Politics
Gillard solution turns to dissolution
MIKE CARLTON Opinion 'Profoundly disappointing,'' the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said after the High Court demolished the so-called Malaysian solution on Wednesday.
Magic budget: not everything will be on show
SEAN NICHOLLS Opinion With all eyes on Tuesday's state budget, the Treasurer, Mike Baird, and the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, have been using every opportunity to warn they will be doling out some tough love.
A return to Rudd looms as Gillard's leadership collapses
SHAUN CARNEY Opinion There is only one possible contender to replace the Prime Minister and that is Kevin Rudd.
Not just kinder, also a cheaper solution
JESSICA IRVINE Opinion Wouldn't it just be easier, and cheaper, to process them here? As a desperate Gillard government scans the Pacific for a suitably desolate island on which to stash asylum seekers, it is time to ask: is this the most cost effective use of taxpayer money?
Keen to serve, just not now
PETER HARTCHER Opinion At least one of Labor's next generation of leaders isn't shy about his ambitions, but no one wants the top job - yet.
Labor's choice has MPs green around the gills
KATHARINE MURPHY 1:22pm Opinion It's been a strange old 48 hours, even by the standards of recent history.
Plenty of activity, if not activism, coming from High Court justices
RICHARD ACKLAND Opinion Will we start to hear the present High Court being denounced as ''activist''? After Wednesday's drowning of the ''Malaysian solution'', you'd think a fresh burst of ''j'accuse'' from the darker recesses of the commentariat or blogosphere can't be too far off.
Fair, balanced reporting not on Murdoch agenda
Robert Manne Opinion News Limited owns 70 per cent of the circulation of major newspapers in Australia. If Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, were an apolitical or a distant figure, this might not matter, but he has a powerful set of ideological beliefs and is determined to maintain tight control over all his papers on issues that interest him.
Radical change needed to make school system fair for all
Chris Bonnor Opinion The debate may be about quality, but what's really lacking is equity.
A disaster waiting to happen
MICHELLE GRATTAN Opinion The legal danger in Labor's much-vaunted Malaysia solution should have been sniffed and better judgments made.
New laws toss energy jobs to the wind
Andrew Bray Opinion The nation is poorer for the Liberals' stance on the 'green-collar' sector.
A pressing case for standing up to Rupert Murdoch's bullying
Robert Manne Opinion The shameless actions of News Ltd are a threat to our democracy.
Nowhere to run from this burning building
PETER HARTCHER Opinion AS JULIA GILLARD'S troops choked back rising panic yesterday, one of her lieutenants compared the government to a "house on fire".
The bottom line: it's Australia's responsibility
David Marr Opinion WE CAN'T get rid of them. That's the message the High Court has sent Canberra. It doesn't matter where we send the boat people who reach Australia, we remain responsible for seeing they are protected and their refugee claims are properly assessed. The subtext is: we might as well do it at home.
Gillard will feel the blow the most
PHILLIP COOREY Opinion THE High Court decision that put the Malaysia plan to the sword is especially damaging for Julia Gillard because she began the push for a regional solution to the people smuggling problem.
Income quarantine without support just punishes the poor
Philip Mendes Opinion When employed as a child protection worker many years ago I often looked for a magic wand solution to long-standing family dysfunction. There were two particular groups of concern. One was parents who spent their limited finances on anything but food and other essential items for their children. The second group was teenagers living in state care who paid their youth homeless allowance directly into the pockets of heroin dealers, and in one tragic case, died of an overdose.
For the whole truth about Hicks, look neither left nor right
CYNTHIA BANHAM Opinion It's terror season on television. With the 10th anniversary of September 11 upon us, we are being presented with a spectrum of viewpoints about that "epoch-changing" event.
Noble sentiments count for nothing if they're not backed up
JOSH GORDON Opinion If the electorate loses faith, the death knock isn't far away.
Withdrawal from Refugee Convention may be last resort
Michael Pearce Opinion Labor has failed in its soft and tough policies on emigres.
Conversation starter, if you get the meaning
Andrew Stevenson Opinion DAVID GONSKI'S review panel has delivered a barbecue stopper - but not one of any immediate political value.
Humiliation as things get worse
PHILLIP COOREY Opinion IT is hard to imagine how things could possibly get worse for this government.
Humane decision as Malaysian plan springs a leak
David Marr Opinion IT'S about fairness. For a long time the High Court has ticked off on the remarkable difficulties Australia puts in the way of asylum seekers who come here by boat. Even mandatory detention for life has been given the nod by the court. But lately the judges have ruled boat people must at least be dealt with fairly while they are caught up in the system.
Phillip Coorey
Malaysia solution backfires for government that failed to do its homework
PHILLIP COOREY Opinion The High Court decision on the Malaysia refugee swap is another blow to a government that can least afford it.
Invest in children of knowledge revolution
ROSS GITTINS Opinion It's annoying the way business people keep slipping the words ''going forward'' into almost every sentence and it was even worse when Julia Gillard kept repeating the slogan ''moving forward'' in the last election campaign. But I have to admit they've got the right idea: we do need to keep our minds focused on the future and what we need to do to secure it.
Without a carbon tax, steel industry jobs might stand a chance
PETER COSTELLO Opinion The high Australian dollar does not affect our mineral exporters, because their prices are booming in whatever currency you choose. But it makes life tough for manufacturing exporters - as shown by last week's decision by the steel manufacturer BlueScope to cut 1000 jobs and close a blast furnace.
Labor has a policy designed to cut income, not boost it
Peter Costello Opinion Ditching the carbon tax is one thing that would help the steel industry.
Passing the hat to save manufacturing not forward looking
ROSS GITTINS Opinion For its future prosperity, Australia must be smart and embrace change.
Talk's cheap but manufacturers want solutions
LENORE TAYLOR Opinion POLITICIANS talk big about helping crisis-stricken manufacturers, but they can do relatively little, unless they are prepared to either contravene Australia's international trade obligations or spend a shed load of money.
Beware the anti-knowledge Republicans
Paul Krugman Opinion Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn't a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that's too bad, because Huntsman has been willing to say the unsayable about the GOP — namely, that it is becoming the "anti-science party". This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.
Why I am against nuclear power
GEOFF GALLOP Opinion In the latter years of the twentieth-century it seemed as if nuclear power was dead. Too costly, too dangerous, too unpopular and too difficult to achieve. Economics, science and politics were all against it.
