Economists are around the country are asking what exactly the problem is with our economy when we have just received a AAA credit rating and our debt is among the lowest in the world. Yet in the National Press Club today, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey continued to talk about the so-called budget emergency. So why does the debt rhetoric resonate with the Australian public?

Today's 2013 Salvation Army National Economic and Social Impact Survey 2013 confirmed what welfare groups have been saying for months: over a million people are struggling under the weight of the rising costs of living, lack of housing and the lack of jobs. However both sides of politics are currently cutting many welfare programs such as the baby bonus in order to lower the budget deficit.

The Victorian Inquiry into child abuse is reaching its final stages, with Cardinal George Pell due to present before the committee next week. The Inquiry Committee has received over 400 written submissions and conducted almost 200 hearing sessions from victims and their families.

An emergency meeting has been held in Perth, to discuss the alarming spike in Aboriginal youth suicides in Western Australia. More than 100 people, including Indigenous leaders, Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda and Western Australian Mental Health Commissioner, Eddie Bartnik, were in attendance.