Loneliness has been equated to being as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It’s also something we are all vulnerable to experiencing.

The Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University have produced The Australian Loneliness Report, which outlines the extent to which loneliness is affecting Australians. Reporter Nicolas Zoumboulis speaks to lead researcher behind the study Dr Michelle Lim.

Guests:

Dr Michelle Lim, Senior Lecturer in Social Health and Wellbeing at Swinburne University.

Elisabeth Shaw, Clinical and Counselling Psychologist and CEO of Relationships Australia NSW.

Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Unsplash

Music: https://ketsamusic.com/

- next generation by Ketsa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

- Residual Anxieties by Ketsa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

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What does the federal budget mean for the youth's employment prospects? Reporter Stefan Bradley has this report from the Foundation for Young Australian's post-budget panel.

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Mental health services are expecting to receive a boost in funding

after the government released their 2019 federal budget. Much needed

funding for Headspace will see the youth mental health foundation

expand the number of centres they currently have. Reporter William Ton looks into the new mental health funding budget measures.

Interview Guest: Professor Ian Hickie, Co-Director of the Brain and

Mind Centre at the University of Sydney.

http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/people/academics/profiles/ian.hickie

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The Djab Wurrung traditional owners have been fighting the Victorian Government’s Western Freeway expansion, which could potentially destroy hundreds of sacred trees and the surrounding environment, for 10 months. The government has agreed to protect two trees, but is this good enough?

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Think cyclists are regular, red blooded humans?  A new study from QUT, Monash and Melbourne University has found you might be in the minority, with results showing that over half of participants think bike riders aren’t completely human.

Reporter Megan Whitfield looked into what was driving these attitudes.

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Facebook has announced on a blog post that it would ban the praise and support of white nationalism and separatism on its platform, lumping this content together with white supremacism.

Reporter Stefan Bradley investigates.

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The Yarra River's environmental health is being put at risk due to litter, pollution and invasive species. A recent report that was conducted over a four-year period has warned that over 180 tonnes of rubbish has been collected from the river system.

Reporter Megan Whitfield speaks to the people behind the report, and what can be done.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's controversial Gallipoli comments have angered leaders in Australia and New Zealand. Here’s Stefan Bradley's report on the politics of this diplomatic issue.

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Facebook and Instagram experienced a worldwide shutdown, sparking anxiety in the minds of many.

Reporter Georgia Delaney-Martin speaks to Dr Suelette Dreyfus, Lecturer in the Department of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne.

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The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) is the biggest/oldest queer film festival in Australia.

Ahead of the festival, reporter Megan Whitfield speaks to the Program Director, Spiro Economopoulos.

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