The campaign's other big lie
Peter Martin 9:47 PM There's no evidence that South Australia or any other state will "benefit enormously from the free trade agreements the Coalition has signed", in large part because the Coalition has ensured there isn't.
Latest Comment
Baird's plan to take on developers won't work for one reason
Jacob Saulwick 12:00 AM Property developers, would you believe, are angry at the Baird government. How could this be?
The campaign's other big lie
Peter Martin 9:47 PM There's no evidence that South Australia or any other state will "benefit enormously from the free trade agreements the Coalition has signed", in large part because the Coalition has ensured there isn't.
Pauline Hanson is wrong about Hurstville
Chris Minns 10:04 AM There is also no point inviting Pauline Hanson to Hurstville to experience the real Australia. Racism isn't cured with good meal.
Younger citizens' votes should be worth more
Piero Moraro 4:45 PM Younger people should be allowed to cast more votes during elections, because they have much more at stake than someone who is already retired.
Should Derryn Hinch really be a senator?
Greg Barnes 11:45 PM One of the outcomes of Saturday's federal election is that Victorians now have as one of their 12 representatives in the Senate a man who has over the past 30 years been to jail twice and fined $100,000 for beaching court orders, and who has been roundly criticised by the High Court for undermining the right of an accused person to a fair trial. We are talking about broadcaster Derryn Hinch.
Boring or crazy? The choice is yours
David Brooks 1:52 PM Many voters seem to be flocking to tough, no-nonsense women who at least seem sensible.
Uber replaces one monopoly with another
Jean-Paul Gagnon, David Carter and Fanny Thornton 11:38 AM When Uber isn’t wrapping itself in cloaks of communal good, it is busy trying to institute a monopoly on ride-hailing.
Evidence of grave police failings in Lindt cafe siege
12:15 AM The inquest into the Lindt cafe siege raises troubling questions about the adequacy of the police response.
JULY 7
Turnbull's contrition sounds mechanical
9:00 PM Malcolm Turnbull is like a wind-up toy. His pre-election pronouncements amounted to little more than two repetitive phrases.
Meet Sydney's angriest voters
Alan Stokes Plenty of Australians are mad as hell. You know who you are. But Coalition strategists don't.
Pauline Hanson is right, sort of
Zeinab Zein 8:49 AM It is a great paradox of Hanson's politics that she cannot see that the people she claims to represent and the people she maligns in order to give them voice, may have much in common.
How Turnbull was set up for his downfall
Chris Henning All the pictures of Malcolm Turnbull looking glum since Saturday night tell us a story we already instinctively knew: he fears he has miscalculated again.
Think twice before posting that holiday snap
Aubrey Perry We have a unique responsibility to protect the physical as well as the digital safety of their children. We are custodians and curators of our child's digital adolescence.
Hanson might be back, but Australia has moved on
Tim Soutphommasane The politics of Hansonism haven't changed during the past two decades. By contrast, Australian society has moved on.
Trump appeals to the worst in us, and the worst of us
Paul Waldman Donald Trump appeals directly to the worst in us, and the worst of us.
Bedwetters need support, not humiliation
Duncan Fine Who do people think they're impressing by using the term "bedwetter" as an insult?
Why doctors won't always tell you how bad it is
Paula Span Experts have urged doctors to talk about the elephants in the room, especially at the end of life. But two recent studies show how achingly slow progress has been.
Turnbull and Shorten belittle the Senate at their peril
This Senate outcome is a natural result of people protesting about not being heard. Both major parties must recognise that.
JULY 6
It's right for Hanson to be in the Senate
The role of our Parliament is to provide broad representation for the views of the electorate
Turnbull's last chance with Abbott in the wings
Peter Reith If he just proceeds as if "jobs and growth" is enough, he won't last the parliamentary term.
Turnbull has lost his debating skills
Steve Kilbey Confident, arrogant and with more authority than any 17-year-old kid, Malcolm Turnbull was a hell of a school debater. But where was that spark election night?
