Tonys and Davos: it must be Oz Day
John Birmingham Proud days for Australia this week as the Prime Minister strode like a colossus across the global stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he explained to a meeting of world powers that the diabolical situation in Syria needed fewer baddies and more goodies. Diplomats looked up from their briefing notes, Presidents and prime ministers, generals and warlords who had all been mooching around the tea and biscuit table out in the foyer, suddenly gave up waiting for a new plate of Jaffa Cakes to arrive and hurried back into the meeting room, keen to hear more.
Paid parental leave: A most difficult pregnancy
ANNE SUMMERS If you thought the politics of the paid parental leave scheme were complicated, just wait until you get to the policy itself.
Peace Corps would help keep this country lucky
Rhys Jack For my 23 years, I thought I knew what it meant to be an Australian on Australia Day. A barbecue, a few beers, a game of backyard cricket and a laugh with good mates seemed to me to be the ingredients that, when combined, could produce a bloody good Australia Day.
High cost when friendship turns toxic
SEAN NICHOLLS Even in a city as expensive as Sydney, it's not unreasonable to expect that $600,000 would buy you quite a lot, even a few friends.
How Tony Fleming's love of trees led to top job in Australian Antarctic Division
COLIN COSIER This division chief and conservationist continues a family's fixation with the ice.
Government secrecy and leaky asylum-seeker boats
DAVID WROE The government's obsession with keeping silent on boat arrivals and turnbacks may come back to bite it.
Kevin Andrews' welfare review aims to cut cost of pensions
The inquiry into government benefits has already ruled out cuts to the two most expensive parts of the nation's $90 billion welfare bill, writes Anne Davies. So what is its agenda?
A time for the nation to celebrate - and reflect
Australia Day is a welcome chance to celebrate what unites us. What we've got right as a nation: against the odds, punching above our weight, showing the rest of the world what it's missing by not being here.
Can Australia Post become the next big bank?
GARETH HUTCHENS While some economists say Australia Post should be privatised, many believe it should be allowed to compete with the banks.
Is the O'Farrell solution to alcohol-fuelled violence the best fix?
SEAN NICHOLLS Is the O'Farrell fix the best way to curb alcohol-fuelled violence, or a solution to a political problem?
NuCoal: The ore gift that the Premier took away
Michaela Whitbourn NuCoal is angry at the decision to revoke coal licences, but its claim of innocence rings hollow.
Sun sets in Tamworth, heart of country music
Despite the cowboy hats on the streets of Tamworth this weekend, Australian country music is in trouble, writes Peter Munro.
The king of camel lot
CONRAD WALTERS A program to preserve a rare breed of camels has its roots in Australia.
East Timor: Oil and troubled borders
TOM ALLARD Amid claims of bullying and spying, an international court must decide if Australia has acted fairly in its dealings with East Timor.
State of the Union address: Will anyone listen as Obama focuses on inequality?
NICK O'MALLEY Obama's State of the Union will focus on inequality, but is anyone paying attention?
JANUARY 25
Darkest of dividends due from PM's blue
The breaking of the traditional amnesty on political sledging while on the global stage as Prime Minister is very sad (''PM uses global stage to take swipe at Labor over financial record'', January 24). There is the contradictory image of a conservative man leading the charge on throwing out conventions on the foundations of prime ministerial speeches.
Ticket price gouging taking consumers for a ride
STEVE DOW Consumers are being slugged by booking fees.
Nostalgia - dwell on it fondly
JULIA BAIRD Are there times more likely to glaze eyes with memories of years past for Australians than these long, scorching, beautiful days of January? Any songs more likely to make us nostalgic than those drenched with heat and sun?
Sydneysiders have no love of apartment living
Tony Recsei Planning in NSW is at a crossroads. Chris Johnson, chief executive of Urban Taskforce (an organisation representing property developers), laments the fact that the state government's proposed new planning legislation has been derailed (''Public interest tuned out in city-suburb battle'', News Review, January 11).
Sci-tech
Glow-in-the-dark plants a step closer as Avatar's seeds bear fruit
Kristin Hohenadel Genetic modification means there may be a new way to light up homes, writes Kristin Hohenadel.
Sydney can learn a lot from Edinburgh's disastrous tram system
NICK MILLER As Sydney prepares to rip up its streets for a tram system, there is much to learn from Edinburgh's unhappy and expensive experience, writes European correspondent Nick Miller.
Thailand torn by ugly power play
Lindsay Murdoch In Bangkok While it has endured many military coups, the nation has never been more divided than it is today, with bloodshed a real fear.
Lunch with Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
Mark Dapin chats with a developer with surprising political ambitions.
Needless debate masks true meaning of Australia Day
JACQUELINE MALEY Last Australia Day, I was in Coles, shopping for something innocently patriotic such as grapes or Jatz crackers, when I stumbled upon merchandise altogether more risque. Set high on a display stand was a pyramid of condom packets, in green and gold packaging, festooned with the Australian flag.
Premier Barry O'Farrell faces moral dilemma after High Court throws fund-raising into chaos
SEAN NICHOLLS Opinion The High Court's decision just before Christmas to strike down key elements of the O'Farrell government's laws on who can donate to political parties in NSW took most people by surprise - not least the Premier himself.
