Harm reduction policies are widespread, and generally work, are safe and cost-effective. (more…)
Category: Policy
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Paper walls at Thailand’s border
Myanmar’s current emergency is not a sudden rupture but a long arc of military rule that has criminalised dissent, dismantled civil society and pushed millions into precarity. (more…)
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Family violence and migrant women – a better way
Nashita Pasha is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Reuniting families: reforming Australia’s approach
Saffron Williams is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Embedding free, prior and informed consent in Australia’s legal framework
Tiarna Williams is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Disarming extremism in the algorithmic age
Amelie Szczecinski is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Ignorance is complicity: Australia must end its arms trade with those committing crimes
Rayana Ajam is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Universal jurisdiction: Australia’s crucial role in international criminal justice
Samar Batool Athar is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project. (more…)
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Palestine, hate and the fantasy of White Australia
Last week, as the prime minister confirmed Australia would recognise Palestine, far right protesters still hit Melbourne’s streets. (more…)
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What should Australian Governments do about ‘mental health’?
Along with climate change and ecological damage, Australians face an equally important challenge of exposure to stressful social conditions leading to declining psychological health for millions. (more…)
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Gas is not a climate policy
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has thrown himself into a fight that is not his own. (more…)
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The stars suggest Albo should stay at home
If I were drafting astrology advice for Anthony Albanese over the next few weeks, I would be hinting that it was the worst possible time for international travel, and that a serious bout of diplomatic flu might be the best way to secure his (and Australia’s) long-term interests. (more…)
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Australia’s modest climate target: This is what collective failure looks like
Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen was right about one thing: Not many people would be happy with the federal government’s newly announced 2035 emissions target. Some would think it too high and others too low. (more…)
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Sprinting to stand still: Still no progress in Australia’s energy transition
August 2025: The Australian Government’s oxymoronically named Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water has just published its 2025 Australian Energy Statistics Update Report. (more…)
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A new foreign policy for Europe
The European Union needs a new foreign policy based on Europe’s true economic and security interests. (more…)
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Gaslighting the electorate, virtue signalling to our ‘partners’
Just when you think that the Australian Government cannot sink any lower, the prime minister still manages to surprise! (more…)
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Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan
In the grand tradition of diplomatic overreach, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister recently offered some sweet and spicy talking points to our media: semiconductors are tanks, China is akin to WWII Germany, and if Australia doesn’t fast-track Taiwan into the CPTPP, we might all wake up speaking Mandarin under a fascist AI regime, as reported by News Corp and 7 News. (more…)
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For 35 years after Vietnam, we had a self-reliant defence policy. We need it again
The US is almost always at war, not in defence of values and democracy but in its “manifest destiny” as the world hegemon. (more…)
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Cutting through the spin – Ten logging ‘myths’ in the new ABARES report
Australia’s native‑forest debate has long been characterised by falsehoods generated by industry and arms of industry such as parts of government. (more…)
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How should Services Australia be constructed?
The Robodebt Royal Commission recommended that the government “undertake an immediate and full review to examine whether the existing structure of the Social Services portfolio and the status of Services Australia (SA) as an entity are optimal” (Rec. 23.1). (more…)
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The question that wasn’t asked
Australian support for the US alliance is progressively evaporating. The longer Trump remains in the White House the greater the separation grows. (more…)
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Australia has 120 health workforce policies. But with no national plan, we’re missing the big picture
Australia’s health workforce is under pressure. Wait times are growing. Burnout is rising. Yet the country is awash in policy – just not the kind that solves these problems at the root. (more…)
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Labor vulnerable nowhere in particular, everywhere in general
The best attempt at a post-election pendulum was published recently by Dr Kevin Bonham, who also did a terrific job explaining developments during the preference count in the recent Tasmanian election. (more…)
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The sham of Australia’s recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory
Australia’s recognition of Palestine, like that of other Western countries, is a step in the right direction, but it remains a sham. (more…)
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Trump’s fantasies and the American economy
Donald Trump’s bluster is likely to lead to lower American living standards and higher inflation. But his advisers want to keep their jobs, and won’t tell him that. (more…)
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Australia leads the world on rooftop solar, now it needs to catch up with how to manage it
It is an irony of no small significance that Australia, while leading the world in per capita uptake of rooftop solar, finds itself in 2025 well behind the pace on how best to manage this huge and valuable resource as part of a modern, increasingly renewables-powered grid. (more…)
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Layered perversion of Australia’s defence policy
An amazing thing has happened. Our taxpayer-funded think-tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has commissioned analysis by Robert Macklin which shows that the public debate on Australia’s defence has been biased. (more…)
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Algal bloom: first peoples ngamath-sea country
A civilisation that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilisation. – Aime Cesaire. (more…)
