Real leadership is a thing of the past
Tom Switzer 12:05 AM Thirty years ago this month Paul Keating warned we could become a "banana republic". The anniversary is worth commemorating as a seminal moment in Australian history. It's also a reminder that real political leadership is lacking in Canberra today.
Latest Comment
The benefits of the car horn are overrated
Tim Dick 9:10 PM Few things contribute less to the common good as sounding the horn, which is almost always done for no proper purpose. All it does is make the driver feel better, briefly, and everyone else worse.
Preschool isn't an optional extra
Greg Whitby 12:00 AM It is unfathomable that 23 per cent of children cannot access early learning due to the high cost. This is particularly troubling for many families in disadvantaged areas of western Sydney.
Let the sun shine in cloisters of privilege
9:00 PM Australia's universities like to see themselves as progressive, open and welcoming institutions. But there is a troubling disconnect between this and the reality of the behaviour in some of the residential colleges attached to the universities
The soft corruption at the heart of our politics
George Williams 12:00 AM Companies and unions do not donate funds out of a sense of altruism. They do so based on a hard-nosed calculation that giving money to politicians produces results.
MAY 30
Public have a right to judge NBN material
9:00 PM As a Turnbull-appointed chair of the National Broadband Network it is no wonder Ziggy Switkowski prefers to frame the leaking of documents that reflect poorly on Turnbull as "theft" rather than "whistleblowing".
Stick with Shorten
Adam Gartrell Bill Shorten is about to make history by becoming the first federal Labor leader to serve a full term since the turn of the century.
A fight on our hands for Australian stories
Peter FitzSimons These proposals would eat away at our own national fabric.
Goodbye Clive, it's been real
Annabel Crabb Dear Clive, It's hard to believe we're saying goodbye already.
Forget Trump, we need Johnny Depp for US president
Charles Waterstreet 8:43 AM It's been Animalis Horribilis for Pistol and Boo, and the year isn't even half over.
Election is just a game of who'd ya rather
Michael Evans It's one of those childish games we've all enjoyed a giggle at over the years – who'd ya rather?
Council bureaucrats are off the leash
Kirsty Needham The new tsar of the state's largest merged council hasn't wasted any time in tackling the big issues for ratepayers.
ABC's directionless Vote Compass
Andrew Masterson Whatever happened to the battle for ideas, asks Andrew Masterson.
Let's celebrate the bravery of campaigners like the Kellys
Sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes and wrenching personal experience to see a problem and provide the impetus for a solution. This was the case with Ralph Kelly,
MAY 29
Turnbull knows it
Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals have a new mantra – they ask how Labor can pay for all its promises, and say we can't afford it ("Shorten's $1b pill to make the medicines go down", May 22).
When Potts Point isn't Potts Point anymore
Anne Summers Spoiler alert: this is a very inner-Sydney story about a well-to-do postcode kicked to the kerb.
Is Barnaby becoming our rural Trump?
Jacqueline Maley If you self-identify as a politician, it's time to get real.
Baird is losing the amalgamations argument
Sean Nicholls The scene that unfolded at the inaugural meeting of the newly created and installed Inner West Council on Tuesday night shocked observers and outraged the state government – and with justification.
More penis than you can poke a stick at
Wendy Squires It hasn't come soon enough for certain actresses who have been lobbying for men to share the bare.
NBN Co makes no apologies for reporting document theft to the AFP
Ziggy Switkowski A year ago, the board of NBN set the commercial objectives for which the CEO and his executive team would be held accountable in the 2015-16 operating year.
Why Sydney's weekend traffic is likely to get worse
Mehreen Faruqi It's a blunt way of saving money, but it's hanging commuters out to dry.
The minimum wage is holding prisoners back after jail
Daniel Wild There is one policy that actually renders many former prisoners unemployable and locks them in a permanent underclass.
Intergenerational report reveals $17 billion a year hole in future finances
In an era when the vision of our politicians seems ever more myopic, the NSW government's Intergenerational Report is to be welcomed.
MAY 28
Shorten cameo may become lead
Waleed Aly ("Elections aren't won in the age of dissent", Friday 27th May) has put a very pessimistic view of the state of Western democracy and politics, but is he right?"
Another day, another billion dollars
Jessica Irvine It happened again on Wednesday, at precisely 11am. It's the sleeper issue of this election.
'They know when you're sleeping, they know when you're awake'
Edward Snowden To an intelligence analyst, metadata is more important than content.
Small mistakes can prove lethal
Mark Kenny Listening and truth are the two big missing ingredients in this abnormally distended election circus.
Refugees aren't the only immigration issue
William Bourke Voters could be forgiven for thinking that all immigrants are refugees. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Why are so many climbers still dying on Everest?
