Posted
As the jobs of the past disappear across Australia, there is little comfort to be taken from the Prime Minister's vision for the jobs of the future ... in road construction.
Topics: unemployment, federal-government
Posted
For all its talk of reducing welfare and entitlements, the Federal Government continues to prop up non-viable businesses while treating politician and executive pay as off limits.
Topics: federal-government, welfare, industrial-relations
Posted
Two bullets in Sarajevo ended years of peace and launched the 20th century on a path that would make it the bloodiest in human history.
But the Great War was by no means inevitable and the search for a culprit is the wrong one. Starting the war was a tragedy, not a crime.
As the 100-year anniversary of WWI nears it is time to reflect on what lessons can be learnt from the battles of the past.
Topics: world-war-1, history, death, world-politics
Posted
Even the most politically correct and progressive have a blind spot when it comes to our attitude towards animals. It's time to acknowledge it and get over it, writes Katrina Fox.
Topics: animals, food-and-beverage, animal-behaviour
Posted
| UpdatedAbbott and Hockey appear to have mastered the alchemy of public opinion transformation, but will face their biggest test when they release their first budget, writes Paula Matthewson.
Topics: manufacturing, business-economics-and-finance, budget, government-and-politics, abbott-tony, hockey-joe
Posted
| UpdatedAustralia has a legal right to defend its shores, but the Abbott government's border protection policy has begun to drift into some legal grey areas, writes Donald Rothwell.
Topics: government-and-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, international-law
Posted
Both sides of politics have played a direct role in the demise of Australian industry and have wasted the proceeds of the resources boom.
While the Aussie dollar did wreak havoc on industry, government policy failures since 2000 have taken a heavy toll.
We're now left with bickering politicians, a yawning budget deficit, and a conga line of manufacturers desperate for assistance that in most cases will never arrive.
Topics: manufacturing, business-economics-and-finance, government-and-politics, industry
Posted
Many Australians are upset by the idea of Schapelle Corby earning millions from a media deal. But is there a case for letting her keep the money?
Posted
| UpdatedWhen I took an offshored gig with Fairfax, I found myself playing an unwitting role in the rise of New Zealand as a low-wage economy.
In the 1990s hundreds of jobs left New Zealand shores bound for Australia, but the tide has turned.
While New Zealand's apparent stability may be great for investors, it isn't for staff. And now the gap between what's good for business and for the workers is set to widen.
Topics: work, business-economics-and-finance
Posted
| UpdatedHow the Israeli PM balances his desire for a peaceful solution with Palestine with his need to calm the ultra-right faction at home will reveal how much he supports the two-state solution, writes Lisa Main.
Topics: world-politics
Posted
A knack for getting runs at just the right moment has seen Steve Smith rise from the fringes of the Australian Test squad to become its likely future skipper.
Topics: cricket
Posted
The Victorian Government's decision to offer $22 million to SPC Ardmona will surely confuse the electorate on what the Liberal Party stands for as an organisation.
While the Abbott Government can hide behind the values of non-manufacturing states and talk about not propping up unsustainable industries, the Victorian Liberal Party has to confront a contentious issue in its own backyard.
The two levels are caught in a clash between economic rationalism and political pragmatism.
Topics: federal-government, business-economics-and-finance, abbott-tony
Posted
| UpdatedEvery month, the nation's attention is drawn to official employment numbers, but what do they mean?
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, economic-trends, unemployment, australia
Posted
The government's agenda threatens to restructure the economy not for the benefit of the many but for enrichment of the few, and leave core values of fairness by the wayside, writes Tim Dunlop.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, manufacturing, automotive, abbott-tony
Posted
Despite the economic storm clouds gathering, the government must not resort to corporate welfare policies that fail workers.
The demise of automotive manufacturing wasn't because of a lack of government assistance, but more to do with the high cost of making cars in Australia.
Moving forward, it would be a better plan to reduce red tape, cut company tax rates and improve flexibility in the workforce than try to hold off market forces with taxpayers' money.
Topics: economic-trends, business-economics-and-finance, automotive
Posted
| UpdatedSix years ago, I was one of the farmers being driven to breaking point by drought. These are the people we need to remember when weighing up the merits of assistance.
Posted
| UpdatedWe all know our leaders have lied to us, but we'd still be extraordinarily confronted if one of them ever actually admitted as such.
Topics: federal-government
Posted
| UpdatedThe world is in the grip of debt and deflation, and firms that can't keep up with the rigours of falling prices are falling by the roadside.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, consumer-finance, economic-trends
Posted
The two sides of politics revealed as little as they could about how they would address the big issues before the last election, and instead favoured clichés and slogans.
Now, pledges to "build a stronger economy" and "stop the waste" don't appear to have been shorthand for deeper ideas and plans, but simply shallow rhetoric.
And we have to take some responsibility for that and for allowing governments to coast on their campaign rhetoric when in power, despite the challenges ahead.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-election, business-economics-and-finance, tax
Posted
By trying to redefine our understanding of "fairness" and "poverty", the Australian conservative movement is paving the way for its pro-business, anti-welfare agenda.
Topics: federal-government, poverty, welfare
Posted
| UpdatedA scare campaign over proposed GP co-payments wouldn't have worked if the Abbott Government had been clear about what it stands for and where it is going.
Topics: health, federal-elections, doctors-and-medical-professionals
Posted
Tony Abbott has made tackling Indigenous disadvantage one of the cornerstones of his Prime Ministership, something he made clear in his Closing the Gap speech.
But there is another sleeping giant from the days of Paul Keating that the Prime Minister will need to confront: native title compensation.
It is one of the biggest pieces of uncertainty and unfinished business arising from the Native Title Act 1993 - what is the value of Aboriginal people's common law property rights?
Topics: aboriginal, native-title
Posted
People spend a lot of time worrying about housing bubbles bursting, and the experience of America during the global financial crisis shows us why.
From March 2007 to March 2009, the USA housing market fell around 30 per cent. Housing prices on average across that country have since recovered to 2004 levels.
Thankfully, despite the fears of some, the Reserve Bank doesn't think the same thing is about to happen in Australia. It sees recent price rises as just the standard response to the declining interest rates.
Topics: money-and-monetary-policy, housing-industry, housing, federal-government
Posted
| UpdatedPaul Howes's idea of a grand compact has merit, but it should focus on things that really require action and not IR changes, writes Josh Bornstein.
Topics: industrial-relations, business-economics-and-finance, unions, government-and-politics
Posted
What does the Griffith by-election mean? What is its deeper, broader significance for the trajectory of the Abbott Government, and, through it, Australian politics?
When commentators ask these questions, they aren't just filling word counts and news pages - they are trying to make the world intelligible.
Too bad that meaning-seeking is utterly futile. At best it lulls us into a false sense of security that we understand more than we do. At worst it's a confidence trick.
Topics: federal-elections, government-and-politics