Editor's Note February 2016
David Bulmer-Rizzi, 32, was recently killed in a freak accident in Adelaide, while honeymooning there with his husband, Marco.
The couple were married last year in the United...
Editor's Note December 2015 – January 2016
Despite our professed love of irreverence and larrikinism, Australians often have a hard time accepting criticism of our own patriotic ideals, and would prefer not to talk about...
Editor’s Note November 2015
Has there been an independent politician in Australia’s history as successful as Nick Xenophon? At the last election, he polled more upper house votes in South Australia than the...
The new same-sex marriage proposal from Warren Entsch and Malcolm Turnbull is an attempt to outmanoeuvre their own party
Plebiscite ploy
When Tony Abbott came up with the idea of a plebiscite to decide the legality of same-sex marriage, it seemed an ingenious, conniving new way to delay a social change the public...
The government’s post-Abbott cleanup is going well
Distinct signs of competence
The Turnbull government is having considerable success this week completing deals or cleaning up loose ends left by the previous leadership. In contrast with its predecessors, the...
There is a strong case for the trial of the Health Welfare Card in some Indigenous communities
Cashless welfare
Last night brought “a watershed moment in how we deliver welfare”, according to the government.
Readers might suspect the language hyperbolic, especially given how little...
New anti-privacy law is another step down a dangerous path
Metadata retention begins
Today, the new metadata retention law comes into effect in Australia. Data about your communications must be retained by communications providers for at least two years.
Don’t...
Public opposition to keeping children in immigration detention is reaching a critical point
Kids in camps
“I knew it would come to this,” said Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent, talking about children in detention on ABC radio. “It has come to this again. The Australian people are...
Exit Abbott, enter Turnbull
An era over
Last month marked the second anniversary of Tony Abbott’s election. Celebrations were muted, funereal even.
Coalition MPs had little opportunity, and small reason, to spruik...
Editor’s Note October 2015
The end of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership arrived quickly, but it wasn’t exactly a shock. His leadership had seemed stuck in the past tense for a long time – since he took over...
Coalition strategists have nowhere to turn
Tough times
Times are tough for Coalition strategists at the moment. It was the second anniversary of their gaining government this week, and they seem lost for direction.
While Abbott is...
Politicians from all sides of politics are calling for a more generous response to the Syrian refugee crisis
Under pressure
The pressure was building over Australia’s response to the Syrian crisis, and Tony Abbott attempted to defuse it yesterday by announcing that Australia would accept more Syrian...
Stopping the boats is not enough to save Syrian refugees
By the numbers
Anyone near the internet over the past two days would have seen the shocking photographs of the corpse of a three-year-old boy washed ashore in a Turkish resort town. The boy was...
The treasurer needs to find some new solutions for our slowing economy
Hockeynomics
“There is no risk of recession in Australia,” Joe Hockey told Channel Nine yesterday, again demonstrating his penchant for making unnecessarily definitive economic statements that...
The Abbott government has no intention of cutting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions
Dishonesty is the worst policy
The Coalition is on the verge of announcing its long-term target for emissions reduction: 26–28% by 2030.
The logic behind this target shouldn’t be misinterpreted. It’s not to...
Editor’s Note August 2015
The asylum-seeker issue reared its head again this week, following the ALP’s policy reversal on turnbacks and revelations that Australia returned a boatload of Vietnamese asylum...
Editor’s Note July 2015
Was anyone seriously suggesting that we didn’t already have sufficient laws to deal with terrorism? No. The citizenship issue is about national identity, and the right to dictate...
The 2015 budget has come and gone, but where is Joe Hockey's National Conversation?
Best laid plans
Treasurer Joe Hockey wanted a National Conversation. Launching the Intergenerational Report at the start of March, he warned that government spending was on an unsustainable...