How NSW Labor took back the state
Sam Crosby Labor's remarkable election success in the state caught most by surprise and looks set to bring down the Turnbull government one way or another.
Unpacking the Halal Snack Pack
Matt Holden These five guys in western Sydney made a Facebook page about kebab meat, chips and garlic sauce – you won't believe what happened next.
Chaotic government is democracy at its best
Lucy Battersby Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged Australians elect a "stable majority Coalition Government" rather than the "chaos" of a minority government during the election.
Feminists treat men badly and it's bad for feminism
Cathy Young Feminism must include men, not just as supportive allies but as partners, with an equal voice and equal humanity.
Your co-workers will manage just fine if you take a holiday
James R. Bailey The prospect of being away from the office likely makes you a bit jittery. After all, how will they get along without you? Just fine, actually.
Turnbull has only himself to blame
Shaun Carney How can someone so well-read, well-informed and long untroubled by the need to make any more money keep making so many unnecessary mistakes?
Crossbench chaos or constructive policy?
If the Turnbull coalition secures the most seats, many will argue that all independents should side with him.
JULY 5
Time to embrace our multi-party system
We'd have so much more stability in Parliament if the moderates in both major parties were talking together and with centre parties about working for the common good for Australians.
Don't drag the Liberal Party to the right
Amanda Vanstone It's just nonsense to imagine that people voted for Labor candidates because the Liberals weren't right-wing enough. Government members need to recognise that to get anything done they need Xenophon.
Why Sydney needs for rooms for ice smokers
Matt Noffs and Alex Wodak As Australia struggles with increasing problems from ice use, we haven't been prepared to try innovative approaches that appear to have worked overseas.
The missing detail that cost Turnbull
Simon Breheny It is not enough to say you have a plan for a strong new economy. You actually have to have one.
One leader has grown, another has shrunk
Julie Szego Authenticity being a recurring theme in Australian politics, this open-ended election has revealed a Labor Party that for the first time in a long time seems comfortable in its political skin.
Protest vote destroys Turnbull's stability promise
The swing to minor parties and independents at this election was greater than the swing to Labor.
JULY 4
Voters' message: give us good government
Australia has voted for real political change, not the simplistic notion of whether Liberal or Labor "win".
Turnbull's quest to be forgotten
Annabel Crabb For the first time in his life, Malcolm Turnbull has just spent two months trying as studiously as possible not to attract attention.
Previously in Comment
Highlights
Does Australia even need a government?
Look around in Australia on the first business day after the country was supposedly rendered "ungovernable" by Saturday's election. On Monday the share market was up and so was the Australian dollar.
Why we won't see marriage equality for ages
The election's big winners are those few who can't abide the gays being wed.
Two messages drew blood in the campaign
The underlying struggle was for the Liberals to build public trust in Turnbull, and for Labor to damage it.
Plebiscite could be Turnbull's Brexit
Two international events of the last week highlight just how disappointing Australia's approach to same-sex marriage has been.
We must follow Britain to the exit
Who saw Bill Shorten being interviewed by Leigh Sales on 7.30 on Thursday evening?
'Marriage reform' disaster waiting to happen
On same-sex marriage, a potentially weakened Malcolm Turnbull is sitting on a powder keg.
How your father is controlling your salary
The answer to the question "Who's your daddy?" has never been more important.
For Republicans, it's easier to ban Muslims than guns
Over 40,000 Americans are dying each year partly because they live in a society in which it is more politically viable to propose banning Muslims than regulate gun sales.
Two images haunt me from the storm
They tell me I don't get Australia. I love it, but do not understand it. Do you, honestly?
Don't turn Muhammad Ali into a sanitised caricature
We're left with a man of inordinate courage who made some awful mistakes, was sincere enough to admit them, but at every moment was prepared to pay the price of his convictions.
Don't take this personally
Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox shows you how to get more out of your seething outrage online.
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.
