Government support is essential, but the system can also be a significant deterrent to mothers working more hours.

The problems are mounting in health, police and land grabs for a state Coalition government that can otherwise claim good economic and budget management.

Too many Australians laugh off the Territory's corruption and injustice, notwithstanding the suffering involved and the wastage of national taxpayer funds.

For more than half a decade Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has been the public face of the airline's difficulties. To celebrate now that Qantas is flying high again would be only human.

We know better than to be surprised, yet we can still be shocked at the culture of harassment and bullying exposed within the Australian Federal Police

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Many Australians simply believe that reforms on morally divisive issues require the strongest possible mandate - and that should come directly from the people.

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With a heavy heart the Herald asks whether the foundations of our love affair with the Olympics have been irrevocably diminished by the Rio Games.

We will never know the human cost of the Australian policy failures known collectively as the Pacific Solution.

No-one doubts that everyone on the day worked hard to bring the Martin Place siege to an end safely. But a perception of police having something to hide has hung over the inquest.

We seem destined to go round and round on race as long as a vocal minority claims ownership over the right to free speech while victimised minorities are cowed into silence because the risks to them of speaking out are too high.

At least he is highlighting common ground, offering to "reach across the aisle" and insisting his approach "is not, and should not, be about ideology".

How much longer can the current system of detaining asylum seekers be allowed to persist?

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It's time to change laws that criminalise people for using nicotine in a less harmful form.

If only lessening the risk posed by Pyongyang was so simple.

Broadcasters should take note: the Olympics demonstrate that given half a chance, women compete as thrillingly and ferociously as men, and audiences love it.

The Rio drugs stoush gave the federal government cover for a decision that may well be justified on national security grounds, although we will never know for sure.

This is the world's largest fun run – and it is ours, in all our glorious difference of size, shape, colour, age and ability.

Fairness in the budget context is tricky. Australians are willing to tolerate financial pain as long as it spread reasonably.

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The Herald urged people to fill in the census form fully and honestly. We noted the ABS's assurances that its systems were robust enough to protect our personal information from attack. That appears not to have been so. Trust is broken.

The nation has corruption and drug problems. The way the new President is behaving, it is rapidly gaining a government one as well.

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We have come a long way on women's sport, and our Olympic sportswomen have always punched above their weight, but now is the time to invest in it.

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It's never healthy for coverage of any event to be be restricted to one source, but the IOC is increasingly walling off the Olympics.

By sitting down to be counted and filling in the census form on Tuesday, you are standing up not just for decision-making based on evidence but for important values which keep our democracy strong.

With the process of compensating taxi licence holders now in train, it is important the government becomes still more transparent about the process on which it is embarking.

In theory, the communal model offers women the opportunity to share their experiences with others in the same situation, but in reality this may not happen and the disadvantages.outweigh the benefts.

It's time to look past the controversy and enjoy the greatness of the competitors from all nations.

Too often we lose young Australians like Stuart Kelly. But there is hope.

Overall the big four banks and their shareholders will pocket a fair share of the rate cut as profit.

Some mistakes are inevitable, but it is the health minister's responsibility to ensure the system runs in a way that minimises the chance of grave errors.