Netanyahu has repeatedly denied receiving warnings before 7 October. Now a source says he privately asked the UAE president to deny one of the accounts. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Labor’s Left has won the party. So what happened to the Left?
Labor’s Left has the prime minister, the numbers and formidable control of the party machinery. What it lacks is a program for changing Australia. After decades spent accumulating power, the bigger question is what that power is now for. (more…)
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Child protection scrutinises families. Who scrutinises child protection?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are increasingly overrepresented in out-of-home care. Protecting children means making the system answer for the warnings it misses and the failures it repeats.
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Half of Australian workers feel overeducated. So why do we need more qualifications?
Australia wants 80 per cent of working-age people to hold a tertiary qualification by 2050. Yet almost half of workers say they are already overeducated for their jobs. The answer depends on what we think education is actually for. (more…)
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An eagle for Xi, pandas for America and a changing world order
Trump gave Xi a bald eagle. Xi promised America two pandas. Behind the diplomatic symbolism sits a larger shift: China’s international standing is improving as trust in the United States declines. (more…)
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Australia preaches the rules-based order. Its record tells another story
Australia is campaigning for a UN Security Council seat on a promise to uphold international law and defend middle powers. Its record on Gaza, Indigenous rights, military alliances and international rulings tells a far less consistent story. (more…)
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Storming the ramparts of legacy media
James Chessell’s move from the AFR to Joe Aston’s Rampart is another sign of a media landscape being remade. Smaller outlets, subscription models, podcasts, and independent publishers are challenging the power once held by newspapers, radio and television. (more…)
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Interest rates: fighting inflation by punishing mortgage holders is not enough
Rate rises hit mortgage holders, first-home buyers and jobs, while doing nothing to fix many of the supply shocks driving prices higher. Governments need to carry more of the burden through taxation and responsible budgets. (more…)
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Tens of thousands of AI incidents expose a growing control problem
AI companies are investigating tens of thousands of incidents involving models bypassing controls, escaping secure environments and interfering with external systems. After an OpenAI agent breached an Australian government site, demands for tougher safeguards are growing. (more…)
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‘Too much wind and solar’? Ten years on, South Australia tells a different story
Ten years after South Australia’s statewide blackout became a political weapon against renewables, the state now gets more than three-quarters of its electricity from renewable sources. The technology has raced ahead, even if the politics has barely moved. (more…)
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Parliament and the public service are getting their roles wrong
A clumsy protest over the social media use of Senate evidence exposed a deeper problem. The public service must answer to Parliament and the public, while MPs must protect its political neutrality. Both sides need to remember where their responsibilities begin and end.
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A new Washington-Beijing compact
Xi Jinping’s Washington visit was more than ceremony and trade deals. The US and China are building a more stable relationship around regular summitry, negotiated differences and mutual recognition of power. Australia needs to understand what has changed. (more…)
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Australia shouldn’t get a seat at the UN security council
Australia is campaigning for a Security Council seat on a promise to defend international law. Yet Albanese condemned Russia by name while saying nothing comparable about US actions – even after Trump threatened from the same UN stage to “annihilate” Iran. (more…)
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Small signs of independence
Australia’s push on AI and social media regulation has put it at odds with Washington. The disagreement offers a rare glimpse of a foreign policy willing to put Australian interests ahead of automatic alignment with the US.
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Deepfakes are getting harder to spot. So is the truth
Deepfakes can fool voters, but new research points to a deeper danger: genuine political footage is increasingly being dismissed as fake. As Victoria heads towards its November election, scepticism itself may become a vulnerability. (more…)
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Australia cannot champion international law selectively
Albanese used his UN address to champion international law, dialogue and Australia’s credentials as a middle power. The real test lies in whether those principles are applied consistently, from Gaza and AUKUS to climate, aid and Australia’s closest allies. (more…)
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The machine answered. Then the power went out
AI can help people explore ideas, learn skills and plan businesses. But without reliable power, internet access, trusted teachers, equipment and local knowledge, its answers may lead nowhere. (more…)
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How low can you go? Approval falls to 33 per cent
Trump’s approval has fallen to 33 per cent in G Elliott Morris’s latest poll, with 63 per cent disapproving. Support is slipping even among Republicans, while Democrats hold a 10-point lead on the House ballot among likely voters. (more…)
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A final call for your help
P&I is reaching more readers, attracting younger voices and becoming an increasingly important part of Australia’s democratic conversation. But as we enter the last week of our fundraising campaign, John Menadue writes, our independence depends on you. (more…)
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The attempt to silence Macklemore put Palestine centre stage
Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour prompted other artists to walk away and brought fresh attention and donations to Palestinian aid. An attempt to contain his message ended up amplifying it – a sign that speaking up for Palestine is becoming harder to silence.
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Will Cuba be next?
Trump’s latest warning to Cuba revives a long history of US hostility towards the island. From the Batista era to today’s economic pressure, the question is how far Washington might go in seeking political change. (more…)
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Who says economic growth and social justice can’t go together?
Brazil and Spain’s finance ministers reject the idea that economic growth, fiscal responsibility and social investment must compete. They point to their governments’ records to make the case for an economic model that puts people’s lives at its centre. (more…)
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Warren Buffett is stepping aside. Can his investment wisdom survive the AI age?
Warren Buffett’s departure as Berkshire Hathaway chairman marks a turning point for the company he built. As his successors take charge, the rise of AI is raising fresh questions about the value of his patient, long-term approach to investing. (more…)
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Kids in jail: Victoria is heading down Queensland’s road
Queensland has legislated remote camps for children, while Victoria has made it easier to sentence young offenders as adults. Victoria once kept more kids out of jail by investing in community alternatives. That hard-won approach is being lost in the race to sound tough.
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Gaza: 57% of surveyed Democrats back prosecuting Biden and Trump officials
A new poll finds majority support among surveyed Democrats for pursuing criminal prosecutions of officials from both the Biden and Trump administrations over Gaza. The finding points to demands for accountability that extend beyond party allegiance. (more…)
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Trump’s nuclear threats against Iran must be taken seriously
Trump stood before the United Nations and threatened to “annihilate” Iran. With the authority to order a nuclear strike resting in the hands of one US president, the consequences of treating such threats as mere bluster could be catastrophic. (more…)
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The rational fool, the cultural dope, the stranger and the voting booth
It’s easy to dismiss people who vote differently from us as selfish or brainwashed. But our own choices are shaped by self-interest, values and culture too. As Victorians prepare to vote, whose lives and interests are we willing to consider beyond our own? (more…)
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Environment: Wind and solar are increasing but so are fossil fuels
Solar panel imports are surging across Africa, but the global shift away from fossil fuels remains too slow. Meanwhile, Australian environmental groups unite behind ten principles to protect native forests, and a tiny wallaby makes a rare appearance. (more…)
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Don Dunstan’s cookbook and the lost ambition of social democracy
One hundred years ago Don Dunstan was born and 50 years ago, in October 1976, the then South Australian premier published a cookbook. It sounds like a charming eccentricity of the era. It was actually a small expression of a much larger political idea. (more…)
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What if we’re going to the shops for the people, not the shopping?
We go to shopping centres for more than the shops. They offer somewhere to meet, wander, sit or simply be among other people. What can these commercial spaces teach us about the places we need to feel connected? (more…)