Posted
| UpdatedMorality seldom intrudes on realpolitik; rather, toughness is seen as a positive virtue, and mercy and compassion as weakness to be avoided at all costs.
But the death of one man and the injuries to scores of others on Manus Island mean that the unintended consequences of Australia's asylum seeker policies can no longer be ignored.
The Abbott Government can bluster all it likes about not succumbing to pressure and moral blackmail, but we are no longer talking theoretical abstracts and hypothetical outcomes, but actual events.
Topics: refugees, federal-government, defence-forces
Posted
| UpdatedCharlotte Dawson's death will mean something vague, something substantial, or absolutely nothing at all, to each of us - and that's all right.
Topics: death, community-and-society, arts-and-entertainment
Posted
| UpdatedWords like "desire" and "choice" might be poor ways to describe circumscribed career moves that mothers make when trying to factor in childcare.
Topics: pregnancy-and-childbirth, community-and-society, workplace, government-and-politics
Posted
| UpdatedLabor will attack Scott Morrison over the Manus Island riot, but both sides of the political divide are guilty of inhumane policies spanning more than two decades.
Topics: immigration, government-and-politics, federal-government, defence-and-national-security
Posted
| UpdatedThe Federal Government's hardline approach to corporate welfare has been applied haphazardly, and now the rush to respond to pleas for assistance from Qantas is raising hackles.
While the airline's management blames external factors for its issues, there's no doubt Qantas has made a number of mistakes that have contributed to its demise.
And now any move by the federal government to guarantee its debt would expose taxpayers to a high risk enterprise they cut loose two decades ago.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, federal-government, parliament, government-and-politics
Posted
| UpdatedWhen negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Australian leaders should consider that the creation of life-saving medicines relies on strong intellectual property laws.
Topics: biotechnology-industry, trade, federal-government
Posted
| UpdatedAn innocent man came to Australia in search of a safe haven. Instead, he was killed under the Australian Government's watch.
While the chaos and violence at the Manus Island detention centre was shocking, it was not surprising. It's hard not to feel this was the inevitable outcome of Australia's detention policies.
The tragic death, the dozens of injuries sustained and conflicting accounts make the need for an independent inquiry imperative.
Topics: refugees, government-and-politics
Posted
| UpdatedA look back through Australia's difficult drought policy history reveals a nation that's never been satisfied with its response to drought, or the assistance available for farmers, communities and businesses affected by it.
Topics: rural, disasters-and-accidents, drought, agribusiness, canberra-2600
Posted
| UpdatedIt began with a clash of personalities in the David Jones boardroom, and may end in the merger of two iconic Australian stores.
Topics: retail, company-news, business-economics-and-finance, australia
Posted
| UpdatedWe like to think we can tell when someone is lying, but justice can easily go awry when good people overestimate their ability to see truth in another's eyes.
Topics: government-and-politics, society, law-crime-and-justice, police, courts-and-trials
Posted
| UpdatedNot many public leaders pepper their speeches with highbrow literary quotes, but General David Morrison has a different take on some things.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, army
Posted
| UpdatedThe fresh Senate election is a distraction the Abbott Government could do without, as electorally it can only hold its ground or lose a seat.
But it does offer Tony Abbott a last chance to attack Labor over the carbon tax before he has to find new ammunition.
And while the Senate numbers may vary, the Liberals face the real prospect of state election wins and wall-to-wall Coalition governments.
Topics: government-and-politics, elections, abbott-tony, bill-shorten
Posted
| UpdatedThe Senate re-election in Western Australia has the potential to both change the balance of power and seriously test the eyesight of voters.
Topics: federal-elections
Posted
| UpdatedIt's not Shane Watson, it's us. Despite him being a loyal servant and favoured son, the team needs some time apart.
Posted
| UpdatedThe banking landscape has changed since Joe Hockey announced a financial system inquiry, and since the original point no longer matters everyone's begun a "point hunt".
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, superannuation, government-and-politics, banking, international-financial-institutions
Posted
Reality TV is known to blur the boundaries between what's true and what's confected, but in politics an entire universe is created at a self-serving arms length from the truth.
While Alcoa, Holden, Toyota and SPC Ardmona all say one thing, the government says another.
The sad result is that by evading the truth, politicians invite the Australian people to abandon politics as a meaningless irrelevance.
Topics: manufacturing, government-and-politics, climate-change, rural, agribusiness, television
Posted
The release of Wolf Creek 2 today will only solidify Australia's reputation for murdering backpackers, a fact that Tourism Australia would be wise to exploit in a tie-in marketing campaign.
Topics: tourism
Posted
| UpdatedHowever much or little we know about terms of trade and fiscal policy, around the kitchen table it's jobs that most shape how we see the economy.
In this climate, the side can that can convince voters they're best able to keep them in work has much to gain.
With the job cut headlines showing no sign of slowing down, Labor's ability to build an economic management narrative around jobs - rather than the existing story which focuses on debt - represents its best chance of defying history and being a one-term opposition.
Topics: unemployment, federal-government
Posted
| UpdatedCraig Thomson's critics trashed the presumption of innocence and fairness before the law and his guilty verdict in no way excuses their actions.
Topics: laws, law-crime-and-justice, government-and-politics, media
Posted
| UpdatedInterest groups are putting themselves ahead of the environment with a "me first" attitude that is gaining political clout and putting our parks at risk.
Topics: national-parks, conservation, environment, government-and-politics
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australia is poised to head back to the polls, but five months is a long time in politics and a new senate result may not bode well for the Abbott government.
Topics: federal-election, government-and-politics, minor-parties, political-parties
Posted
| UpdatedThe Reserve Bank has increased its expectations for growth but the unemployment figures will douse any optimism for workers.
Four consecutive quarters of above-trend growth in 2011-12 did little to improve the unemployment rate or reverse the effects of the GFC.
In this sense we are currently in a very post-recession-like era, and it will be a long time before we see unemployment rates of the type before 2008.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, economic-trends, government-and-politics
Posted
The review of the Renewable Energy Target is the latest move from a Prime Minister whose actions on climate change don't match his words.
Topics: climate-change, emissions-trading, abbott-tony, federal-government
Posted
Refusing bailouts is just the beginning - the Abbott Government wants the business community to help it argue the case for industrial relations reform.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, industrial-relations
Posted
| UpdatedThere are a number of actions Australia could take in response to Uganda's inhumane new laws against gays. Sadly, we don't have a good track record on this issue.
Topics: gays-and-lesbians, world-politics, government-and-politics, human