Trump has always had poor impulse control but we are moving into a new phase with F-bombs, real bombs and threats to entire civilisations becoming daily occurrences. (more…)
Category: Top 5
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What the Socceroos taught us about belonging
The World Cup has shown Australia that our national identity is about diversity not uniformity. (more…)
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Gen Z is not ageing into the old Australia
Why Australia’s Gen Z is unlike any voting cohort before it and why every institution built for the old Australia is about to find out. (more…)
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Diversifying the critical minerals supply chain
Reducing dependence on China in the world’s critical mineral supply chain doesn’t require building a separate market. The trading system must find a balance between defence interests and the push for decarbonisation. (more…)
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How to address a democracy in retreat
The democratic project is about more than elections; its institutions must be revitalised on the basis of fairness, respect, openness, integrity and trust. (more…)
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Aged care assessments need experts not algorithms
Older people, their families and taxpayers are the losers in aged care system that trusts an algorithm over expert clinical assessors. (more…)
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For Palestinians, diplomacy has become a weapon of delay
After 1,000 days of genocide and 78 years of occupation, negotiations have not delivered peace. They have bought time, absorbed outrage and given Israel political cover to continue the destruction of Palestinians.
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Labor’s housing tax reforms must be the beginning, not the end
Labor’s capital gains tax and negative gearing reforms are a welcome start. But fixing housing will require broader tax reform, state cooperation and far greater investment in social housing.
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The pity of modern systemic corruption in politics
The coming NSW ICAC hearings are only part of a deeper problem. Entrenched factional power, gambling interests and political cowardice are corroding trust in Australia’s institutions.
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After the heartbreak, what the penalty kick teaches us about courage
After the Socceroos’ World Cup heartbreak, the penalty kick offers a brutal lesson in pressure, failure and courage – especially when an 18-year-old is willing to step forward.
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Why Frankenstein still matters in the age of AI
Shelley’s portrayal of consciousness helps us to better understand why artificial intelligence cannot feel wonder or shame. (more…)
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The United States cannot celebrate its birth by ignoring its foundations
As the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, its founding ideals remain undermined by the two histories it has never fully confronted: genocide and slavery. (more…)
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Monetising grievance: in Australia it’s harder than you think
Right-wing podcasting in Australia is akin to a craft beer with a niche following. It is not a mass market. (more…)
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The World Cup press conference is an ideological checkpoint
Footballers from the Global South are having to face questions about their countries’ politics – questions European and US players don’t get.
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The bamboo ceiling: Australia’s business failure in Asia
Australia’s parochial company boards are failing to equip themselves for Asia. This is a major barrier to developing our potential in the region and improving productivity. (more…)
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Australia must have an ambitious research policy to underpin economic transformation
In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), Kim Carr warns that Australia cannot build future prosperity on population growth, property and resource extraction alone – it must invest seriously in the scientific capability that drives innovation. (more…)
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Health regulator should reverse decision on IHRA definition of antisemitism
It is unclear why the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has chosen now to adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism as a ‘reference tool’. (more…)
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Electric vehicles are not a Chinese conspiracy
Electric vehicles will not save the planet on their own but anti-EV rhetoric conveniently ignores the problems caused by petrol and diesel vehicles. (more…)
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Enough is never enough
The pressing issues in Australian politics are not the lack of shared values but low productivity and greed. This is where reform efforts should be focused. (more…)
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A party of independents is not a contradiction
The launch of Community Strong Australia was a strategic move to position independents so they can offer a positive alternative to the two-party system. (more…)
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Hanson’s politics of subtraction offers her own voters less
Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club speech exposed the weakness in the old right-wing politics of subtraction: in an age of scarcity, promising to take things away no longer lands on someone else, but on the voters she needs. (more…)
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Trump is replacing capitalism with cronyism
Donald Trump’s use of state power to extract concessions from AI and technology firms is not industrial policy, but a corrupt form of crony capitalism that threatens US democracy, prosperity and the rule of law.
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Seven PMs in a decade: can Britain’s democracy deliver?
The UK’s revolving door of prime ministers raises the question whether its democratic institutions can offer a long-term vision and deliver results. (more…)
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Dysfunctional disability policy
Assessing functional capacity instead of basing disability assistance on diagnosis has been tried before. To be fair, the test will need a strong qualitative element. (more…)
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When Hanson starts fishing in multicultural waters
Pauline Hanson’s politics is finding new resonance because it turns real pressures over housing, services, tax and insecurity into a familiar politics of exclusion, offering some migrant-background voters the dangerous comfort of a place near the gate. (more…)
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The AUKUS mirage: why Australia needs a pragmatic pivot to Plan B
Australia still needs nuclear-powered submarines for long-range sea denial, but the current AUKUS pathway is too slow and risky, making a locally built conventional fleet essential to avoid a dangerous capability gap.
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Specialist fees are out of control. Medicare needs reform
Medical specialist fees have been rising far beyond Medicare support, leaving patients with heavy out-of-pocket costs, long public waiting lists and a health system that needs stronger public controls. (more…)
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Australia may feel the shift in US-Israel politics
Israel’s influence over US foreign policy is weakening as the political costs of unconditional support rise, and that shift may also reshape the pro-Israel lobby’s power in Australia. (more…)
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Foreign interference, MAGA and the Hanson insurgency
Australia’s rising right-wing populism reflects real economic and social grievances, but it is increasingly drawing on imported MAGA-style strategies that turn public anger into culture war rather than Australian solutions. (more…)
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Whose grief changes the world?
The suffering in Gaza has forced many people to question whether human rights are truly universal, or whether some lives and some grief are still treated as more politically urgent than others. (more…)