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Australia's political class parades its lack thereof
It's been a particularly tacky start to the 45th Parliament, laments Michael Short.
Michael Short is The Age‘s chief editorial writer, as well as a columnist and opinion editor for The Sunday Age. In 2010, he created The Zone, an ideas and advocacy forum in The Age and across Fairfax Media’s online platforms. Across a broad range of areas including public policy, philanthropy, philosophy, culture, community, design and business, The Zone seeks to bring fresh thoughts into the free market for ideas. He is a board member and ambassador of a number of organisations, and is a frequent public speaker and moderator. He is generally bemused to the point of discombobulated, and is thus particularly grateful to his wife Sophie and their three children Edie, Tom and Clem for trying patiently and tenderly to help him through the whole thing. He quite likes open fires, walking his dog and sitting for long periods in the bath.
It's been a particularly tacky start to the 45th Parliament, laments Michael Short.
The Business Council of Australia is failing itself and the nation.
It can seem bloody hard to find reasons to be cheerful.
There is now footage from inside Australia's offshore detention centres. It's as distressing as the NT images that triggered a royal commission.
Credit rating agencies should be viewed with scepticism.
Memo to new PM: It's not just the economy, stupid.
A plebiscite on same-sex marriage risks being a national catastrophe.
Our young people are being betrayed and harmed by religious ideologues.
After a week during which Melbourne's City Square has been occupied by a camp of homeless people protesting about their treatment and their plight, young writer David Allegretti's account below tells but one of the human stories behind Australia's homelessness statistics.
Good teaching and well-resourced education underpin the fabric of our society, writes Michael Short.
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