18 things every first-time voter should know

Alan Stokes   Some pollies ARE in it for the greater good. You just have to be bothered enough to find them on the ballot paper.

Comments 27

Bandt: case for Labor, Greens co-operation

Adam Bandt   The Greens are not in Parliament just to make up the numbers. We are not a ginger group trying to force another party to change its position.

What Waleed Aly and John Oliver have in common

Josephine Tovey   Waleed Aly's Gold Logie wasn't only a win for diversity on Australian TV - it was a win for intelligent public debate.

Comments 61

Shift work is bad - trust me, I'm a doctor

Michelle Johnston   Fatigue is a constant, disagreeable companion for doctors and many of those who do shift work.

Comments 4

My war against Wicked campers

Clare Kermond   How can campers still be driving around covered in sexist slogans that would be banned anywhere else?

Comments 99

Bowen offers plausible economic management

The potentially most damaging claim was that the Coalition – not Labor – was jeopardising the nation's AAA credit rating.

MAY 11

Labor plan will add to housing negatives

Sydney wants to be and is a world-class city. Tell me how many first-home owners can afford detached housing in or anywhere near London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo or New York.

Column 8

"I'm overwhelmed by the response to my query last week as to words that can be touch-typed with one hand," taps Denis Gray, of Toukley, who started the whole thing.

The existential dilemma facing Simon Birmingham

Jennifer Buckingham   The recurrent funding model for schools gives the federal government scant control over the billions of taxpayer dollars it distributes.

Comments 8

Thrill of winning won't last long for Malcolm

Peter Reith   The Coalition will probably win the 2016 election. It has about 20 seats to give it a bit of insurance if things go a bit soft, and the economy will be the main issue. But the thrill of winning will not last for long.

Comments 146

Why cancelling my internet was a great idea

Carmella de los Angeles Guiol   I turned off the internet (at home) and it changed my life.

Could Melania Trump be the next Jackie O?

Celia Walden   If Donald Trump makes it to the White House, his smart and sassy wife Melania is unlikely to be a timid First Lady.

Comments 1

Stop shutting down debate on asylum seekers

Tom Ballard   When Australian voters ask their politicians to lower taxes, they're not immediately asked to submit comprehensive spreadsheets outlining their alternative economic vision for the country.

Fixed four-year terms a must for parliament

John Brogden   Elections should be a triumph of democracy but they now represent a failure of our political process that can be remedied by fixed four-year terms of parliament.

Comments 14

Don't forget victims in push to cut Indigenous numbers in prison

Marcia Langton and Josephine Cashman   The campaign to reduce the number of Indigenous people in prison tends to miss the point.

Comments 1

Turnbull or Shorten? The choice seems clear

Amanda Vanstone   The key question on July 2 will be: Who has the best credentials to be our prime minister?

Liberalism is under siege

Roger Cohen   We now know that history does not end. It merely eddies back and forth.

Me-ternity leave should be a birthright for all

Hannah Betts   It's time someone made this unfashionable point: Mothers are not the only workers who deserve a year off.

Comments 35

Election 2016: In search of better government

This is an election about policy not personality; party reform not abuse of power; and ensuring we get a better, more trustworthy government this time.

MAY 9

Letters to the Editor: more light than heat?

It is going to be a long contest of ideas ("Election 2016: a welcome contest of ideas", May 7-8). Let us hope more light than heat will be generated in the process and scaremongering by either side treated with contempt.

Comments 5

Column 8

Stein Boddington, of St Clair, didn't quite match the 12-letter "stewardesses" with an 11-letter "effervesced" (words that can be touch-typed with one's left hand, Column 8, since Thursday), but ups the ante by offering complete sentences.

Joe laps it up in DC

Peter FitzSimons   It was fascinating to see Joe Hockey in action at the first packed event of the famed Washington Correspondents' weekend.

Why NSW lags on abortion law reform

Kirsty Needham   Most NSW voters support a woman's right to choose, yet abortion remains in the Crimes Act in NSW. What is the stumbling block?

The campaign could damage the economy

Peter Martin   Malcolm Turnbull might have sown the seeds of his own destruction.

Taking on gender stereotypes

Rebecca Poulson   Being a mum is what you make it, not what a stereotype tells you to be

Campaign like every day is Mother's Day

What do mothers want? For the busy modern mum, Mother's Day may be the only day of the year when her needs and desires rather than those of her family are given priority – even by her.

MAY 8

Letters to the Editor

The care requirements of the aged are greater now than ever before, but staffing ratios in nursing homes are "dire".

Trouble looms at bowser for Baird

Sean Nicholls   The next time you pull into a petrol station in NSW and select the fuel of your choice, consider that you are probably at the scene of what is emerging as a major political headache for the Baird government.

Trump up close: he thinks you will love him

Julia Baird   Here's the central question for America, and, the rest of the perplexed, mesmerised world right now: does Donald Trump mean what he says?

The long scream of the Anglo male

Jacqueline Maley   New ABC boss Michelle Guthrie commenced work this week, and started as she presumably means to go on – by calling for greater diversity in content and staff.

Crown casino: the give and the high-cost take

Dominic Knight   It's great that Crown Resorts is helping kids in western Sydney. But what's the cost?

Money needed for domestic violence effort

Moo Baulch   Australia's domestic and family violence system is stretched to breaking point and the budget fails to replenish its empty coffers.

Policy beats personality in welcome battle

While twice as many voters still prefer Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, Bill Shorten knows the Coalition leader is vulnerable on fairness and reform.

Comments 3

Vale John Kaye: A role model for politicians

Rather than personal attacks, the Greens MLC was consumed with the contest of ideas and holding the government to account.

MAY 7

Weak exploited so war goes on

Despite the Treasurer's Pronouncement-of-the-Day that the class war is over,  the class war is alive, and all is not well, because the doughtiest fighters are those with the real wealth (Letters, May 6).

Comments 4

Column 8

Any advance on stewardesses as the longest word that may be typed with one hand?

Australian content at risk

Kim Williams   The Productivity Commission's draft report on Australia's copyright arrangements makes recommendations that would be incredibly detrimental to our national creative talent. The report is overall profoundly disappointing and a major cause for concern.