Latest commentary and opinion
It's reigning men. How our convict past explains our glass ceiling
PETER MARTIN Why does Tony Abbott have only one woman in his cabinet of 18 men? Why does BHP have only two women on its 12-man board? Why does Australia itself have one of the lowest rates of female company directorships in the world?
The Fitz Files: Why do we let this man prey on the grieving?
PETER FITZSIMONS 10:15pm Peter FitzSimons gets stuck in to a spiritual medium and the Minister for the Environment, and laments the death of an Australian Army legend.
Appetite for dirty details is never satisfied
CHARLES WATERSTREET 10:15pm A dear friend, a former spy, forgot all his former training recently and went to sleep at his girlfriend's, leaving his phone at the bedside table without his usual encrypted code and fingerprint access-only app in place. While he snored his girlfriend learnt of dark matters hidden in the memory cards of his phone.
Navigating memory lane: psychologist shows time is all in the mind
CATHERINE ARMITAGE A quick memory test: when did president Bill Clinton leave office? What year was the Boxing Day tsunami?
Canberra can't blame Menzies, or Abbott, for asbestos
JACK WATERFORD Blowed if I can discover the moral or legal case why the taxpayer should pay for the removal of 40 to 50-year-old asbestos.
Too soon to judge bail law, says Don Weatherburn
KIRSTY NEEDHAM Crime statistician Don Weatherburn hasn’t seen ‘‘a shred of evidence’’ that the new bail law has sent the prison population down - or up. Four weeks is simply not enough time to make an assessment.
Clive Palmer a symptom of larger disorder in Australian politics
PETER HARTCHER Clive Palmer pulled an old-fashioned conjurer’s trick this week. You know the routine. So you won’t notice the central trick, the illusionist stages an eye-catching distraction with a winsome assistant and a colourful explosion.
Abbott is no jewel in the Liberal crown as the Victorian election nears
MICHAEL GORDON It is hard to comprehend how far the Liberal Party has fallen, at a state and federal level, in the state that produced its founder and most towering figure, Sir Robert Menzies.
The UN must not abandon Syria
Ban Ki-moon The international community must not abandon the people of Syria and the region to never-ending waves of cruelty and crisis.
ASIC: the chicken sent to deal with crocodiles
JACK WATERFORD The Australian Securities and Investments Commission received a terrible pasting from a Senate committee this week. It's supposed to be there to protect consumers and free markets and to blow the whistle when corporate conduct is illegal, unfair or unconscionable.
Life judged by the kindness of strangers
TONY WRIGHT As winter finally unleashed itself on Victoria this week, an act of kindness came flying through the storm.
It's reigning men. How our convict past explains our glass ceiling
PETER MARTIN Why does Tony Abbott have only one woman in his cabinet of 18 men? Why does BHP have only two women on its 12-man board? Why does Australia itself have one of the lowest rates of female company directorships in the world?
'Where is Sarajevo?' The crime in the Balkans with disastrous consequences for Australia
J. R. Nethercote For many travellers to Vienna, a visit to the Belvedere Palace is obligatory. It houses a remarkable collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt, the celebrated Secessionist artist of fin de siecle Vienna.
Having a ripper time is just not good enough
NICHOLAS STUART Opinion It’s no surprise that Josh Frydenberg, Tony Abbott’s Parliamentary Secretary for deregulation, is a hot tip for the ministry. He’s on his way up. Secure (he holds the true-blue Melbourne seat of Kooyong, Robert Menzies’ old seat) intelligent (an Oxford and Harvard scholar) and effective (experienced and prolific op-ed writer), he’s a strong advocate practiced at pushing the government’s case. Hard.
Men of soccer need to harden up
Frank O'Shea The sissies have taken over FIFA. Look at how they are treating poor Suarez - they won't even use his first name. He is a fine manly, aggressive male, loaded with that wonderful quality that half the teams in the country are trying to find substances to enhance. Why, our universities are producing people with specialist degrees so that they can improve performance among young men with limited education, who are delighted to be treated by someone flashing a university parchment that contains the word Science incongruously attached to the word Sports.
There are no benefits for a soul waiting here
Barry Dickins Barry Dickins went to Centrelink for financial support. He barely survived to tell the tale.
Clive Palmer puts himself in the political picture
ANNABEL CRABB The visual image is freakishly important in politics – we know that. Why else would campaigning politicians pay advancers to clear their paths of “Vacant” and “Dead End” signs, and billboards giving advice to sufferers of impotence? Why else would a nation briefly lose its mind over a female politician photographed next to an empty fruit bowl?
Comments of the Week June 20-26, 2014
Rob Ashton We start with Joe Hockey, end with Bill Shorten, and in between sandwich everything from NSW and Victorian refugees, foxholes, sharks and dangerous ideas, to settling down with a pint and a scotch egg in an English pub.
Tony Abbott must doctor co-payment
JACQUELINE MALEY Australian Medical Association president Dr Brian Owler, a neurosurgeon, is the face of a rather frightening advertising campaign titled "Don't Rush".
It looks like smoke but where's the fire over e-cigarettes?
ALEISHA ORR In Western Australia it is legal to sell cigarettes filled with nicotine and other nasties that contribute to millions of deaths each year - yet electronic cigarettes - even those designed to be used with substances made of oils and organic compounds, are now outlawed.
Last laugh for Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef
Anthony Ackroyd When a government can no longer take a joke, it starts taking prisoners. In late May this year I, like many other lovers of comedy, was alarmed by the sudden cancellation of Egypt’s hit satirical TV program, El Bernameg (The Show).
Learning to love the body you live in
Bryony Gordon For all of my adult life, the worst thing you could have described me as was 'fat'.
Who are the winners from Clive Palmer's green conversion?
MARK KENNY Opinion The mining politician's surprising stand on climate change isn't all bad. Indeed, it may have been planned.
Arab world needs to puncture its own myths
Thomas Friedman New models need to be developed to achieve peace in the Middle East.
How Clive Palmer saved the world - in just 12 minutes
MIKE CARLTON Clive Palmer saves the world. That was how his media conference was touted in advance to the Canberra press gallery on Wednesday. Dazzling new policies on climate change would offer hope to all mankind.
Mighty mullet cops a mugging around Sydney's watering holes
Mitchell Browne Jimmy Barnes, Bon Scott, Warnie, Steve Irwin and John Farnham. All would be refused entry to pubs and clubs today sporting the haircuts they wore in their prime. The iconic Aussie mullet is now banned from many pubs throughout Sydney.
Happy daze, when no news is good news for the meaning of life
DANNY KATZ People woke and switched on their radios, but there was nothing to report on the news.
Australian jihadists fuelling Islamophobia
Shahram Akbarzadeh There may be more than a 100 Australian Muslims fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In security circles, these people are assessed as high risk for Australia. Their militant ideology and practical knowledge of weapons use could pose a threat to the Australian society upon their return. But the risk they pose is actually far greater than the immediate security threat. They threaten the very social fabric that has fostered Muslim communities. They put Australia's tradition of multiculturalism at risk and offer fodder to Islamophic commentators who see all Muslims as terrorists at heart.
When the world goes to war on a lie
Jonathan King There are alarming parallels between the WWI and the Iraq invasion in 2003: both were wars started on a false pretext.
There's no bigotry in challenging Islamic extremism
Paul Monk Muslims should be no more immune to criticism than any other religious group
