As I flew out of Australia on the way to China this week, the big media screens in Sydney Airport featured a Financial Review story on high rotation. The headline screamed ‘Chinese brands devour Australia’s electric vehicle market’. It was accompanied by a shady illustration – the red and yellow Chinese flag with a blacked-out human figure superimposed across the top. (more…)
Catriona Jackson
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There is no ‘debate’: them is us – Message from the Editor
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Three leaders, one reminder: moral courage is not dead in politics – Message from the Editor
When I wrote my very first editor’s message 19 months ago, I said that P&I expected leaders to display the moral courage required if we are to tackle existential threats.
I have been reminded how true this is every week. You expect courage and intelligence in those who purport to lead, and you make that crystal clear in the letters and articles we publish daily, and increasingly in the social media discussions they prompt. (more…)
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Enough. Australia is a successful nation of migrants – Message from the Editor
I spent a day in Parliament House last week. It was the day Immigration Minister Tony Burke was to make his long-delayed speech to the National Press Club on migration, and that issue hung heavy in the air. (more…)
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AI apocalypse? – Message from the Editor
Warnings from AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton make the risks of artificial intelligence harder to dismiss – and the case for robust controls much harder to postpone. (more…)
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The writers and readers who remind us why P&I matters – Message from the Editor
From superannuation and Gaza to the gig economy – this week’s writers and readers show why independent journalism matters, and why P&I will remain free to read. (more…)
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The pieces I can’t shake – message from the Editor
Some articles do more than inform. They challenge assumptions, expose uncomfortable truths and stay with us – which is why independent journalism needs room to publish them.
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Help us tell the real China story
When I represented universities, I often appeared at parliamentary inquiries. All were instructive, but there was one in late 2020 that taught me how entrenched anti-China prejudice is in Australia. (more…)
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Keeping P&I strong, brave and free – Message from the Editor
P&I can pursue important issues early and keep publishing when others look away because it answers to readers, not powerful interests. One week into the August fundraiser, that community has already taken us almost 20 per cent towards our target.
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P&I is growing. Help us keep up the fight – Message from the Editor
Another 250,000 readers found P&I over the past year. As our August fundraising campaign begins, we’re asking readers to help keep independent journalism free, fearless and growing.
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When leaders break the deal – Message from the Editor
Much of our focus this week has been on what happens when democracy, or the leaders we elect, let us down. (more…)
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Discipline without debate – Message from the Editor
On re-election in May 2025, Anthony Albanese pledged to run a “disciplined and orderly” government – hardly ‘the light on the hill’, but it struck a chord. Many of us were still scarred by the Morrison government’s dysfunction and trampling of due process. (more…)
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The revolving door is weakening trust in politics – Message from the Editor
I will leave it to others to talk about what Keir Starmer did right and wrong in his two years as UK Prime Minister. (more…)
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Pauline’s poisonous politics – Message from the Editor
A little while after Pauline Hanson graduated from Ipswich City Council politics to take the Queensland seat of Oxley, I ran into her in a Canberra pub. This isn’t as unlikely as it sounds. Journalists and politicians often drink together, or at least in close proximity to each other, and in the late 1990s Canberra had so few drinking holes that collisions were inevitable.
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Hanson, Morrison and Trump: lies, fear, and how to fight back – Message from the Editor
Fear and panic aren’t just bad in themselves; they often lead to stasis. (more…)
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That sinking feeling – Message from the Editor
Sometimes you just have to wait.
I’m not a very patient person, but I have learned two things about patience and persistence:
the hard, really important stuff never comes quickly; and
issues run in cycles. If you don’t hit the finish line this time, hang on: there will almost certainly be another opportunity. (more…)
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Politics and sport: what’s really in our heads and hearts?
Opinion polls – and the women and men who devise, conduct and analyse them – often get a bad rap. And some of the time that is understandable. (more…)
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Compassion does not end at the front gate – Message from the Editor
Like many I was revolted by the video of Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting and humiliating courageous international citizens determined to get supplies to Palestine. If you haven’t seen it, the video shows the Israeli Minister humiliating Gaza flotilla activists, who are shown kneeling in rows, heads bowed, hands cable-tied behind their backs.
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Cannes and the courts deliver a sharp rebuke to political silencing – Message from the Editor
Two seemingly unconnected things happened this week, one at the Cannes film festival on the French Riviera, the other in the US District Court in Washington. The events concerned two women – Susan Sarandon and Francesca Albanese. So what connects an icon of the screen with an Italian human-rights lawyer, and why does it matter?
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Budget 2026: Leadership means more than keeping campaign promises – Message from the Editor
The obsession with whether governments have broken campaign promises is shrinking political ambition and discouraging the kind of leadership needed to tackle Australia’s deep structural problems, P&I Editor Catriona Jackson writes. (more…)
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New partner, new voices: message from the Editor
P&I is digging deeper into issues and, thanks to new partnerships, bringing you perspectives from leading thinkers both in our daily feed and in curated series about important topics. (more…)
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The ‘little’ things that matter – Message from the Editor
There were lots of ‘big’ stories this week, in the wider world and in P&I. The assassination attempt at the White House dinner, the anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, rising debate over our place in the world in our Foreign Policy Rethink series, and constant violations of the Israel/Lebanon ceasefire. The list goes on. (more…)
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Is Trump actually helping? Message from the Editor
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Donald Trump made us see sense. (more…)
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The bad, the worse, and the need for glee – Message from the Editor
It has been a week where a number of world ‘leaders’ have exceeded even the lowest of expectations. Clearly the lion in this fight is Donald Trump as Jesus, but there are some other really notable, local contenders. (more…)
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Pope 1, Trump 0 – Message from the Editor
You think things can’t get any worse and then they do! (more…)
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Albanese’s big moment a clanger – Message from the Editor
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Resistance and the ‘Regime’ – Message from the Editor
Something is happening in the United States. It’s not just the rise of a tyrannical, anti-democratic, narcissist President. It’s a people’s movement in response. It is the rise of a nationwide resistance, led by skilled truth-tellers who defy the tsunami of post-truth bilge and document the death toll and other obscenities. (more…)
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Keeping your chin up – Message from the Editor
Around our dinner table we volunteer our ‘best bits’ for the day. My eldest daughter started it with her boys, and it has now become an evening ritual for us all. It forces you to articulate the good bits of the day, and to listen to what have been the good bits for others. So I thought I would start doing that with readers as well. Each week, as I filter through the hundreds of articles, podcasts, and Instagram posts that inform our coverage, I will pick a best bit. If you are reading this on social media I would love to hear your best bits. (more…)
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Grandstanding government right off-side – Message from the Editor
I have never been cynical about politics. At my 1980s high school, I confused many by having then Prime Minister Bob Hawke plastered across my A4 binder instead of Bruce Springsteen or Boy George. After starting life in journalism, where there were plenty of cynics, I horrified my editor by leaving to work for the Federal ALP. He dubbed the move the worst decision I had ever made. But I was unmoved. (more…)
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Message from the Editor
When I stared in newspapers it was often said that today’s paper is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapper. It is a relief to know that some are not so casual about the press. John Menadue and Paul Keating both have long memories, and mark a special anniversary today. It is exactly three years to the day since The Age and SMH ran a series called ‘Red Alert – warning war with China would come within three years, making that deadline today.