A recent panel discussing multiculturalism addressed both the issues facing the policy and its positive artistic and cultural contributions. (more…)
Category: Politics
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NACC commissioner Paul Brereton resigns
National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton resigns after three years, citing leadership scrutiny as a distraction from anti-corruption work. (more…)
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It is time for a real liberal party
More than 20 years after he wrote that the Liberal Party has deserted it roots and become deeply conservative, Greg Barns argues it is well beyond time for a genuine liberal force to enter the fray. (more…)
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China on the way to being the first electro-state
China’s careful approach to ensuring its energy security is paying off, even as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz damages the global economy. (more…)
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Albo stumbles with the hard sell
Of all the things which most frustrate about the Albanese government is the tendency of ministers to fall into a form of paralysis the moment it meets any sort of organised opposition, particularly from lobbies of the rich and powerful. (more…)
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War games behind the Iran Curtain
The US and UK governments continue to ignore their parliaments and public opinion, on the most important issue, going to war. Again Australia is on the wrong side. (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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When the Earth’s well runs dry
Beneath our very feet, a silent crisis is unfolding. Unseen, unheeded, the Earth is running out of freshwater. (more…)
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The Emperor has no clothes
The continuing saga of the Trump ballroom is yet another sign that everything the man touches turns to anything but gold, writes Noel Turnbull. (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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Thugocracy: the Iran war shows how instability can become profitable
The Iran war has revealed how instability can become a powerful political instrument that benefits insiders and gives them incentives to prolong conflict. (more…)
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The importance of plantations in the Australian forest industry
Timber plantations now provide the overwhelming majority of Australia’s sawn wood products and will become even more important as native forest logging declines and climate pressures intensify. (more…)
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Why have we not heeded Attenborough’s warnings?
We have collectively created a self-propelling destructive system that no-one is in charge of.
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Ben-Gvir’s flotilla humiliation exposes Australia’s selective human rights language
The detention and public humiliation of Australian citizens aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla raises broader questions about whether Australia applies its human rights principles differently when the state involved is a close ally.
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Putin and Trump can’t win
Believing in their military might, neither Putin nor Trump considered the consequences of their attacks on Ukraine and Iran. Now their wars are failing. (more…)
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“Please try to enjoy each fact equally” – Severance and the fragmentation of modern identity
Whether you’re an ‘innie’ or an ‘outie’, the television series Severance resonates so deeply because its vision of fragmented identity, emotional suppression and corporate control no longer feels futuristic. It feels uncomfortably familiar. (more…)
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Turning a blind eye to climate risk threatens derailment
The 2026 budget is a continuation of the Labor Government’s denial of the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions before the climate reaches a tipping point. (more…)
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Tom Uren – no ‘woke’ warrior
The morality Tom Uren learned on the Burma railway stayed with him all his life. He believed in the collective spirit. That did not make him weak. (more…)
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The leader of the ‘free world’ is no longer the leader of the world
Trump’s visit to Beijing reveals how the balance of power – bilaterally and globally – has shifted to China’s advantage. (more…)
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Our intelligence services need to break free from excessive US influence
Australia is part of the white man’s intelligence network, Five Eyes. That means too much CIA input into anti-China perceptions in recent years. It also helped bring down the Whitlam government. (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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New China-US rules, region’s Taiwan anxiety, Sri Lankan scam hub – Asian Media Report
Xi’s latest terms for the American relationship, Trump’s post-summit verbal meandering, cybercrime operations’ new base, the west’s dominance is an historical ‘aberration’, and the Modi government’s all-veg banquets.
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Taunting and degrading civilians in armed conflict is a clear violation of international law
The public humiliation and mistreatment of Gaza flotilla activists violated core protections under international humanitarian law governing the treatment of civilians and detainees during armed conflict.
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Could China, Russia and the United States work together?
Observers in China detect the possibility of ‘trilateral coordination’ between China, Russia and the United States, with the US the biggest variable. (more…)
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Allowing loved ones to rest
A formal apology in Tasmania’s parliament for the past practice of taking human specimens from autopsies and displaying them highlights the importance of repatriation. (more…)
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Angus Taylor may have just created half a million new Labor voters
The Coalition’s plan to strip welfare access from non-citizens could accelerate a surge in citizenship and voter enrolment across migrant-heavy suburban seats critical to the Liberal Party’s electoral future. (more…)
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Government CGT changes structurally sound
Paul Keating says the Howard-Costello capital gains tax discount distorted the tax system, inflated housing prices and entrenched inequality between wage earners and wealth holders.
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US condemns Israel’s Ben-Gvir while sanctioning Gaza flotilla organisers
A rare public rebuke of Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has highlighted growing international condemnation over the treatment of Gaza flotilla activists, even as Washington continues sanctioning Palestinian groups and organisers.
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Catch 22? A problematic definition of antisemitism
The greatest single cause of the recent rise of antisemitism in Australia is the behaviour of Israel, which the Australian Government has not condemned. (more…)
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Are this budget’s tax changes really an ‘assault on aspiration’?
The government’s capital gains tax reforms are likely to increase tax for some investors, but claims they will destroy wealth creation or aspiration for younger Australians may be overstated.
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