The government created a legitimate comparison when it appointed envoys for Islamophobia and antisemitism, and Muslim communities are entitled to ask whether both responses reflect equal protection. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Home electrification is an investment hiding in plain sight
For self-funded retirees, home electrification can cut energy bills, reduce exposure to petrol and gas prices, and add value to the home. (more…)
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Australia is failing disabled workers – and it doesn’t have to
Australia spends more than $1.3 billion a year on disability employment, yet people with high support needs remain excluded from mainstream work and can still legally be paid a fraction of the minimum wage. (more…)
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Time to reform Australia’s failed policy on smoking and vaping
Australia’s sky-high cigarette excise and severely restricted legal access to vaping have helped fuel a vast illegal nicotine market, undermining public health, law enforcement and government revenue. (more…)
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AI needs its own Paris Agreement
AI is advancing faster than societies, laws and institutions can adapt, making international governance, verification and shared oversight essential.
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The world’s conflicts should not become Australia’s
Australia cannot control wars and political upheavals overseas, but it can choose whether those conflicts are allowed to fuel division, suspicion and hatred at home.
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Two truths about empire
Debates about western civilisation and colonialism often fail because they demand a single verdict, when history can carry achievement and injustice at the same time.
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China is remaking globalisation on its own terms
China’s push for technological self-reliance does not signal a retreat from globalisation, but a strategy to remain globally integrated while reducing strategic vulnerability.
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Australia needs green energy statecraft
Australia’s iron and steel sector shows why climate policy, industrial strategy and national security now need to be governed together, not treated as separate problems. (more…)
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AUKUS Infrastructure, part 6: It is not too late to change course
In the final part of a six-part series on AUKUS infrastructure, Peter Briggs argues that Pillar 1 cannot deliver on schedule or budget, and that Australia should pause its HEU pathway and assess proven LEU alternatives. (more…)
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Trump has broken Zeus’ law
Greek tragedy offers a way to read the present: when mercy, law, restraint and community are replaced by power, vengeance and wealth, disorder follows.
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Labor should talk about the cost of capitalism
Labor’s promise to ease living costs and cut taxes may offer relief, but it avoids the deeper question of who owns, controls and profits from the systems making life insecure.
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Environment: Six revolutions and four billion years made today’s biosphere
This week’s environment round-up looks at the metabolic revolutions that remade Earth, China’s simultaneous coal and renewables boom, habitat gardens and Australia’s Cape Grim climate monitoring. (more…)
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AUKUS infrastructure, part 5: The HEU problem
In the fifth of a six-part series on AUKUS infrastructure, the choice of highly enriched uranium raises questions about proliferation, safety, waste, regulation and the civil burden placed on Australian shipyards. (more…)
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With hyperscale data centres, water governance faces its biggest challenge
Hyperscale data centres are adding new pressure to already stressed freshwater systems, testing whether governments can allocate, monitor and protect water fairly.
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Strangers in their own land: Victorian Labor forgot the suburbs that made it
Victorian Labor’s crisis is not just about leadership, but a decade of governing as though its western and north-western heartland would remain loyal while investment flowed elsewhere. Changing the leader may not be enough. (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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Instagram generation’s win, Japan’s security drive, and Albo’s undiplomatic insult – Asian Media Report
India’s Gen Z social mobility crisis, Tokyo’s new foreign intelligence agency, Chinese chip company’s blockbuster IPO, regional nations’ evolving security co-operation, central banker’s sudden resignation, and the PM’s melon-headed mockery. (more…)
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Census 2026: Australia’s Muslim milestone is more than a number
The 2026 Census is expected to mark more than a demographic milestone, with new Islamic denomination categories offering a fuller picture of Muslim diversity, representation and belonging in Australia. (more…)
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Gaza has broken Washington’s Israel consensus
US military support for Israel is facing its deepest political and legal crisis in decades, as Gaza exposes the gap between Washington’s stated values and its role as arms supplier and diplomatic protector. (more…)
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Picturing armageddon: Will Trump listen to the next nuclear war film?
Films about nuclear war have often been dismissed by officials as inaccurate, alarmist or merely fictional, but their real power lies in forcing audiences to confront the madness of nuclear annihilation. (more…)
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AUKUS infrastructure, part 4: Australia’s dual-site labour trap
In the fourth of a six-part series on AUKUS infrastructure, the focus turns to workforce: Australia must build and sustain two geographically separated nuclear submarine hubs despite acute skills shortages, certification bottlenecks and competition from the resources sector. (more…)
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Labor needs debate, not managed unanimity
Long-term Labor governments need discipline, but unity becomes brittle when caucus is reduced to managed unanimity and MPs cannot test decisions before they harden. (more…)
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The Pentagon is burning the bridge before building the road
The US is worried about dependence on Chinese critical minerals, but its rushed deadline ignores the years of investment, infrastructure and allied cooperation needed to rebuild industrial capacity. (more…)
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AUKUS infrastructure, part 3: The Osborne construction enterprise
In the third of a six-part series on AUKUS infrastructure, Osborne’s submarine yard is making visible progress, but unfunded stages, nuclear licensing, supply-chain dependence and the absence of an embedded graving dock pose major risks.
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Is there a one-state solution to prevent apartheid in Israel and Palestine?
South Africa’s transition from apartheid to multiracial democracy suggests that a single secular, non-racist state may offer a more hopeful future for Israel–Palestine than a fragmented two-state settlement. (more…)
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Coal extensions are holding back clean energy investment
Uncertainty over coal plant closure dates is weakening investor confidence in renewable energy, creating a circular problem where coal stays open because new investment is delayed.
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We know how to prevent homelessness. Why don’t we?
Australia knows many of the pathways into homelessness, yet funding, eligibility and accountability too often begin only after vulnerability has become crisis. (more…)
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Humanity is trapped between mad warlords and greedy scoundrels
The danger of nuclear war does not begin and end with Donald Trump, but with a failing system of nation states, militarised power and corporate oligarchy. (more…)
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Australia is wasting the skills migrants bring
Almost half of skilled migrants are working below their qualification level, while Australia’s complex recognition system leaves urgently needed teachers, nurses, engineers and tradespeople underused. (more…)