Feeling the heat? Spare a thought for the tennis millionaires
John Birmingham It's the tennis royalty I feel sorry for. As our solar vortex showed America's polar vortex how to do things upside down and back to front, dozens of overheated millionaires at the Australian Open complained of working for a couple of hours in stifling heat to earn a few million more bucks, while elsewhere, privileged layabouts like roofers and painters were lounging around.
Tony Abbott cuts politicians' family ties
Jonathan Swan, Lisa Visentin The party room was unhappy when the PM banned nepotism, but MPs say they have good reason to object.
A grieving father's message for all of us
The message on 18-year-old Daniel Christie's funeral program on Friday should resonate with every Australian who believes something must be done to tackle street violence. ''If change is to be, it's up to me.''
Tech
Online privacy: 'Big data' is watching, and building your digital profile'
Mark White Privacy concerns are growing as tracking consumers' digital profiles becomes big business.
Paul Keating at 70
JACQUELINE MALEY Street-fighter, showman, aesthete, 'maddie': at 70 former PM Paul Keating's legacy is assured, writes Jacqueline Maley.
A very heated debate
DAISY DUMAS As players struggle with soaring temperatures at the Australian Open, the argument rages about how hot is too hot.
Roo do you think you are? Were the Portuguese the first Europeans to find Australia?
MICHAEL EVANS A chance discovery of a sketch from the 16th century has threatened to overturn Australia's European history.
Scorchers: the reality of a sunburnt country
PETER HANNAM As searing temperatures swept across the country this week, Australians got a strong indication of summers to come. Peter Hannam asks if we are prepared for hotter days.
Free speech should not trump individual rights
The fact Australian naval boats have sailed into Indonesian territorial waters without permission is not surprising (''Scott Morrison admits Australia breached Indonesian waters during boat operations'', smh.com.au, January 17). The Scott Morrison/Tony Abbott crusade to stop the boats is uncompromising.
Selling 'patriotism'
The uncomfortable ways marketers are pitching you 'Australia Day'
JACQUELINE MALEY And it's not just Australian flag themed condoms though those do exist.
Comment
Sydneysiders have no love of apartment living
Tony Recsei Planning in NSW is at a crossroads. Chris Johnson, chief executive of Urban Taskforce (an organisation representing property developers), laments the fact that the state government's proposed new planning legislation has been derailed (''Public interest tuned out in city-suburb battle'', News Review, January 11).
His eye on the ball
Mark Dapin Managing hundreds of ball boys and girls is child's play for the court king.
Environmentalism and the Church: The green green grass of Rome
Wendy Harmer One doubts Senator Cory Bernardi will be settling in with his popcorn and choc-top to watch the movie Noah this autumn, although Pope Francis may well be in the house with his re-soled fisherman clogs propped up on the seat in front.
Housing: public interest tuned out in city-surburb battle
Chris Johnson The recent boom in apartment approvals in Sydney has set off a new wave of NIMBY - not in my backyard - reaction against what many community groups see as an attack on suburban living.
Defending free speech
JACQUELINE MALEY When he spoke to the Institute of Public Affairs in August 2012, Tony Abbott was in a blue tie and fine form. He was there to deliver an address on freedom of speech. He had put his ''heart and soul'' into it, he said.
Sean Nicholls: Trials a crucial ingredient in reform cocktail
SEAN NICHOLLS The five-year statutory review of the NSW Liquor Act was handed to the government just as the summer drinking season was cranking up.
Synthetic drugs: authorities struggle to deal with booming trade
RORY CALLINAN The new business of synthetic drugs has rapidly rewritten the rules of the 'highs' industry while generating millions in profits.
Tony Abbott's diplomatic wobbles reveal challenges of new world order
Anthony Bubalo, Michael Fullilove While the government seems to be staggering from crisis to crisis, it has more to do with shifting plates of global power than problems in Canberra.
Like it or lump it, life is finite
Anthony Ackroyd There are words you really don't want to hear - ''You've still got that lump on your back''. Even more unwelcome - ''I think it's getting bigger''.
Time to curb the alcohol culture
Alcohol is part of our culture. A glass of wine with a meal, a few beers with friends, a cocktail at the end of the day. These are all an accepted, uncontested, unremarkable part of our culture, especially at the unwinding of a working day, or at a celebration with friends.
Green army will not regenerate job wasteland
JOSEPHINE TOVEY Toomelah is crippled by a lack of paid work.
Private parts: why the federal government is backing the states to sell off everything they can
HEATH ASTON He wants to be known as the infrastructure PM, but first Tony Abbott has to find a way to fund the projects, writes Heath Aston.
Tony Abbott's climate change policy problematic
Tom Arup, Peter Hannam The federal government's new green paper reveals many practical problems with its policy to combat climate change.
Bali deaths: Tests show no evidence of foul play, police say
Jeffrey Hutton The sudden, excruciating deaths of a Queensland mother and daughter in Bali leave many questions unanswered.
Alcohol and violence: Time to act
Sean Nicholls As police and paramedics face the consequences of another weekend of booze-fuelled chaos on Sydney streets, the public's message to Premier Barry O'Farrell is clear.
