A fortnight before Donald Trump's inauguration the President-elect has already begun to exercise his power, revealing to the world what sort of leader he might prove to be. He has given us some cause for hope and more for concern.
For some older Australians when they enter a nursing home, the loss of independence is a heavy blow.
There are changes Mike Baird could make to the organisation of his cabinet this month or next that would be both substantial in their effect and consistent with the traditions of conservative government. He should consider them.
To have people drown in NSW in unprecedented numbers is not just an accumulation of personal catastrophes. It is more like a challenge to this country's identity.
The government's project to improve the quality and efficiency of fuel and cars on our roads is a worthwhile one.
With summer heat settling in over the next few months, plenty of us will be returning to beaches in favourite holiday spots up and down the NSW coast. Will we notice any changes there?
The Senate the Prime Minister insists is working already looks more like a Mad Hatter's Tea Party than an austere house of review. How much more intractable will it be if Pauline Hanson loses control of One Nation?
Each new year, the release of cabinet documents from 25 years ago reminds us of old battles. They can look rather quaint – passion recollected in tranquility. A set of documents released this year, though, has a different effect: it shames us. After a quarter of a century, the issue of Aboriginal deaths in custody remains as intractable as ever.
Supposed outsider victories have come at a cost.
If there is a persuasive rationale for the sale of the state's land titles registry, the government has yet to articulate it.
We Australians love to reflect on our good fortune, on the things that make our country special and precious and among the best places in the world to live. For example, that we get to breathe some of the cleanest air in the world. How good is that?
At first glance there seems no good reason to wait a year to change the rules for selling painkillers containing codeine.
We can't argue against the fence around Parliament House in Canberra, because we don't know what the security agencies advocating it know.
In this fierce contest between sports, many codes will lose fans and finances. The winners, though, will be fans.
They are unscarred by the anger and hurt caused by disappointments, bad decisions or broken promises. They lack a deflating knowledge of the fears and frustrations that accompany grown-ups through life.
A mix of solutions is needed for a problem created by a complex interplay of factors beyond housing supply.
With interest rates at record lows, governments should take on so-called "good debt" to build productive assets then sell them off later. And plenty of super funds would be interested in the new project.
Here we are in the busiest shopping week of the year. We are spending billions - $48.1 billion to be precise, according to retailers' predictions - on gifts for each other, on food and drink to load up our Christmas tables, and on bars, restaurants and fast food to celebrate the festive season. Thursday is expected to be the busiest day of the week, but peak frenzy will be the fifteen minutes after 1pm on Friday, according to the National Australia Bank, which expects to process 360 transactions per second in that brief interlude. To avoid the rush, shoppers are advised to brave the aisles in the early morning or late afternoons.
The magnitude of the adjustment required of the economy is still not widely understood.
Is the state a tinderbox? That time of year has arrived and along with it, disagreements as to where, how much and when fuel reduction burns should take place.
The question is often whether a preference to support public education and the local community is strong enough, and whether the neighbourhood comprehensive high school is still the best option.
There is a mood for change in the world. Let that mood be expressed in Australia in a confident, optimistic way by a move towards a republic.
Justice was done – and was seen to be done.
The US President-elect's links to Russia are of significant concern.
It's been a rough year for the Baird government. But the latest Half-Yearly Review which updates the state's financial position provides us with the opportunity to step back and look more broadly at the 'core' of how the government travelling.
Countless people will die in the final assault on Aleppo as diplomats work for a breakthrough in Geneva.
Look at last week's appalling capitulation on constructive climate policy debate to see how dysfunctional and beholden to the Abbott right that the government purportedly led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has become.
Good intelligence can make police decision-making more efficient and effective ,but the consequences of flawed intelligence can be devastating – and not just for individuals.
Australia needs a policy circuit-breaker to find economic drivers to replace the mining investment boom. Despite claims of agility and innovation from the Turnbull government, they haven't emerged yet largely because so many proposals are ruled out on purely political grounds.
While we oppose the extended bottle shop trading, the boost for live entertainment venues which serve alcohol responsibly is welcome.
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