freelance science journalist and author
From the BMJ, 15 September 2025: After decades in the making, legislation to create Australia’s first Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has been put before federal parliament. Australia’s incumbent Labour government first promised to create a CDC while in opposition in 2020,2 at the height of the covid-19 pandemic. It has now delivered the legislation, … Continue reading Australia to establish its own CDC
From the BMJ, 5 December 2024: Children and young people aged under 16 will be banned from a range of social media platforms in Australia within a year, after the federal parliament passed a law to “deliver greater protections for young Australians during critical stages of their development.” The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum … Continue reading Australia bans under-16s from social media “to protect their development”
From the BMJ, 16 December 2023: Australia has become the first country to ban engineered stone, a popular material for kitchen and bathroom benchtops, after documenting hundreds of cases of silicosis in workers in the industry who were exposed to dust from cutting the product. Work health and safety ministers approved a ban on the … Continue reading Australia bans engineered stone because of silicosis risk
From the BMJ, 4 May 2023: The importation and sale of all e-cigarettes, regardless of whether they are labelled as containing nicotine or not, will soon be banned in Australia, unless they are supplied by prescription through a licensed pharmacist. The crackdown by the Australian government was announced amid concerns that a growing black market … Continue reading Australia bans all vapes except on prescription to stem use in children
From the BMJ, 10 December 2019: Large bushfires have shrouded Australia’s east coast in dense smoke, prompting health authorities to issue warnings as Sydney’s air quality index exceeded hazardous levels by a factor of 10. The number of people across New South Wales presenting to hospital emergency departments with respiratory problems increased by around 25% … Continue reading Bushfires: Australia issues health warnings as Sydney air quality plummets
From the BMJ.com, 20 March 2018: Australia has recorded its sixth infant death from congenital syphilis, in a seven year long epidemic that has disproportionately impacted remote Aboriginal communities. The outbreak began in January 2011 in northwest Queensland, and over the following two years spread across to the Northern Territory, then to Western Australia, and … Continue reading Sixth child dies from congenital syphilis in northern Australia
Bianca Nogrady 