Adam Minter Queues can spell disaster on the world's highest peak.
No time to waste in cleaning up NSW Labor
It is the fate of opposition leaders in this state to be somewhat invisible, especially when they are up against an opponent with the standing of Mike Baird, Australia's most popular premier.
MAY 27
Joyce must go as must live cattle exports
As usual with Barnaby Joyce's statements, skill is needed to find the elusive grains of truth in his wild pronouncements ("Joyce links boat arrivals to Indonesian live cattle ban", May 26).
Forget about the hunt for black holes, they're not there
Peter Martin The tally of costings released at the end of a campaign almost always adds up and always puts the budget slightly ahead.
Millennials don't want selfies and emojis, they want change
Josephine Tovey Our politicians can learn a lot from Bernie Sanders, who can't tell a joke and I doubt he could DJ to save his life.
Saying sorry isn't enough for Indigenous children
Judy Cashmore and Teresa Libesman More should be done to reduce the rate at which Indigenous children are removed from their families.
I spoke out against Donald Trump and racism. This is what happened next
Aubrey Perry A neo-Nazi and white supremacist website sent an army of Internet trolls after me.
Why it's fair that Americans have taken the ugg name
Amanda Budde-Sung The queues of tourists buying UGG Australia boots at shops in the CBD should be congratulated for supporting American industry, as UGG Australia is a trademark owned by US-based Deckers Corporation.
Why is Clinton so disliked?
David Brooks There's a larger lesson in Clinton's unpopularity, especially for people who have found a career and vocation that feels fulfilling.
How much should be done to save a life?
Eric Snoey "This ... is the end ... of my life." These would be my patient's only words - an economy of phrasing made necessary by an all-consuming air hunger. She had just arrived in the emergency room.
Previously in Comment
Highlights
Sydney will be unrecognisable
Everything that you (or at least I) love about this town under threat, the city's planner are conspicuous by their silence.
What young voters want (and it isn't selfies)
Our politicians can learn a lot from Bernie Sanders, who can't tell a joke and I doubt he could DJ to save his life.
Baird's light rail is bastardry of the first order
Tree-felling, park-gouging, history-trashing, bus-killing and street-closing. For what? You can have light rail and trees, high density and parks. It's a false dichotomy.
Turnbull will lose unless he wins back Liberals
The Prime Minister has not actually done anything to explain his rapid downhill trajectory. But contradicting himself almost every week, Turnbull has stood fast in indecision.
The story that sums up a mad world
If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, London's new mayor would be barred from entering the country because he's a Muslim.
Turnbull's 30-minute city is a silly idea
Should the development of new rail lines be based on their potential value to property developers? The government thinks so.
Labor can't deny its role in Manus Island tragedy
'Stopping the boats' was a bipartisan policy and both sides of politics are responsible for its monstrous outcomes.
The fight China will take to the brink of war
Peter Hartcher: The world's two greatest powers are competing for military dominance of the western Pacific Ocean and the contest is about to intensify.
Wrong museum, wrong place, wrong reasons
Elizabeth Farrelly: Does the Baird government's planned Powerhouse-to-Parramatta move make any sense at all, to anyone?
Why you don't really need health insurance
Marcus Strom: Every year people rail against private health insurance companies hiking up their premiums. I couldn't care less.
The Trump plan that is a real danger to Australia
Peter Hartcher: Donald Trump has made an idiotic and potentially incendiary claim about one of the world's most flammable strategic tinder boxes.
The unfair truth about a woman's handbag
Annabel Crabb: Like our brains, women's bags have to do 10 things at once. And that's tiring enough, even before tax.
With friends like Malcolm, equality is far away
Tim Dick: What is the point of a gay-friendly prime minister if he can't slap down those keen on perpetuating teenage hate, angst and suicide.
Apology
In last Monday's paper, the Herald reported the details of an alleged sexual assault under the headline "The horrifying untold story of Louise".
Turnbull, stop dithering on tax reform
The Turnbull government has yet to explain why we need tax reform. Meanwhile, Labor is strangely coherent on tax policies.
Why you really should pay a sugar tax
Jessica Irvine: We know we've got a problem when it comes to sugar and obesity.
Class clown Joyce has centre stage to prove himself
Peter Hartcher: Barnaby Joyce's capacity for populist revolt made him famous and effective. But the new Nationals leader will have to control his bluster if he is to be taken seriously.
Great irony of Ruddock's human rights appointment
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.
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 United Nations
Annabel Crabb: One key point of illumination from Julian Assange's announcement on Thursday is the rich impotence of the UN.
Banks are using us to hedge their bets
Ross Gittins: 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.
