Opinion
Opinion
Federal
Testing times: children's education should not be a competition
We need a robust conversation about education, teachers, and especially the wellbeing of children. But can we please do it with some imagination and vision?
- by Stephanie Dowrick
Latest
Editorial
NSW
Trump lies; America says 'so what?'
Until very recently in the United States, to be caught in a sexual relationship with someone other than your wife would blight the career of any politician.
Letters
NSW
NAPLAN scores low as a way to improve education
At last we have an education minister with the resolve to rid us of NAPLAN.
Opinion
Beauty
Foreign Correspondence: Why the world is adopting Korean skincare
South Korea has become the indisputable global capital of all things beauty. Just look at its most widely exported and coveted product: the sheet mask.
- by Amelia Lester
Opinion
Federal
Economic reckoning is on its way - and we will all have to pay
Turnbull and Morrison will insult the intelligence of Australians on Tuesday by giving us a paltry tax cut and a beer discount.
- by Peter Hartcher
Opinion
National
Don’t worry – you’re probably right about the budget
A mere 10 per cent of people think tax cuts for big businesses should be a priority. Yet the Turnbull government presses on with its strategy.
- by Richard Denniss
Opinion
Banking & finance
Flaws of self-regulation: trust some of the people, some of the time
Self-regulation flies in the face of millennia of self-interested human evolution, writes Crispin Hull.
- by Crispin Hull
Opinion
The economy
Will tax cuts boost the economy? Yes and no
It's not so much tax cuts that will boost jobs.
- by ROSS GITTINS
Analysis
Federal
The question Scott Morrison will not answer
There is one big question Scott Morrison does not want to answer about the tax cuts he will reveal on Tuesday night.
- by David Crowe
National
Alexa, pizza and Elvis for everybody!
I have a new sense of power. I can bring the joy of Elvis into people's homes. Here's how it works.
- by Richard Glover
Opinion
Banking & finance
David Murray has taken a job nobody wanted at AMP and it's gargantuan
Is the grandfather of vertical integration really the best man to lead the embattled giant?
- by Adele Ferguson
Opinion
The economy
Factfulness: as important as "a good diet and exercise"
Do you have an overdramatic worldview?
- by Matt Wade
Opinion
North America
The US and China are finally having it out
It's nothing less than a struggle to redefine the rules governing the power relations of the world's superpowers.
- by Thomas L. Friedman
Opinion
Life & relationships
Why does everybody else seem to have more friends than me?
I only have about five close friends in the world, but that's OK. I'm good.
- by Danny Katz
Opinion
National
Winner takes all: how private schools make everyone nastier
Unless we want a rich-poor apartheid, we need to stop giving the fat little piggies in private schools such a hefty, gold-plated leg up.
- by Elizabeth Farrelly
Analysis
NRL
Brad Fittler should take notice of Bennett's Origin push for James Roberts
The former Queensland coach has no love for the Blues but his endorsement of James Roberts carries plenty of weight.
- by Phil Lutton
Analysis
Rugby Union
Why Australia and New Zealand need each other more than ever
Kick the Aussies out of Super Rugby? We'd like to see you try.
- by Georgina Robinson
Opinion
Banking & finance
Revealed: How AMP tried to frustrate the regulator's investigations
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has savaged AMP in confidential correspondence written in March.
- by Elizabeth Knight
Opinion
National
Andrew Laming: this is what I really meant about teachers' pay
My call to pay teachers for every hour they work was misrepresented by vested interests as an attack on the profession.
- by Andrew Laming
Opinion
Planning & budgeting
Clients of financial advice need to stay alert
Investors and savers need to understand and closely monitor the investments and strategies they choose to pursue.
- by Daryl Dixon
Opinion
Federal
We should welcome it when people change their minds
Backflipping. Caving in. Flip-flopping. We call for a change, but when it comes, we jeer. Yet changing of one’s mind is surely a sign of flexibility, of having an open mind, of a fresh interrogation of evidence, of discovering new information, or even just adapting to political circumstances.
- by Julia Baird
Analysis
Oceania
In New Caledonia, Macron confronts the past and prepares the future
Australian policy observers were focused on French President Emmanuel Macron’s first visit to Australia this week, but there is another important first.
