The visit of China’s third-ranking leader should have prompted serious discussion about diplomacy and economic relations. Instead, Australia’s media fixated on security theatrics and fed a familiar cycle of fear. (more…)
Category: Politics
-
Silencing Starlink over Taiwan would be a massive military challenge
Chinese scientists have modelled how Starlink could be jammed over an area the size of Taiwan – and found it would take an unprecedented scale of coordinated electronic warfare. (more…)
-
Why Australia should build AI to amplify human capability
Debates about artificial intelligence miss a crucial point: the real issue is not whether AI is powerful, but whether we use it to replace human judgment or strengthen it. (more…)
-
You can’t regulate your way to quality early childhood education
Recent safety failures have triggered tighter regulation in early childhood education and care. But compliance alone cannot deliver quality. Real reform begins with professionalising the workforce. (more…)
-
Why Labor can’t be bold without confronting tax reform
If the Albanese government wants to deliver lasting reform – in education, healthcare, housing and climate – it will have to confront the hardest political question of all: how to raise the revenue to pay for it. (more…)
-
Why Medicare needs joint federal–state hospitals
Medicare’s founding promise is failing millions as jurisdictional division leaves patients stuck on waiting lists and priced out of specialist care. A shared federal–state hospital system is the missing reform.
(more…) -
How ‘deep links’ journalism fuels pointless China panic
A former MP takes on a routine lobbying role, a Chinese university is named, and suddenly we are in national security territory. This is framing doing the work that facts do not. (more…)
-
Trump is melting down: Is this the beginning of the end?
Mental health professionals are warning that Donald Trump’s behaviour poses serious risks to democratic governance and international security – yet the media largely looks away.
(more…) -
ASIO’s $12.5 billion espionage bill doesn’t add up
ASIO says espionage cost Australia $12.5 billion last year. But that figure relies on assumptions, speculative scenarios and opaque data that raise serious questions about credibility. (more…)
-
Trying teenagers as adults won’t fix youth crime
Victoria’s proposal to send 14–17 year olds into adult courts ignores international law, expert evidence and decades of failed policy. Rehabilitation, not punishment, is what reduces future harm. (more…)
-
What does Labor actually stand for in the Albanese era?
Sean Kelly’s Quarterly Essay The Good Fight asks a harder question than whether Labor is governing competently – it asks whether it still knows what it believes, and whether belief is translating into action.
(more…) -
Why Australia needs a political party for the under-40s
With most Australians increasingly voting outside the major parties, Ian Bowrey argues it’s time for a new political force that genuinely represents under-40s and plans for the country’s long-term future. (more…)
-
Welcome to BunkerWorld – home of the rich and fearful
From luxury bunkers to billionaire boltholes, the world’s richest are planning for collapse rather than preventing it. Julian Cribb argues this fear reveals a deeper failure of our economic system – and a stark choice for humanity’s future. (more…)
-
When evidence stops leading policy-making
The Coalition has walked away from evidence. Labor still listens – but only up to the point where action becomes politically uncomfortable. That may prove just as dangerous. (more…)
-
The inflation myth propping up private school privilege
Private schools regularly blame inflation for rising fees, yet funding arrangements mean they are largely compensated for cost increases. Their fee-setting power widens the resource gap while feeding back into inflation itself. (more…)
-
Independent media is essential – and we urgently need your help
We urgently need your financial support. We have raised only $78,000 towards our goal of $250,000 by mid-December. (more…)
-
The Dismissal at 50: Albanese condemns the past but avoids real reform
Anthony Albanese condemned the 1975 Dismissal as a partisan ambush. Yet he refuses to pursue the constitutional reforms needed to prevent another vice-regal intervention. Australia remains exposed, and neither government nor public sentiment seems ready for the changes required. (more…)
-
Gaza’s economy has collapsed beyond recognition
Gaza’s economy, society and basic infrastructure have been almost entirely wiped out. With 90 per cent of people displaced, food systems destroyed and schools and hospitals in ruins, reconstruction is becoming harder by the day. (more…)
-
Non-aligned and successful: Indonesia’s lesson for Australian foreign policy
Australia’s new security agreement with Indonesia comes at a critical moment. Jakarta’s non-aligned tradition offers lessons for a country still tied to a lopsided alliance with the US. (more…)
-
How Trump tried to sell Ukraine a diplomatic debacle
Two rival peace proposals for Ukraine have emerged – one from the US, echoing long-standing Russian demands, and another from Europe. Kyiv has rejected the US plan as written, insisting its sovereignty cannot be bargained away.
(more…) -
After Gaza, the next target is Iran
US–Israel manoeuvring over Gaza is already widening the conflict. As Sudan burns and propaganda intensifies, Iran may be the next target — with Australia again at risk of being drawn in. (more…)
-
Australia’s Christmas double standards on Palestine
As Palestinians face another winter of displacement and bombardment, Australia celebrates Christmas while ignoring its own obligations under international law. If recognition of Palestine is to mean anything, the government must act – not look away. (more…)
-
Chip wars: how the Dutch government nearly crashed the global car industry
When the Dutch government seized Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, it triggered a global supply scare, revealing how deeply Europe is trapped between American coercion and China’s growing technological muscle, and how vulnerable its industry has become in the Chip War.
-
Nature doesn’t have an offset account
Australia’s climate and biodiversity laws rely heavily on offset markets that treat ecosystems as interchangeable. But nature is not fungible, and the growing evidence of unique, localised species shows why offset systems are structurally incapable of protecting what is irreplaceable. (more…)
-
Why the trauma community must break its silence on Gaza
As Gaza reels from unimaginable physical and psychological harm, the global trauma healing community has remained largely silent. Breaking that silence is essential if therapeutic work is to remain honest, ethical and grounded in the reality clients bring into the room. (more…)
-
Why Australia’s pro-globalisation consensus endures
Australia’s post-pandemic politics may look more divided, but fears of a rising populist backlash are overstated. Demographics, institutions and economic geography still anchor the nation’s long-standing consensus in favour of openness, migration and global integration. (more…)
-
Without peer in Australian media – Geoff Raby
Former Australian Ambassador to China and senior diplomat Geoff Raby commends Pearls and Irritations (more…)
-
Western Australia is rich, but it’s not the economic powerhouse it claims to be
Western Australian politicians claim the state is the “powerhouse” of the national economy and deserves an outsized share of GST revenue. The ABS State Accounts for 2024–25 tell a different story, revealing a decade of weak growth, falling per capita output and a system that rewards WA despite clear under-performance. (more…)
-
Ukraine and Europe’s weakness exposed as US and Russia again negotiate behind Kyiv’s back
Ukraine now faces military pressure, political scandal and wavering Western support – a mix that could trigger a dangerous self-fulfilling crisis.
(more…) -
Why multicultural aged care is the key to meeting Australia’s ageing challenge
Australia’s ageing population is growing faster than the systems built to support it, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse communities. A co-designed, public–private aged care model offers a practical, humane and economically sound path to meet this challenge before crisis overwhelms the system. (more…)