For years, plant-based fashion materials were promoted as a sustainable breakthrough. Their rapid collapse tells a more sobering story – not about plants, but about hype, scale and transparency. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Australia’s trust deficit is a failure of governance
Public trust in Australian politics is wearing dangerously thin. Restoring it will require clear standards, real accountability and decisions that can be traced, justified and owned. (more…)
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Australia’s human rights report has been quietly buried
The world marks Human Rights Day this Wednesday 10 December. But a comprehensive parliamentary report calling for a national Human Rights Act remains unanswered. Its silence speaks volumes about the gap between rhetoric and action in Australia’s human rights commitments.
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Bazball has revolutionised English cricket – Australia should be nervous
England’s ultra-aggressive “Bazball” approach has transformed its Test cricket record. Historical data suggests it could also give England its best chance in 15 years to reclaim the Ashes in Australia.
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Bill Gates knows the climate and poverty facts but misses the politics
Bill Gates downplays climate catastrophe, wolves are blamed – or credited – for ecosystem repair, and China’s energy surge defies Western narratives.
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History, memory, and pain: Fifty years after the Indonesian invasion of East Timor
On 7 December 2025, fifty years since Indonesian troops invaded East Timor, survivors and their descendants continue to live with the legacy of occupation, violence and loss – and to insist that remembrance, truth and justice still matter.
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When machines make the art, what’s left for human creativity?
As AI and automation take over more of the labour once central to artistic practice, creativity is shifting from making to selecting. The question is whether human expression survives that shift – or slowly withers.
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China’s challenge is explaining why it succeeded
Western commentary often dwells on China’s problems while overlooking the cultural and historical foundations of its extraordinary achievements. Understanding both is essential to informed judgement. (more…)
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P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action
‘Let me also take this opportunity to say thank you for what you are doing for Australia. P&I provides a moral compass, keeps hope alive and spurs on action.” Dr Jane Anderson Adjunct Research Fellow – Population and Global Health The University of Western Australia (more…)
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Hong Kong high-rise renovations a murky, greedy industry – Asian Media Report
From Hong Kong’s deadly tower fire and surging renovation graft, to climate-fuelled floods across Asia, record weapons sales, a massive Korean data breach and collapsing Chinese tourism in Japan, this week’s Asian media coverage reveals the region’s mounting pressures and political tensions.
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Israel’s NGO rules are shutting out humanitarian aid from Gaza
Rules introduced by Israel in 2025 are being used to block humanitarian organisations from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories, limiting aid delivery and silencing advocacy.
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Australia’s school bureaucracy is growing faster than classrooms
Administrative staffing in Australia’s public education system has grown far faster than student enrolments or teacher numbers. Unless governments act, promised school funding risks being absorbed by bureaucracy rather than improving learning and wellbeing.
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Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up
Australian settlement policy often assumes refugees will embrace progressive politics. Research and community experience show refugee political identities are far more diverse – with important implications for law and policy.
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After dominance: Japan enters a post-hegemony political era
After decades of near-continuous rule, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party is now governing as a minority under a more ideologically polarised leadership. A new era of fragmented, negotiated politics is taking shape.
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Fear versus facts: why migrants strengthen Australia
Australia’s multicultural society is not a modern experiment or a social crisis. It is the product of shared effort, grounded in First Nations custodianship and strengthened by generations of migrants who have helped build the nation’s economy, culture and community life.
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Words or action? Dreyfus and human rights at home
Mark Dreyfus has been appointed Australia’s special envoy on human rights. Is the government prepared to match international advocacy with concrete action at home – by finally legislating a Human Rights Act? (more…)
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When foreign policy becomes domestic theatre
Australia’s response to Japan’s rhetoric has been framed as a test of loyalty, but the outrage is largely media-driven. Caution in foreign policy is not betrayal – it is a rational defence of national interest.
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How media coverage helps normalise the far right
Media coverage does more than report on the far right. Through language choices, sensationalism and false balance, journalism can help shift racist politics into the mainstream.
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Trump’s drug war on Venezuela reeks of hypocrisy
Donald Trump’s campaign against Venezuela is less about drugs than power, exposing deep hypocrisy in US policy and raising uncomfortable questions for Australia about its alliance.
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Is the focus on NAPLAN’s ‘top’ schools a good idea?
This year’s NAPLAN results reveal encouraging stories of student progress, but headlines about ‘top’ schools risk oversimplifying how improvement really happens – and what parents should take from the data.
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A Boyer Lecture that misunderstands Australia’s defence history
The latest Boyer Lecture portrays Australia as trapped by anxiety about the United States. In fact, for decades the country pursued a deliberate, bipartisan strategy of defence self-reliance – abandoned only in recent years.
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Celebrating war crimes is a moral failure, not cultural pride
From ancient Rome to modern Melbourne, societies have repeatedly transformed civilian suffering into spectacle. Celebrating violence against the innocent is not a cultural quirk – it is a profound moral collapse. (more…)
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Corruption prosecutions are choking Indonesia’s reform ambition
High-profile prosecutions of Indonesia’s technocrats are reshaping incentives across government and business. When good-faith decisions are treated as crimes, reform, investment and innovation all suffer. (more…)
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Book Review: Selling Israel: propaganda, history and contested narratives
Harriet Malinowitz’s Selling Israel examines how Zionist ideology has been promoted through propaganda, history and selective memory, and why separating Judaism from Zionism matters in confronting antisemitism.
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Australia’s immigration ‘debate’ is rhetoric, not policy
Australia is awash with immigration rhetoric, but little of it is grounded in evidence, clear definitions or serious policy alternatives. Rather than an informed public debate, Australians are being offered slogans, blame and ambiguity.
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The origin of Labor versus Green tensions
Claims that the environment movement almost cost Labor the 1990 election ignore the decisive role played by Democrat votes and preferences. A closer look shows the campaign helped deliver victory – and marked a turning point in Labor’s relationship with environmental politics.
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How the Albanese government kept “jobs for mates” alive
The Albanese government promised to end political patronage in statutory appointments, but has instead chosen a non-binding framework that preserves ministerial discretion and limits accountability.
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Selling out our sovereignty
Revelations of secret F-35 fighter jet parts shipments to Israel have exposed a yawning hole in Australia’s sovereign national defence. (more…)
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With a sneaky tweak the government has made welfare recipients guilty until proven innocent
New social security laws allow payments to be cancelled for people with outstanding arrest warrants, even if they have not been charged or convicted, raising serious concerns about justice, rights and harm.
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Malcolm Fraser: a decent man committed to an independent Australia
Personal experience and recent reflections challenge the popular caricature of Malcolm Fraser, revealing a former prime minister increasingly willing to defy orthodoxy in defence of sovereignty, justice and independence.
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