A new collection of essays on the Hawke government shows why its reform legacy rested not only on policy ambition, but on evidence, public service advice, Cabinet debate, consultation and disciplined political communication. (more…)
Category: Policy
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Homelessness needs political action, not just public sympathy
Australia has widespread public concern about homelessness, but reducing it at scale requires turning charitable support into organised advocacy for housing policy, social housing investment and systemic reform. (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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Hailing Australia’s under-appreciated life-saving heroes
Desmond Manderson’s High Time – How Australia changed its mind about illegal drugs, is a social history of Australia’s drug policy and a must-read for policymakers. (more…)
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The quiet Australians who actually empty the bins
When the political class keeps choosing to squeeze outer-suburban, mortgage-stressed, salaried workers, we shouldn’t be surprised to see these people turning to One Nation. (more…)
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East Africa is coping on the frontline of the Ebola outbreak
The international community must resist the urge to panic in response to the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC and Uganda. The more useful task is to support existing local systems. (more…)
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Australia needs to start planning for life after gas
A major new report warns Australia must accelerate its transition away from gas or face higher energy costs, missed climate targets and growing risks to manufacturers and consumers.
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Victoria: the police state
The Victorian Government relies too heavily on policing as the default solution to every social issue and is granting the police unchecked powers. (more…)
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Australia can’t have it both ways with China and the US forever
For two decades Australia assumed it could maintain beneficial ties with both the United States and China indefinitely. That assumption has collapsed. Work to build a greater resilience and autonomy, with our region, will take years, but that work must begin now. Nick Bisley reports. (more…)
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Securing the NDIS for future generations: government half-think
The Government is not considering both sides of the ledger when it comes to funding the NDIS. It’s not just about cutting costs but also raising revenue. (more…)
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Governing on empty: the Hormuz crisis across Asia and the Pacific — part 2
In their second in a three-part series on the crisis surrounding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz Nicola Nixon and Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj look beyond energy. (more…)
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Governing on empty: the Hormuz crisis across Asia and the Pacific — part 1
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is reshaping energy, governance and inequality across Asia and the Pacific. This three-part series examines the very different long and short term impacts across the region. (more…)
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Tensions in Australia’s migration system: a missed opportunity for the Coalition
The Liberal Party has missed an opportunity to design a sophisticated migration policy that incorporates demand for labour, housing, infrastructure and energy. (more…)
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Rehabilitation fails when prisons strip people of dignity
Overcrowding, poor mental health care and degrading prison conditions across Australia are undermining rehabilitation efforts and raising serious questions about how the correctional system treats human dignity. (more…)
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Australia abandoned harm minimisation on smoking – and fuelled a black market
Australia’s steep cigarette excise increases and restrictive vaping policies have fuelled a massive illegal tobacco market while undermining the country’s long-standing harm-minimisation approach to public health.
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A more nuanced way to tackle social media’s harmful effects
Instead of a blanket ban on social media for under 16-year-olds, listening to young people’s ideas about how to tackle the harm would be more effective. (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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Chance for a fresh start in patching up the Commonwealth Public Service
The appointment of a new Commonwealth Public Service Commissioner highlights deeper structural problems inside the Public Service Commission, from flawed remuneration policies to weak accountability and confused reform priorities.
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The aid budget ignored a deepening global crisis
Despite the economic and humanitarian shock triggered by the Iran war, Australia’s latest foreign aid budget failed to deliver the kind of substantial regional response the country mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Cutting tobacco tax will not stop Australia’s illegal cigarette trade
Proposals to slash Australia’s tobacco excise ignore the basic economics of the illegal cigarette market, where untaxed products would remain dramatically cheaper even if tobacco taxes were heavily reduced. (more…)
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Australia keeps feeding a housing system that cannot deliver
Australia’s housing crisis reflects not just a shortage of homes but the structural limits of a system that relies overwhelmingly on private developers and speculative market incentives to deliver essential social infrastructure. (more…)
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The prison system is failing at the point that matters most
Australia’s correctional system remains heavily focused on incarceration and punishment while failing to build a coordinated national framework to support people transitioning back into society after release.
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The Safeguard Mechanism for greenhouse gases is flawed
The government’s main policy instrument for reducing greenhouse gases only covers a small proportion of emissions and allows companies to offset these emissions. This is totally inadequate when the climate imperative is to rapidly reduce the use of fossil fuels. (more…)
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Labor has backed away from meaningful gambling reform
The government’s long-awaited response to the Murphy inquiry into online wagering falls short of the reforms needed to reduce gambling harm, particularly among young Australians.
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The battle for human attention is becoming a battle for democracy
After US courts found Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately addicting young users, attention is increasingly being recognised not as a private commodity, but as a strategic resource shaping democracy, public debate and social stability. (more…)
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Australia needs a broader vision of social cohesion
Drawing on a submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion from the Group of Six, Vasiliki Nihas Bogiatzis argues Australia needs a broader understanding of social cohesion grounded in fairness, rights, belonging and democratic trust.
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Budget 2026: Will this budget really make housing fairer for more Australians? It’s a good start
This week’s budget begins winding back tax concessions that heavily favoured property investors and wealth accumulation, while pairing those changes with new measures aimed at boosting housing supply and long-term budget sustainability. (more…)
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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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Symbolic empathy is no substitute for tackling homelessness
Fundraising sleepouts may raise awareness, but homelessness is fundamentally a systems failure driven by housing shortages, inadequate support services and political inaction.
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Is the renewed push for a Human Rights Act worth the effort?
A Commonwealth Human Rights Act must do more than help courts identify breaches of human rights; it must enable them to strike down offending laws and give relief to wronged litigants. The groundwork for an act with teeth is still to be done. (more…)