADE Sitting through lectures and tutorials may be worth more than you think: the wellbeing value of a university degree is nearly $1 million.

Wasted decade as indigenous health fails to show improvement

INGA TING Indigenous health has not improved at all in many areas of Australia over the past decade, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed.

Court verdicts: More found innocent if no jury involved

Michaela Whitbourn The man accused of murdering his fiancee by throwing her off the balcony of their Hyde Park apartment may have improved his chances of being found innocent by being tried without a jury.

COAG report: girls ahead at school but women lag in pay stakes

JOSEPHINE TOVEY It is the "baffling contrast" in gender equality in Australia: girls generally outperform boys at school, and are more likely to hold a bachelor degree, but men continue to earn more than women in the workplace and overwhelmingly dominate leadership roles.

Our national journey to prosperity

MATT WADE Statistics charting progress across Australian election years tell an interesting story, writes Matt Wade

Alarm over child drinking, multiple liquor outlets

AMY CORDEROY Children as young as 12 who live in areas saturated with liquor outlets are more likely to drink than their peers, researchers say.

Melbourne top for avoidable hospital visits

Dan Harrison Melburnians are being admitted to hospital at the highest rates in the nation for conditions that should not need hospital treatment.

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How Australia eats: The ultimate pie chart

INGA TING We've never been more preoccupied with what, where and how to eat, so why are we fatter than ever and less capable of preparing food for ourselves? Here are the facts and figures.

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Home truths

MATT WADE As Sydney house prices break records, economists warn that $1 million suburbs are the new normal.

200 schools worse off in new scheme

JOSEPHINE TOVEY More than 200 public schools in NSW, many in low socio-economic areas, will receive less funding next year under the new Gonski-inspired model, despite an overall $100 million boost to the sector.

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HIV increase at a 20-year high

AMY CORDEROY Australia has had the biggest jump in new HIV cases in two decades, leading experts to call for urgent action to tackle the disease.

UK

If London's still calling, young Aussies have stopped listening

NICK MILLER The British capital is losing some of its allure.

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Food shortage means thousands go hungry as data shows shift in needy

ESTHER HAN Charities are turning away more than 10,000 people seeking food parcels and free meals every month in NSW - nearly half the hungry mouths being children - because of depleted food stocks, a national report shows.

AFL

How your club fared in the free agency and trade period

Compiled by Emma Quayle and Michael Gleeson It has taken three weeks but the AFL free agency and trade period has finally ended. Emma Quayle and Michael Gleeson examine which clubs 'won' and which didn't.

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Geography loses as HSC students map their futures

AMY MCNEILAGE HSC students are increasingly choosing subjects such as legal studies and construction with their eye on a future job, at the expense of languages and complex maths subjects.

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Suicide link to ADHD drug

Amy Corderoy A nine-year-old boy has killed himself and two other children have attempted suicide while taking a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, federal drug authorities have said.

Broncos top of the league teams

MICHAEL CARAYANNIS Brisbane Broncos are officially the most successful team in rugby league history.

Pharmacies next target of big two, say analysts

SARAH WHYTE The growing empires of Australia's two big supermarkets have been branded an international oddity amid a prediction pharmacies may be their next conquest.

Property

How to spot a housing bubble

GLENDA KWEK There's no doubt house prices are high - but are we already in bubble territory? Here's a checklist.

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Generation EEO

RACHEL BROWNE Our federal cabinet might have only one woman but since the 1980s equal employment opportunity has been in place. We look at women who have moved to the top of their professions on this 'level' playing field.

Rudd saved Labor, leaked polling shows

Jonathan Swan, Bianca Hall, Rick Feneley Labor would have been reduced to a parliamentary rump had it not replaced Julia Gillard with Kevin Rudd as prime minister, according to leaked internal polling.

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Few women, lots of private school Catholics

Matt Wade The lopsided gender balance of Tony Abbott's cabinet has caused a stir. But how does it compare with the Australian population on other major demographic characteristics such as age, religion, schooling and occupation?

Comment

Sorry kids, to be honest, we're not a charity

DANIEL FLITTON Opinion Australia needs to make sure it spends wisely when it helps overseas.

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Washington massacre: Don't expect gun reform

NICK O'MALLEY Early on Monday afternoon in the US most of the nation was gripped by the notion that while one gunman was "down" in the DC Navy Yard others might be on the lose. That suggested the mass shooting may have been a terrorist attack.

Gen Y makes a sharp turn away from driving

Jacob Saulwick, Conrad Walters Sydney's 20-somethings are fast ditching their cars for public transport, previously unpublished figures show, revealing the trend is widespread in the city.

Wine no longer enough, buyers want the backstory

ESTHER HAN When it comes to exports, South Australia's Barossa reigns supreme over every other wine region in Australia. Last financial year alone, it splashed the world with 12 million litres worth $110 million.

State schools raise $329m to lift income

Craig Butt and Benjamin Preiss There is no such thing as a free lunch; or a free education.

