Australia avoided the populist-right breakthroughs seen in the US and Europe for longer because prosperity, stronger institutions and a more equal income distribution absorbed the shocks. Those protections are now weakening. Part one of a two-part analysis. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Greens can hope to pick up the mess Labor and Albanese have made
Labor’s shift to the right has opened political space on its left. If the Greens seriously want to become an alternative party of government, they must take votes from Labor, professionalise and build a much broader political movement. (more…)
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Brazil votes in another high-stakes Lula–Bolsonaro showdown
Brazil has voted in a deeply polarised presidential election pitting Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the imprisoned former president, with democracy, crime, living costs and US influence all shaping the contest.
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Trump has hollowed out the State Department
Donald Trump has sidelined professional diplomats, left embassies vacant and elevated ideological loyalists, weakening the State Department and making US foreign policy more coercive, erratic and dangerous for allies. (more…)
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Public land should deliver public value
David Pocock’s Commonwealth Land (Affordable Housing) Bill would require affordable housing to be built into residential development on Commonwealth land. It deserves support because public land should deliver lasting public value, not simply the highest possible sale price. (more…)
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Trump’s Board of Peace: from a ‘new Gaza’ to a new global order – Part Two
Trump’s Board of Peace is emerging as more than a mechanism for governing post-war Gaza. Its expanding ambitions raise the prospect of a parallel system in which powerful states decide which institutions survive, who receives legitimacy and whose rules apply. Part two of a two-part analysis. (more…)
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They’ll inherit the climate crisis. Shouldn’t 16- and 17-year-olds have a vote?
Young Australians will live with the consequences of today’s climate decisions for decades. Lowering the voting age to 16 would give more of them a say in the policies shaping their future. (more…)
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Migrants live by two ledgers. Australia only counts one
Australia measures migrant success through jobs, income and settlement. It rarely counts the financial obligations migrants carry across borders, or the development those private sacrifices sustain.
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Sidelining UNRWA, weakening the ICC: the architecture of a ‘new Gaza’ – Part One
Pressure on UNRWA and the International Criminal Court points to a much larger transformation in Gaza – one in which existing international institutions are being weakened as new political and administrative arrangements take their place. Part one of a two-part analysis. (more…)
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Gaza’s privatised aid experiment should never be repeated
Gaza’s privatised aid system concentrated food distribution at militarised sites guarded by private contractors. Humanitarian relief cannot protect civilians if reaching it exposes them to danger. (more…)
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Brazil under Lula: growth up, unemployment down, hunger falling
A new analysis finds strong growth, falling unemployment, poverty and hunger during Lula’s third term, alongside high borrowing costs and mounting household financial pressures. (more…)
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The immigrants leading the anti-immigrant right
Across Europe and the US, some of the loudest anti-immigration politicians have migrant roots, migrant spouses or family histories shaped by migration. The contradiction has done little to slow their rise. (more…)
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Bob Dylan’s lesson for older men: life still asks something of you
Older men have some of the highest suicide rates. Bob Dylan offers a different way to think about ageing: not simply staying alive, but finding purpose, obligation and meaning in mortality. (more…)
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Cue dressed working women for 60 years. Then workwear changed
Cue helped define Australian women’s workwear for nearly six decades. But as office dress relaxed and shopping went global, the niche it once owned began to disappear. (more…)
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New India-US clash, why Xi mentions the war, China’s marriage revolution – Asian Media Report
India is speaking more openly against Washington as the US and China settle into an enduring rivalry. Elsewhere, Thailand reels from deadly floods and Malaysia presses ahead with Myanmar deportations. (more…)
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24 years on: The inquiry that exposed the children overboard lies
The 2002 Senate inquiry found Peter Reith deceived Australians over children overboard. Cabinet then blocked key staff from giving evidence, leaving crucial questions unanswered. (more…)
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‘Inhumane, barbaric, torturous’: Christa Pike survives twice-botched execution in Tennessee
Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drugs and remains critically ill in hospital. Tennessee has halted further executions this year and ordered an investigation. (more…)
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The time of monsters: why the UN must reform to survive
Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide delivered Norway’s statement during the general debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. His speech highlighted how international law is eroding, wars are multiplying and the UN faces financial and institutional crisis. Reform is urgent, not because the organisation has failed, but because it still matters. (more…)
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Gandhi at 157: the multicultural vision Australia made its own
Today marks the 157th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. His vision of religious pluralism, cultural identity and belonging without assimilation finds a striking echo in Australian multiculturalism. (more…)
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AI can now outperform most law students. Universities need to rethink assessment
AI models now outperform many law students on real university exams. The challenge is no longer keeping AI out, but designing assessment that shows what students can do without it and with it.
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The One Nation vote is a map of government neglect
One Nation’s rise is often treated as cultural anger. New data point to something more concrete: poor health, financial insecurity and communities left without the services that make life work. (more…)
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Three leaders, one reminder: moral courage is not dead in politics – Message from the Editor
When I wrote my very first editor’s message 19 months ago, I said that P&I expected leaders to display the moral courage required if we are to tackle existential threats.
I have been reminded how true this is every week. You expect courage and intelligence in those who purport to lead, and you make that crystal clear in the letters and articles we publish daily, and increasingly in the social media discussions they prompt. (more…)
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Shoebridge targets taking the Greens from reforming Labor to replacing it
David Shoebridge takes over a Greens party looking for growth while One Nation surges. His pitch is sharper: confront the populist right and stop treating Labor as something merely to reform. (more…)
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When crises reshape nations: what history tells us about Australia’s energy vulnerability
In 1942, crisis forced Australia to rethink a dangerous strategic dependence. Today, reliance on imported fuel creates another vulnerability. Electrification offers a path to greater economic and national security. (more…)
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A ‘Catch-22’ in Australia’s criminal justice system
On International Wrongful Conviction Day, Australia still leaves prisoners to overcome an almost impossible barrier when challenging unsafe convictions. (more…)
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Plantations are the future of timber. Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought
As plantations supply more of Australia’s timber, how they are established and harvested will increasingly shape biodiversity. Good management can make a substantial difference.
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Governments know how dangerous climate collapse is. Why aren’t they telling us?
British intelligence warns that climate and ecosystem collapse could drive conflict, migration, famine and economic instability. Yet governments continue to conceal the full scale of the threat. (more…)
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Inflation and interest rates up. Who’s to blame?
The RBA has lifted rates to 4.6 per cent, concentrating much of the pain of fighting inflation on younger households with mortgages. A tighter budget could spread the burden more fairly, but serious spending cuts would mean poorer services. (more…)
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Why Britain cannot deliver SSN-AUKUS on schedule
Britain says SSN-AUKUS remains on track. But its shipyards are already stretched while new reactor and workforce capacity is still being built. Australia is betting heavily on that gap being closed in time. (more…)
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The price of pork has hit $23 billion
The WA GST deal has cost almost $23 billion and left other states short. Political convenience is overriding fairness, independent advice and the national interest. (more…)