In Portland, in 2025, we hear echoes of the same beginnings of dictatorships everywhere: protesters recast as “terrorists,” and enemies within, and federal troops poised to turn against us. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Trump-Netanyahu plan: Reproducing occupation under the name of ‘peace’
What was recently proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the title “peace deals” is nothing but a rearrangement of the cards of power in the region, far from addressing the core of the Palestinian issue: justice. (more…)
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Australia’s mental health services are buckling due to rising demand, staff shortages and patient violence
Interventions such as formal support systems are needed for Australia’s exhausted, overwhelmed mental health nurses. (more…)
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PR firms are spreading climate misinformation on behalf of fossil fuel companies. Could Australia stop them?
Have you heard offshore wind farms kill whales? (They don’t.) Or that electric vehicles catch fire more often than petrol cars? (It’s the opposite.) Perhaps you’ve heard “natural” gas is clean? (It can be worse than coal.) (more…)
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Quantico’s verdict: The silence that stripped Trump bare
Donald Trump has always measured power by applause. Rallies, ratings, and ovations have been his fuel, the noise that kept the illusion of command alive. But at Quantico, facing the nation’s military brass, the noise stopped. (more…)
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Trump’s mongrel punt
In the Australian vernacular, a mongrel punt is an erratic kick forward of a football which leaves those participating in the game with an awkward choice between contesting possession (possibly at the cost of broken fingers) and waiting to see where the ball bounces. (more…)
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Sidoti and Saul on what we can and must do to stop the killing
Appearing yesterday at Canberra’s National Press Club, Chris Sidoti and Ben Saul laid out the things Australia can and must do to play our proper part to end the genocide. In coming days we will run the text of both speeches, and the questions that followed. For now it is well worth your time to watch two genuine leaders. (more…)
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Government secrecy 2, the public interest 0. Again
When it comes to keeping a tight rein on information, the Albanese Government does a great job of practising what it preaches. (more…)
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Peace without justice
We are told that Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan envisages a potential pathway to a future Palestinian state. (more…)
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‘Stunning reversal’: New York Times poll finds US support for Israel has plummeted
“Though this was utterly unthinkable even five years ago,” said one journalist, “it’s now reflected in poll after poll, and is so entrenched it’s hard to imagine it can be reversed.” (more…)
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Trump says climate change is a hoax. Are we in safer hands with the ‘commos’?
When you hear that malevolent old fool Donald Trump tell the United Nations that climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, it’s hard to resist throwing up your arms in despair. If mighty America won’t set a good example, what hope is there for the rest of us? (more…)
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The Apocalypse and the Antichrist
For US multi-billionaire Peter Thiel, 23 September must have been a rather disappointing day. (more…)
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China is likely to surpass its new emissions target. Australia should emulate its energy plan
In an address to the UN General Assembly last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China’s target to reduce carbon emissions by 7-10% from their peak by 2035, with the goal of achieving even higher levels. (more…)
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‘Deeply Un-American’: Trump tells generals to use US cities as military ‘training grounds’
“Wake up, people, the US is fast approaching a point of no return,” warned one critic, who said the president’s alarming rhetoric “comes right out of the fascism playbook”. (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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Critics sceptical that Trump-Netanyahu peace plan will work as outlined
One critic noted Trump’s plan for Gaza “contains numerous opportunities for Netanyahu to renege on his commitments, as he has repeatedly done in the past”. (more…)
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Trump’s peace plan shows Netanyahu has outmanoeuvred yet another American president
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has outmanoeuvred yet another American president. (more…)
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Age policy is a shambles. Where to from here? Part 1 & 2
Wherever you look, at residential aged care institutions, at retirement village life, at the home support package scheme, or talk to the people over 65 — called “the old” — living at home making no claim on the system, just coping by whatever means they can, this stage of life means grappling with overwhelming challenges. (more…)
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Trump’s Gaza peace plan welcomed by Arab and Islamic countries, the West
The Palestinian Authority joins regional leaders in welcoming US president’s 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza. (more…)
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Australia’s decolonisation runs aground
When asked last week whether his government was still intending to reach for the goal of an Australian republic Prime Minister Albanese declared that he would not be progressing the cause while he was in office. (more…)
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Andrew Forrest makes big bet on self-lifting turbines in landmark ‘real zero’ deal with Envision
Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest appears to have gone all-in on a radical new “self-lifting” turbine technology that will underpin the development of his first major wind project and underpin his green energy ambitions. (more…)
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Air temperatures over Antarctica have soared 35ºC above average. What does this unusual event mean for Australia?
Right now, cold air high above Antarctica is up to 35ºC warmer than normal. Normally, strong winds and the lack of sun would keep the temperature at around –55°C. But it’s risen sharply to around –20°C. (more…)
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Turmoil in tummies, pains in purse
The road to Indonesian hospitals is paved with good intentions and vomit. (more…)
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‘Died of a delusion’ – the fate of modern civilisation?
The collapse of modern human civilisation is inevitable. Anyone who doesn’t accept that knows no history. (more…)
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Prime Minister’s Literary Awards winners 2025: investigating power, privilege and inequality
Michelle de Kretser has won the fiction prize in the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. It’s her second major prize this year for her ambitious, experimental novel Theory and Practice, which won the 2025 Stella Prize (and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin). (more…)
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Here’s the full text of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza
The White House says its proposal would end the war in Gaza immediately if both sides accept. (more…)
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Could the Teals win Senate seats in an expanded parliament?
Important discussions are taking place within the government and before the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters about increasing the size of the federal parliament. (more…)
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The economics of Indonesia’s discontent
Economic discontent erupted in protests across Indonesia in late August 2025. The trigger was the proposal to give generous housing allowances to members of parliament, but unrest had been bubbling since early in the year. (more…)
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Will Hastie face his manifest destiny?
Assuming that Andrew Hastie is not taken from us by the apparently imminent Rapture, he may soon come up for judgment. It is very hard to imagine him leading the Liberal Party anywhere other than over a cliff. (more…)
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Seeking the positive-sum economy where everyone wins a prize
What is this “abundance” thing that progressive economists are suddenly banging on about after reading the latest American pop economics book? At last, one of them has explained it. (more…)