Teen drinking falls but concern over risk takers

AMY CORDEROY The number of schoolchildren drinking alcohol has fallen dramatically over the past 30 years, a large study of NSW students has found.

Fine words but childcare still overcrowded

Cosima Marriner, Craig Butt One-third of Sydney childcare centres have no vacancies, forcing some parents to wait nearly two years for a place, with neither Labor nor the Coalition outlining a solution to the childcare crisis experts say is hampering women's workforce participation.

Education

Australia the world's most expensive place for overseas students

GLENDA KWEK Australia is the most expensive country for international students, ahead of the US and UK, but the falling currency and improved visa processes could soon seen a resurgence in numbers.

George St takes city's dining crown off Surry Hills

Ardyn Bernoth Where is Sydney's hottest, most happening eat street? If you thought Crown Street, Surry Hills, think again. The city's George Street takes the crown as Sydney's star culinary strip. And the CBD is our dining epicentre.

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'I've never seen anything like it': theft rates drop

EMMA PARTRIDGE Less heroin use, a booming economy and tougher policing have led to a 59 per cent drop in robberies across NSW in the past decade, new figures show.

Crackdown for payment adds to effect of rising bills

Julie Power Energy companies are cracking down on people who can't pay their power bills, as experts warn ''energy poverty'' is intensifying.

A change in diversity at James Ruse

JOSEPHINE TOVEY The number of students from non-English speaking backgrounds gaining admission to Sydney's top selective high school has fallen significantly in the past two years.

Urban sprawl eats into Sydney's farmland

ESTHER HAN Despite his family growing peaches and lemons on the fringes of Sydney for nearly 50 years, Warren Rowles says the farming tradition will end with him.

Canine aggression rises as funding bitten

Tim Barlass The number of dog attacks on people in NSW has increased threefold since 2007 but funding for companion animal issues has been cut in the latest budget.

Rental affordability plunges in south-east

Craig Butt Big drop in affordable rental properties for traditionally low-cost areas of Melbourne's south-east.

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Ratepayers hit with 5% rise

Aisha Dow and Craig Butt Every Victorian ratepayer will have to find more this year - an average of $76 per household.

Tram squeeze eases but some still suffer

Adam Carey and Craig Butt Overcrowding on peak-hour trams has eased in the past year but remains a stubborn problem on a number of Melbourne routes.

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At a glance: NSW budget 2013

The main points from this year's New South Wales state budget, delivered by Treasurer Mike Baird.

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Gonski reforms: what your school will get?

Jewel Topsfield, Craig Butt and Henrietta Cook Every one of Victoria's 1522 state schools would receive funding increases over the next six years 'if the state signs up to the Gonski reforms'.

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Hospital over budget, close to capacity

AMY CORDEROY Doctors at one of Sydney's top hospitals say emergency and resuscitation beds that are desperately needed for patient care are lying dormant because of funding shortfalls.

Mental illness costing $190b a year

MATT WADE The cost of mental illness to Australia's collective wellbeing has reached $190 billion a year - equivalent to about 12 per cent of the economy's annual output.

GovHack

It's a date, for tinkering with official data

Craig Butt Welcome to GovHack, a nation-wide carnival of innovation that drew people to work with public government data.

Cycle data riding high on reader feedback

Marc Moncrief and Craig Butt He was half-naked, his body was broken and Michael Walker could not remember a thing.

Would you like extra germs with that?

See if your favourite restaurant is on the state's name and shame list.

Family violence drives up crime rate

Nino Bucci, Craig Butt and Jared Lynch Family violence has again been used to explain a leap in the state's crime rate.

Immunisation rates trail poorer countries

RACHEL BROWNE Australian immunisation rates are lower than those of many developing countries including Rwanda, Eritrea and Bangladesh, according to a global report.

Cyclists get warning on danger spots

Marc Moncrief and Aisha Dow Researchers have identified the five areas in Melbourne where cyclists are most likely to be killed or seriously injured.

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2013 Federal Budget interactive

Explore this year's federal budget to see where the money comes from and goes to.

Abbott parental leave to be among world's best

STEPHANIE PEATLING The Coalition's paid parental leave would be among the most generous in the world both in its length and the amount it paid to parents.

Road to riches paved with good incisions

MATT WADE How many surgeons does it take to earn a billion dollars? Surprisingly few, according to the latest tax figures.

Fake followers boost politicians' popularity

Craig Butt and Thomas Hounslow The Twitter accounts of Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and other prominent politicians are being targeted by ''spam bots'', dramatically inflating their follower numbers.

One day on the Western Front

Tim Barlass An extract from the diary of Aubrey Wiltshire, a bank officer from Melbourne who served with the 22nd Battalion, D Company, AIF. Wiltshire was 24 years old when he boarded HMAT Ulysses on May 10, 1915.

Tornadoes in Australia

See every Australian tornado visualised in this marvelous interactive feature by our colleagues at the Border Mail.