Great irony of Ruddock's human rights appointment
Elizabeth Farrelly 9:00 PM I've heard of being kicked upstairs but this is ridiculous. I know people get promoted to their point of incompetence, but the UN? The Vatican? These are not incompetence-friendly situations.
Latest Comment
Regeneration on the cards for Turnbull's mob
Alex Malley 6:47 PM With the loss of Warren Truss and Andrew Robb, the Turnbull Cabinet is undergoing more of a regeneration than a reshuffle.
The new Big Short: China may soon rock the global financial system
Paul Sheehan 3:50 PM The Big Short is a sensational movie about rotten banks, but an even bigger story about banking may be unfolding in China.
A land tax would reduce NSW inequality
Tim Ayres 9:00 PM One of the biggest questions facing New South Wales and especially our state government is how to respond to the rise of inequality.
Health gap cannot close without nutrition
Stephen Simpson 2:44 PM The Closing the Gap health strategy neglects food and diet, despite the benefits of improving Indigenous communities' food supplies.
Beware, the states are about to hike up taxes
Peter Martin 12:00 AM Now that a GST rise is off the table, expect state governments to do the tax reform that the Federal Government won’t.
Would GST hike have saved Tony?
John Warhurst 11:45 PM The conventional wisdom is that leaders in strong positions can take on risky reforms, but big issues can also help those in tight corners.
Australian aid seen to be less effective
Terence Wood, Camilla Burkot and Stephen Howes 11:45 PM The government needs to come up with a new aid Transparency Charter and be accountable to its standards.
We cannot cut our way to closing the gap
9:00 PM Support programs funded properly and targeted where they do most good are essential to creating the safe communities and social cohesion required to tackle health, education and incarceration issues.
FEBRUARY 11
Medicare works fine, so don't mess it up
12:46 AM What are the Prime Minister and Health Minister on about? Statements such as, "everyday Australians use cards to make 'tap and go' payments, and apps to make payments, and yet Medicare has not kept up with these new technologies", are rather perplexing to me.
Column 8
9:00 PM "In a well-known department store where staff are thin on the ground, there is a sign placed on the kitchenware counter when no one is there to serve you, which reads 'Customer Notice. For your convenience please visit the counter at the manchester department."
In the Herald: 11 February 1964
A collision between two Australian warships off the south coast of New South Wales resulted in one sinking, the Herald reported on this day in 1964.
Parties need money, business supplies it
Ross Gittins According to the Labor Party's rising star, Senator Sam Dastyari, 10 big companies control our political process.
And the secret ingredient is ...
Alan Stokes Rissoles. A mixture of ingredients that are wonderful individually in their own right yet miraculously transform into something special when combined. Sound familiar?
Australian schools are entrenching inequality
Rizina Yadav and Sam Wolfe The question of "public versus private" education is a distraction in Australia, diverting us from a far more substantive task: what can we do to ensure schools serve all students better?
Towers not needed to build density
Benjamin Driver We should congratulate the Herald for promoting expanded and new public transport projects for Sydney, but at the same time be politely skeptical about the details surrounding some of these proposals.
The tragic farce surrounding detention
The government's logic seems to be that Australians need not worry too much because even though you can't see what's going on, it is all okay. Wrong. Wrong.
JANUARY 10
Pezzullo's job to hear 'moral lecturing'
Since when has it been part of a public servant's role to harangue members of the public and the press when they express an opinion ("Immigration chief hits out at 'moral lecturing"', February 9)?
Column 8
"There has been much in Column 8 of late about the odd behaviour of some cafe, restaurant and bar proprietors," notes Paul Duncan, of Leura, "but there is the flip side to this – badly behaved patrons."
Previously in Comment
Highlights
Nauru: How long can we keep lying to ourselves?
The history of asylum seeker policy in Australia will be remembered as a story of how successive governments legislated their lies to justify a world of make-believe borders and compliance.
Fine art of ignoring the UN
One key point of illumination from Julian Assange's announcement on Thursday is the rich impotence of the United Nations.
Banks are using us to hedge their bets
We only need a tiny part of the financial services industry – the rest is just speculation and it doesn't stand up to close scrutiny.
Raising the GST to 15% is fiscal folly
If Australia goes down the path of increasing the GST to 15 per cent, it will be on the way to joining that collection of West European countries which are the highest taxed countries in the world.
Why Tony Abbott should leave politics
... and a few other Liberal MPs such as Bronwyn Bishop and Philip Ruddock should stop being so selfish and move on.
Disgrace oddity - how I tried to help David Bowie
Thirty years ago the writer interviewed David Bowie - and blew it entirely.
From the desk of our chief comment moderator
Fairfax Media's chief comment moderator Rob Ashton discusses the most-commented stories of the year, and offers advice for those who get rejected.
15 of our best comment pieces of 2015
Highlights from the Herald's opinion pages in 2015 - our most-read, most-discussed, most-shared pieces (plus a few editors' favourites).
In defence of the hangover
The common or garden hangover is a terrible and wonderful thing, a device of startling ingenuity designed (one can only assume) by the bloodless Calvin himself.
Bystanders struggle to do the right thing
I boarded my flight from Paris, happy to be going home. Until I met the man in the seat next to mine.
Why New Year's Eve is the most hypocritical night
One of my starkest New Year's Eve memories comes from when I was at university in New Zealand. I was at a house of a friend of a friend, and in that house I saw a man demonstrating his talent at opening beer bottles using his mouth.
The Australian fair go is dead
Elizabeth Farrelly: Why are we OK with this? How did the fair go slip so seamlessly into tooth and claw? Or was it always thus?
Captain's speech doesn't represent the Ravenswood I know
Throughout my time at Ravenswood, I experienced an environment that encouraged hard work, equality of standing, humility, and gratitude – virtues that I believe are the very foundation of the school itself.
Where to now for a newly unseated PM
Peter Hartcher: The government may have moved on, but Tony Abbott is still adjusting to his new reality and coming to grips with life beyond the prime ministership.
Big karma hits big pharma
Paul Sheehan: When a venture capitalist bought the rights to a drug and increased its price by 5500 per cent, there was widespread outrage. Now comes corporate revenge against corporate evil.
Islamic State thrives as big boys squabble
Waleed Aly: Force will not wipe out Islamic State because it is a byproduct of a much bigger conflict that needs to be resolved first.
Why Turnbull will be our longest-serving PM
Elizabeth Farrelly: It is a relief to have a leader who uses intelligence to connect with us.
The only thing worse than having your family murdered
When Ann O'Neill woke up in hospital after her estranged husband had shot her and killed their two children, she wasn't prepared for the public response.
A photo diary of France's week of terror
For photographer Andrew Meares, a dinner in Berlin turned into a week of terror after attacks ripped through the heart of Paris.
Why I won't be changing my Facebook profile
I am a self-confessed Francophile. I speak French; have a degree in French; in my 20s I did the obligatory year as an au pair, in Limoges, working for the family of a famous French porcelain house.
Turning hateful tweets into a force for good
Susan Carland: Bombarded with hateful tweets from trolls, it was only natural that my response would be rooted in the fact that I am Muslim.
