At the core of any discussion of the justice system is the need to balance public safety with the rights of those accused of crime.

Australia should emulate the "Housing First" policy proving so successful in the US. It has all-but solved homelessness in a number of cities.

This tragedy has united Melburnians in grief and compassion.

• COMMENT

Never has the US has elected a president so manifestly unfit for the job.

The debacle beggars belief. The report found that of $2.3 billion paid over 40 months, $1.1 billion was approved without appropriate authorisation.

The answer to inequality is not to distort markets through heavy-handed government intervention and trade barriers. Rather, progress lies in effectively regulating to protect competition and consumers, and to finally compel the wealthy to contribute their fair share of taxes.

Obama's decision corrects what was a grossly disproportionate punishment for the crime Manning committed.

Should our politicians continue to baulk at real reform, they will rightly be seen as ignoble and hypocritical.

We believe Australia must and will learn from the successes offshore, and that policy will be changed. But how many preventable deaths will it take before that change comes?

There seems a perceptible shift in the Australian psyche away from an obsessive and occasionally jingoistic emphasis on winning.

The following template was adapted, with thanks, from Centrelink correspondence.

US president Barack Obama did not achieve everything he set out to do, but it is hoped his legacy will not be dominated by Donald Trump's election victory.

Sadly, across many facets of Australian society, we have seen failures to meet the most basic of benchmarks of honesty and transparency in recent weeks.

The latest cheating scandal in tennis provides further evidence that something is rotten in professional sport in Australia.

Meaningful reform of the entitlement system would, at the very least, represent a small step towards restoring public faith in a politcal system that is failing to meet public expectations.

The list of political careers ruined by expenses scandals over the years runs long, yet still the system has not been fixed.

It seems 2016 was the year of extremes. Yes, populism punished the body politic, but we had to seek shelter from more literal storms.

Eventually many who call Footscray home now won't be able to afford to live there.

• EDITORIAL

The state government's plan for mandatory swimming lessons for schoolchildren is worryingly short on detail.