Any political threat to hold the public broadcaster to ransom and threaten its independence undermines confidence in the parliament and democracy. It is especially hypocritical when One Nation was behaving in a manner not unlike the apocryphal swamp-inhabiting political insiders the party claims to despise.
The Uluru statement is a historic breakthrough and a powerful working tool towards constitutional recognition of Australia's first peoples.
We salute the people of Kiama, Orange and Gulgong; and a big call-out to the good burghers of Tuggeranong, Wollongong and especially Old Bar near Taree. Seven out of the 17-strong Blues squad were born outside Sydney in towns and suburbs that don't always have the best facilities but they usually have the best sense of community and family.
By now many of us have had the dismaying experience of being shut out of a favourite piece of park because it has been hired out for the day or the week for private use. That will keep happening until a sustainable way is found to pay for maintaining and improving our parks.
For some of the thousands of people who at any given time are renovating a home, the discovery of asbestos comes as a nasty shock. Possums in the roof or termites in the floor might be preferable. The thought of having lived with such a toxic substance is only slightly less disconcerting than the sudden urgent need to dispose of it
Every nation needs to review and upgrade anti-terrorism measures. We all need to accept this will be costly to taxpayers and to social cohesion. We also need to recognise that the enemy is not the vast majority of Muslims who decry violence;
The community rightly expects high standards of behaviour and governance from taxpayer-funded politicians, advisers and political parties.
While pokie numbers in NSW are falling, the amount spent on them is soaring, Sean Nicholls writes.
Even the welcome admission of mistakes by police and a commitment to review procedures will never set things right.
Scandal after scandal has made the need for a national sports integrity commission only too obvious.
The turmoil in Washington is following the US President on his global sojourn.
There are times when the law provides a tidy resolution to a messy human drama. More often than not, it is as imperfect as the human behaviour it seeks to govern.
Research has found that about half of all child restraints are being used incorrectly.
Did people have to die in the Lindt cafe siege? We await an answer to that question this week when NSW coroner Michael Barnes hands down his report of the inquest into the deaths of barrister Katrina Dawson, cafe manager Tori Johnston and serial criminal Man Haron Monis, two and a half years after they were killed when Monis terrorised the Lindt chocolate cafe in Martin Place.Â
People with a mental illness, the disabled, children and the aged: all need our support.
With money as plentiful as relatively cheap drugs, and so many athletes just kids in men's bodies, what could possibly go wrong?
Before they protest too much over the new tax, the big banks should consider how much worse things could be.
It's up to Congress to appoint a special prosecutor with enough powers to hold the executive to account.
The government will be relieved at the volume of voter support for four key budget measures.
The onus falls on the Senate crossbench to be as pragmatic and realistic as the Turnbull government has belatedly become.
Soldiers sent off to risk their lives for their country must be supported on their return
The government has picked itself another fight over university funding, but the real battle may be yet to come.
At least the jobs and growth spin now extends to government investment in infrastructure and education.
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison claims that the government's 2017 budget is founded on fairness, security and opportunity. He has some claim when it comes to fairness and opportunity, but there's a gaping hole around security.
If video conferencing technology is good enough for Government portals to allow regional Australians to discuss abdominal pain, gastroenteritis, skin conditions, whooping cough and diarrhea with health experts then surely it is up to the challenge of letting public servants interact with one another.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is too important to too many people to turn into a fiscal football.
Given an election could be more than two years' away, this should budget should embark on large-scale tax and economic reform. As it is, infrastructure may be the best we can expect.
Ad hoc attempts from the top down to decentralise departmental functions are unlikely to succeed at any time, and especially when there is no co-ordinated approach including state and local governments.
We all know about motherhood issues – motherhood being a proposition no one can oppose. But what about fatherhood? On this issue, it seems our society's views are more equivocal.
The Australian Federal Police admitting to a serious breach of the law when it accessed a journalist's metadata may be about as much as we ever hear about the police's ability to spy on journalists.
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