This week Australia is a boy in a hood strapped to a chair
How can I stand here and speak to the idea of our place in an indissoluble commonwealth when this week my people have been reminded that our place is so often behind this nation's bars.
Latest commentary
Malcolm Turnbull is in fear of his own party
The only winners from Malcolm Turnbull's Rudd decision are the bitter haters in the Liberal Party.
How Pokemon Go has let me enter my son's world
What I was not expecting was that it would add a sweet new dimension to my relationship with my kids, especially my seven-year-old boy.
Clinton's campaign has decided to be proud of the candidate it has
Rather than pine for someone warmer or more charismatic, the Clinton campaign has decided to be proud of the candidate it has.
Bush capital no more?
One of the great joys of living in Canberra is its setting.
Disruptive power
The Productivity Commission is criticising the Trans Pacific Partnership, the head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is criticising privatisation, and the electricity industry is worried that competition from renewables might deliver lower prices to consumers. What on earth is happening to the Neo-liberal 'agenda'?
Flawed justice in Indonesia
Yet again Indonesia showed its most brutal and ugly face to the world.
Do we have to destroy liberty and the rule of law in order to preserve it?
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's new proposals to deal with people convicted of terrorism offences undermine our criminal justice system.
Turnbull's youth abuse royal commission is doomed to fail
The commission, however searching, is destined to be an expensive distraction and waste of time.
Be in no doubt, this is a holy war
Isil's war in Europe will evolve in unpredictable and erratic ways, because the generals do not command the troops.
And here's the dope
We will watch the Games in Rio, we will cheer the athletes, we may even buy the t-shirts. But the dismal truth is that we now put question marks over exceptional achievements, where once we only felt joy.
How the cabinet meeting about Rudd really played out
Here's the official transcript of Thursday's cabinet meeting that was meant to decide if Australia would support Kevin Rudd's bid for the top UN job. Please burn after reading.
Why are we further traumatising our abused youth?
The shocking brutalisation of youth in the NT's Don Dale Detention Centre proves that a whole new system of cultural and philosophical change is required in dealing with the disaffected youth.
Hope trumped by reality
The wife of a former president should definitely be the next leader of the United States. It's just a pity the wrong woman is running for election.
What these two portraits reveal about our world view
Among the 50-odd portraits in this year's Archibald, two are stand-out, although not in a good way. Both depict sitting politicians but together they reveal us, or what is embarrassingly close to becoming an Australian world-attitude: dominate, exploit, go. Eat, shoot, leave (the rubbish).
In Passing
James Alan McPherson, Kate Granger, Commander Peter Wippell, Denis Dubourdieu
Loneliness is a modern curse - and it needs our children to lift it
EMBARGOED:
Manager of Blue Oyster Cult who coined the phrase 'heavy metal'
Pearlman claimed to have been the first writer to use the phrase "heavy metal" to describe music.
How to protect yourself during redundancy
Job security is becoming a major issue in Australia.
Getting voters to fall in love with Hillary is not an easy task
For 227 years, the presidency has been associated with stereotypically male qualities – strength, resolve, fearlessness – and the embodiment of power in a deeply patriarchal political system.
What we should learn from the case of Harriet Wran
Is there anything better than a good downfall story? Harriet Wran's tale has it all – drugs, murder, mental illness and the essential binding ingredient of sex.
Bank's reaction typical of our attitude to homeless
The bank has failed to see the humanity of the person, and has failed to treat them with dignity.
The plebiscite question we should have
Surely assisted suicide heads the topics we should be debating given our ageing population and the increasing number of slow and lingering deaths that will result.
The bold plan for super companies to become landlords
Australia's $2 trillion pool of superannuation money is looking for a home. So are renters.
Our leaders don't reflect who we are
Australia is often described as a multicultural success story. Yet our cultural diversity isn't yet reflected in the ranks of leadership within society. The ethnic and cultural default of leadership in Australia remains Anglo-Celtic. Unfortunately, we mightn't be making the most of our talents.
Winter sunlight, Birregurra, Saturday 3pm
The wind from the west was cold and cutting. Rain fell in big slow drops, each a mini-ice bucket. What was I doing, I asked myself, going to a football match on such an unfriendly day. And then I beheld the Birregurra oval!
The personal cost of a ferocious lockout law debate
Among the best honoured rules of political combat is that while elected representatives are fair game, their families are not, without very, very good reason.
NT juvenile justice system rotten from the top down
The tragedy of this week's Four Corners program is that the damage done to young people in Northern Territory detention centres was largely already on the record.
Proposed changes to the laws governing ACT public servants are draconian
It seems almost trite to highlight the virtues of free speech.
Fearless judge had the 'wisdom of Solomon' and despite many accolades was truly humble
It is not possible in a few words to do justice to Alan Goldberg's outstanding life. There is the private life of a loved and loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. And there is Goldberg's public life, which reached its highest point in the law – but also travelled down the paths of the arts, music, civil liberties, and the affairs of the Jewish community.