Greater focus is needed on how to stop radicalised young Australians getting anywhere near the stage of planning to kill their fellow citizens and themselves.

If 2016 tells us anything, it's that the voters formerly known as the silent majority are looking for answers, and they are not finding them in politics as usual.

Sport can't balance the world's scales. It can't even begin. But it can and does offer hope.

• EDITORIAL

There is no doubt the events of Friday will cast a pall over Christmas for many. But is important to remember that this is the time for peace on earth, and goodwill to all. We must work together.

• COMMENT

The Andrews government has been blessed with a once-in-a-generation war chest with which to build the transport system Melbourne desperately needs

At a time when we all hope for peace and goodwill, it's encouraging to see there is growing goodwill towards working mothers.

• EDITORIAL

News this week that the federal government will allocate Victoria just 7.7 per cent of the national infrastructure budget is bitterly disappointing and a prime example of politicking triumphing over sound reason.

• EDITORIAL

All parties in Victoria's Parliament must work together to determine how best to respond to fix buildings already built and how to stop the problem getting worse.

Until standards are raised, local governments will remain, in the minds of many, somewhat of farce.

• COMMENT

On Tuesday, an extraordinary trial will resume that sees the Christian governor of Jakarta, capital the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, charged with blasphemy against Islam. The case carries monumental importance for Indonesia, and sends a worrisome signal about the political and social trajectory of Australia's most significant neighbour.

• EDITORIAL

The abolition of the carbon price, married with the government’s failure to introduce anything in its place to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, is now actually increasing costs for consumers.

State politics verged on the bizarre this week when Premier Daniel Andrews ordered his ministers to hand over their mobile phones, in a bid to trace the source of cabinet leaks.

Aleppo might become another byword to denote international failure, but it should also be another reason to work harder to prevent another catastrophe.

The decision by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to speak this weekend at the 25th anniversary of the Australian Republican Movement will almost certainly reopen the debate on Australia's status.

The fallout of any Russian effort to help Mr Trump into the White House reverberates well past America's shores.

Instead of cutting rates in the hope business investment drives the economy, it is time to take the brave political move to use public debt to fund key projects.

• COMMENT

Another climate policy retreat and you're left wondering, just what, exactly, does Malcolm Turnbull stand for?

• EDITORIAL

All Mr Turnbull seems to currently stand for is clinging to power.

Victoria is the only state whose regional economy went backwards in 2015-16.