Why Labor's lawyers, nurses and teachers join blue-collar unions
So how many members of the state ALP caucus are members of unions, but have not worked in the industry sector covered by their union?
Latest commentary
Don't end the year with unfinished business
Christmas fast approaching. There, I said it.
Get up and leave when your work is done
Too many of us proudly spend longer at work than at home, assuming that long days guarantee advancement, worshipping the clock as a perverse measure of achievement.
In the Herald: October 3, 1831
Thieves executed
The battle for feminism's final frontier
It's quite apt that the term 'flamethrower' is so often used to describe feminist Clementine Ford.
The trick to holding politicians and the public service accountable
Parliament is not able to properly hold its own members to account.
AFL is on its way to being our national game
The AFL's Sydney teams are going from strength to strength.
Turnbull can't lead a centre-right party with centre-left instincts
The Turnbull government is said to have had its best fortnight yet but its three cited achievements were all capitulations to someone else.
Andrew Barr belatedly sees the virtues of integrity commissions
As with so many ACT government deals, the problem is the look of the thing, rather than the thing itself.
Climate change deniers, listen up: your end is nigh
Bring it in tight. Those of us who are climate change deniers need to be singing from the same hymn sheet.
Labor loses a leader who outlasted many
In the time that Australia has had four prime ministers, the Labor Party's organisation has had just one leader.
Go Gogs! Never too young to take sides
That was the first word of the little bloke that I heard. Gogs. Meaning dogs.
In the case of Trump v Clinton, who's the real outsider?
Trump's arrival presages possibly the biggest and most traumatic upheaval to the global power balance since the Second World War.
Religions should lose their tax-exempt status
And so it came to pass that in the Year of our Lord, 1921, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered the galaxies were flying apart. Behold, he said, the universe was expanding. And so the Unbelievers declared that science was capable of explaining everything and that God - if not dead - was surely suffering a terminal illness.
Giving young tennis stars a serve
It's a slippery slope, this growing old. I realised it this week when I celebrated a birthday. Oh, all right, 58 since you asked.
Welcome to peak crazy, where truth is elusive
Captain Fantastic, the new Viggo Mortensen release, may be the year's best cast and scripted film. It's also the worst named.
The narcissists are winning in the arms race of outrage
Times are tough for narcissists on the public stage – the ascension of The Donald has created so much noise and bedazzlement that you have to work a lot harder to get noticed.
Climate change is driving dangerous and unpredictable weather
Something strange is going on with the weather. It might be spring, but that hasn't stopped snow falling in the ACT.
Assimilation won't happen overnight but it will happen, just like Pantene
Give migrants a break. They'll be speaking lazy Strine with an upward inflection in no time.
This debate has gone on for too long and done us no good
There's a reason Australia's policies are applauded by some very unsavory people around the world.
When school is over for children, what happens to their parents?
Following the supervision of 120 hours of driving (there are still 100 to go) a license will mean the end of our duty as taxi driver, for him anyway. Curfews will be a thing of the past. So, too, sobriety (I assume), at least when he's not driving.
Real-life version of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds
Ronel Harmatz helped thousands of European and North African Jews reach Palestine.
Bored on the train? Check out your neighbour's texts
We found a tiny standing-spot, squished between a wall and a man with an enormous Tontine-pillow arse - yielding yet firm.
Aged-care industry in a downward spiral
The signs are there for all to see. The handsomely government-subsidised aged-care industry model is set on a trajectory of decline.
The booming industry that accounts for 1 in 8 jobs
We're on the cusp of a global care boom and Australia has a lot to offer.
My husband has become boring, and I think that's great
I can think of plenty of reasons to leave the father of your children, but I'm not sure I would ever include being boring among them.
The medical profession should be embarrassed
In this era of evidence-based practice, to ignore the evidence on the influence of drug company promotion is culpable.
Comment: Why you should boycott CUB beers tomorrow
This industrial dispute carries a warning for many Australians.
A lack of leadership is to blame for Australia's malaise
The people are driving America's malaise. The same can't be said in Australia.
Trump's women problem is so bad that he is breaking up relationships
Trump is causing some couples to face hard truths.