Trump deserves a chance to prove his bona fides
Past behaviour being a good indicator of future actions, many Americans legitimately fear that the next four years of Donald Trump's presidency will be nasty, confrontational and divisive.
The Canberra Times Editorials
Baird - the man who fell from grace
If Mike Baird’s resignation as NSW Premier on Thursday caught the public and the media by surprise, some of his Liberal Party colleagues were speculating two months ago that the end might be nigh.
Uni dropout rate needs to be curbed
The news that Australia's university dropout rate is worsening and that around one in three students fails to compete their studies within six years has raised relatively few eyebrows in higher education circles. Perhaps that calm is warranted.
Robo-debt program needed to be reined in
Centrelink's contentious automated debt recovery program was given a minor facelift on Monday.
An investment in high hopes
Barring any last-minute presidential pardon of Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden – a most unlikely occurrence – Barack Obama has issued his last executive order.
High-speed internet is crucial for future economic growth
One of the main differences between Labor and the Coalition in the 2013 federal election was how to build a National Broadband Network.
No place for gunboat diplomacy in South China Sea
Any uncertainty regarding how far Donald Trump is prepared to go in pushing back against China's strategic and economic ambitions was swiftlydispelled in Washington this week.
The other, unpublished spending rorts
Public scrutiny allows free-riding politicians to be caught. What of public servants, whose expenses face almost no scrutiny?
Plastic fantastic claims need verification
What's not to like about a facility using Australian-patented technology to convert non-recyclable plastic into "road-ready" diesel and petrol with barely registrable noise and odour levels, and with negligible emissions of harmful chemicals?
Curtin shops development proposal latest canary in the coalmine
Public concern over plans to replace the Curtin shops with a six-storey edifice is the latest canary in the coalmine, defenders of the Griffin Legacy are arguing.
A welcome reversal on Timor Gap
East Timor's plea to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 to mediate in its dispute with Australia over claims to oil and gas reserves in the Timor Gap has paid its first dividend. It's a significant one, too.
Sussan Ley saved by Turnbull's timidity
Sussan Ley can thank prime ministerial timidity – and the requirement for natural justice – for standing aside as the Minister for Health pending an investigation of taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast rather than being sacked outright.
Interesting times ahead for ACT government in 2017
Canberra's first citizen and his colleagues have had a lot of homework to catch up on over the Christmas break.
'Australia's cool capital', really?
On Thursday, the ACT government released a list of top 10 slogans, one of which is set to adorn Canberra residents' blue and white number plates in coming months and years.
Centrelink debt recovery not the success Porter claims
It's been a notable Christmas/New Year for Christian Porter, and not in an auspicious sense. Centrelink's automated welfare debt retrieval system has mistakenly sent bills of up to $24,000 to welfare recipients.
Indonesian military quick to take offence
Australia’s military and diplomatic relationship with Indonesia is on tenterhooks again, though the whys and wherefores of this latest hiccup are less obvious than previous contretemps.
The rise and rise of the consultants
The buying-in of skills and services by federal, state and territory government departments has little in common with capital city real-estate prices save one feature – their growth appears limitless.
A small detour on Canberra's path to cool
Just as the course of true love seldom runs smooth, Canberra's quest to become the "world's coolest city" has hit a number of potholes in the past 12 months.
Abbott fooling no-one but himself
Tony Abbott's New Year resolutions for 2017 remain a matter of conjecture, but conduct befitting a government backbencher seems not to have been among them.
The year we lost our refugee ethics
Malcolm Turnbull recently expressed concern about asylum seekers' welfare. That's not enough.
Time to deliver in 2017
Chief Minister Andrew Barr faced a tough 2016 but now it's time for the new ACT government to deliver for Canberra.
Swim deaths a wake-up call for parents
The South Coast exerts a powerful gravitational pull on Canberrans in the warmer summer months, underlined by their heavy presence on beaches north and south of Batemans Bay. They're also over-represented in water rescues.
Kerry raises uncomfortable truths for Israel
The normally polite and restrained world of international diplomacy has been anything but over the past week.
West Basin pool may be a mirage
Almost from the day the Gallagher government proposed it March 2013, the City to the Lake development has been subject to constant tinkering.
APVMA move bordering on the farcical
When Barnaby Joyce announced in 2014 that the Coalition wanted to move four agriculture research agencies from Canberra to regional Australia, voters were assured the move would boost reginal employment and facilitate better stakeholder access to the agencies.
Testing times for businesses as new year looms
Why did 228 businesses, the vast majority of which were categorised as small to medium in size, go to the wall between July and September this year?
What Christmas asks for the whole of us
In many towns and cities of Australia, memories of Christmas are often of scorching hot summer days, a strong north-westerly blowing, and families gathered round the dining table tucking into a hot roast turkey followed by plum pudding and custard.
Brakes on cleaner fuels need to come off
The Turnbull government's habit of running policy ideas up the flagpole and then back down again at the first whiff of grapeshot is familiar to all.
Public delivers up another vote of discontent
Cynicism, discontent, frustration and a sense of disempowerment, it’s fair to say, have always existed at the margins of democracy, ebbing and flowing according to socio-political and economic events. However, disillusionment and disappointment with our political systems is now increasingly the province of the majority rather than the feckless few.
Air of inevitability about jihadist attacks
The assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey at roughly the same time that 12 Germans were murdered in a Berlin truck attack has accentuated the air of inevitability now surrounding Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks in the West.