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The article focuses on the ninth conference of the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC). The conference began with a warm and touching welcome of the attendees by Ali Golding, an Indigenous Australian from Sydney, New South Wales, and an adopted elder of the Eora people of Sydney. The atmosphere of harmony generated by this welcome provided a challenging context for the delivery of papers that together highlighted a diverse range of problematic social issues. This year also marks the beginning of close collaboration between the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Social Policy Research Centre in the evaluation of the Australian Government's innovative "Stronger Families and Communities Strategy." This important and intensive evaluation is being led by the SPRC, with the Institute as its partner. The nature of the strategy and ways in which it will be evaluated formed the basis of papers at the SPRC. As this work progresses, it will no doubt produce informative papers linking research, policy and practice.

The article focuses on the Ninth Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference, titled "Families Matter," which was held in Melbourne on 9-11 February 2005. The conference was opened by the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator the Hon. Kay Patterson. The conference concluded with a panel discussion on the topic "Family policy in the Asia Pacific region." Early childhood development, early intervention strategies and the development of effective children's services continue to be enduring themes of Institute conferences. A number of papers discussed children's well-being in childcare. A number of sessions were dedicated to exploring the interaction between family life and community life. The participation of international delegates provides an important networking opportunity for Australian researchers and policy makers attending the Institute's Conference. Feedback from delegates attending the conference was very positive. During and immediately after the conference, research presented at the conference was reported in more than 800 media items.

The article provides updates on "Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)." The third round of interviews for LSAC have been underway for most of 2008. Meanwhile, the paper "How Important is Marriage to Australians' Health, Wealth and Happiness?" has been presented by Linda Bencic. Furthermore, a paper on "Determining the Effects of Housing Costs on the Well-Being of Australian Families" has been presented by Sebastian Misson.

This article presents information on features of Web sites of the Australian Institute of Family Studies on the family. The Institute's Annual Report 1998-99 and a number of new Institute papers can now be accessed from the Publications page at: www.aifs.org.au/institute/pubs/pubsmenu.html. The Institute has recently established two email discussion forums to support discussion and networking in the fields of child abuse prevention and marriage and relationship education, and an Institute announcements list. Childprotect aims to promote the exchange of information and ideas between Australasian and other professionals working in the field of child abuse prevention and child protection, including child protection workers, other health and welfare service providers, people working in the criminal justice system, in education and training or in policy and service planning, researchers and information providers. Marriage and Relationship Education aims to establish a network of marriage and relationship education researchers and practitioners, and to provide a forum for discussion of issues related to the research, practice and further development of marriage and relationship education in Australia. Aifs-alert has been set up as a means of keeping people up to date with Institute activities and new developments on the Web site.

This article focuses on various issues affecting the family in Australia. The September 1, 1999 edition of "Family Matters" focuses on the theme of families, welfare and social policy. In a speech at the National Press Club on 29 September 1999, Senator Jocelyn Newman, Minister for Family and Community Services, announced that social policy would be a major reform priority of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard Government. Senator Newman announced the formation of a Reference Group on Welfare Reform to guide the development of a comprehensive Green Paper on welfare reform. Welfare dependency is a key issue for investigation by the Reference Group. The Australian Institute of Family Studies's interest in the issue of welfare reform has been a long one, indeed, the Institute held a Workshop as long ago as 1983 on the subject of "Single Parents: Work or Welfare?" Since its inception 1980 the Institute has built up and shared a wealth of experience and knowledge on issues affecting the well being and stability of families. Research areas have included: the social costs of child and family poverty and marriage breakdown; the living standards of low and middle income families; labour force issues; housing; family income transfers, child support and tax; educational and other disadvantage suffered by children in poor families; and child abuse and neglect. INSET: NEW AIFS DIRECTOR APPOINTED.

The article informs that as part of National Child Protection Week last August, the Federal Minister for Community Services, Mr Larry Anthony, launched a key issues paper, "Exploring family violence: the links between child maltreatment and domestic violence," which showed that in many families where either child abuse or domestic violence was identified, both forms of violence are likely to be present. As a society we must strive to learn more about this subject and continue developing effective child-focused responses, Mr Anthony said. This report adds to a growing knowledge base we are developing though initiatives such as the Government's Partnerships Against Domestic Violence Strategy, he added. The report gives us a better insight into the links between family violence and child abuse, and provides important information that can be used to develop further initiatives targeted at prevention and early intervention, he said. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that different types of violence may occur simultaneously in the same family, and that the presence of one form of violence may be a strong predictor of the other.