September 4, 2023

Overcoming Barriers to Volunteering: A Discussion Paper

September 25, 2026

Volunteering provides the basis for a very large number of community organisations that meet important needs in the community, such as running children’s and adults’ sports clubs, churches and other faith-based communities, mums and toddlers groups, and a great array of interest groups. If these groups cease to exist, or shrink in scope and activities because they cannot get the volunteers that they need, the community will be the poorer for it, increasing the problem of loneliness and social disconnection, amongst other adverse consequences.

The Forgotten Power of the Dinner Table

September 22, 2026

We spend a great deal of time searching for solutions to the loneliness epidemic. We know now the terrible impact of our isolation. But one of the most effective responses has been sitting in our homes all along: the dinner table.

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee

August 29, 2026

This submission addresses the elimination of the increased subsidy for people over 65 who have private health insurance. It raises issues about how we give effect to solidarity between generations.

A Perfect Match: When Individualism Meets AI Relationships

July 31, 2026

I wake up. I reach for my phone to look at an algorithm perfectly designed just for me. I put on clothes suited to my own personal style. At the station I see a t-shirt that reads: Focus on yourself, don’t get lost in other people, creating my dream life. On the train I listen to an LA influencer tell me of her deepest traumas and the importance of cutting off toxic people before saying ‘I love you guys.’

What can the Church Learn from Taylor Swift?

July 31, 2026

Taylor Swift began her career at only 14 years of age, producing albums that dominate music streaming, and breaking records for revenue on tours.

Before cutting off a family member, ask yourself these 9 questions

June 8, 2026

For some, distance is necessary. For others, the harder — and sometimes more meaningful — work is figuring out how to stay.

Please don’t bring your whole self to work

June 8, 2026

Here’s a radical idea for the second quarter of the 21st century: please don’t bring your whole self to work.

Creating Thriving Communities The Role of Not-For-Profits in a Fragmenting World

May 1, 2026

This article explores how organisations can foster an authentic sense of connection and belonging among team members and the value proposition for those organisations that do.

Workplaces of belonging – the next leadership frontier

March 17, 2026

The workplace today is more than a site of economic production—it has quietly become Australia’s most prominent social institution. For many, work has surpassed churches, sporting clubs, unions and other civic spaces as the primary environment for community connection, shared purpose and belonging.

This article explores how organisations can foster an authentic sense of connection and belonging among team members and the value proposition for those organisations that do.

Supporting People to Overcome Loneliness

February 9, 2026

How do we help people who are very lonely? Jonathan Andrews, a clinical psychologist and author of The Reconnected Heart: How Relationships Help us Heal, explains that it is the quality of relationships that positively impacts loneliness, not quantity. People need deep connection, not a large number of friends.
a name: kodokushi, or ‘lonely deaths’, where a corpse might go undiscovered for months in an unvisited apartment, before the smell finally alerts someone