- by Denise Fisher
Opinion
Rugby Union
The three players the Waratahs must stop to end the Kiwi hoodoo
Introspection has been a theme at the Waratahs over the past week. But it's three names on the Blues team sheet they must look out for.
- by Paul Cully
Opinion
NRL
Phipps, #talkthegameup and rugby league’s rules of distraction
The problem with rugby league is that there is often too much material to talk about.
- by Malcolm Knox
Opinion
National
Don't they get it? Those once mocked are having the last laugh
They made fun of 'poofters', 'blackfellas' and 'sheilas', now washed-up comedians from the '80s claim political correctness is killing their act.
- by Jacqueline Maley
Analysis
Investments
How rich is Apple? Latest buyback shows it's world's biggest cashmaker
Like a bottomless ATM, the tech giant spent $28.7 billion on its recent share buyback - enough to buy any of 275 companies listed on the US benchmark.
- by Thomas Heath
Opinion
Fashion
Hey, global fashion brands, stop treating Australian shoppers like fools
It's no surprise that brands such as Esprit have failed in Australia when they all had one thing in common: they treated Australian shoppers like mugs.
- by Melissa Singer
Health & wellness
Don't tax sugar, tax these foods
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are relatively new, but they have been gradually growing in ubiquity.
- by Georgie Churchill
Opinion
Life & relationships
An open letter to men from a difficult woman
"Most go in the trash, the rest go to the police."
- by Kerri Sackville
Analysis
North America
Is President Donald Trump about to talk himself into an impeachment?
The topic du jour may be Rudy Giuliani's bombshell about Stormy Daniels, but the more important story remains the Russia scandal
- by Jonathan Bernstein
Analysis
North America
The President didn't tell the truth. Now Giuliani has. Will that change anything?
Does it bother anyone that President Donald Trump has been caught lying? Does it bother anyone that this is not new?
- by Dan Balz
Opinion
Small business
Email: nothing more than an interruption?
Employees send and receive an average of 122 emails a day and almost a third of our time is spent doing nothing but managing the darn things.
- by James Adonis
Editorial
NSW
The human cost of a big country’s politics
Is politics as a career just too hard? Two parliamentarians recently in the news symbolise two possible answers to that question.
Letters
NSW
Tax cuts help companies survive, which benefits all
The report on how businesses spent their $400 million tax cut seems to overlook some important facts.
Opinion
Companies
Quick trip to Myer made me see the writing on the wall
I’d seen the headlines about falling sales and profit losses but one particular shopping experience made me realise I may have to face a future without Myer.
- by Laura McGeoch
National
Wondering what happened to #metoo? Women are too frightened to speak.
Australia's defamation laws get in the way of the truth. The freedoms available in the US are not available here.
- by Jenna Price
Opinion
National
The bell rings for another round in the education war
Five minutes after businessman David Gonski dropped his review into schooling excellence – let’s call it Gonski Part 2 – the grown-ups were at it again.
- by Matt Holden
Opinion
NRL
The Cooper Cronk experiment isn’t working for the Roosters — can he change?
The Roosters’ prized signing must change to a new-look Roosters attack if his side is to start winning matches again.
- by Andrew Webster
Opinion
The economy
Pay down debt don't fritter dough on tax cuts
I still remember a man standing in front of my mother wanting to repossess our fridge - I've been wary of debt ever since.
- by Harold Mitchell
Analysis
Companies
Fight big tech or embrace it? News Corp chooses to fight
In an world increasingly dominated by a handful of tech giants, companies face a clear choice. Fight them, or embrace them. News Corp has chosen to fight.
- by John McDuling
Opinion
Federal
Coalition and Labor show dangerous complacency before budget
There is a case to be made for income tax cuts. And the political imperative is clear. But it comes at a cost.
- by David Crowe
Opinion
Cricket
Langer it is ... but this was the time to linger longer
Cricket Australia should have made haste more slowly in appointing new coach.
- by Greg Baum
Opinion
Super & retirement
Budget tipped to bring higher fees for aged care
This year’s federal budget is tipped to bring big changes to aged care and, as a result, consumers should expect to pay more.
- by Rachel Lane
Opinion
Federal
A day in the life of a Sydney high school teacher
I love what I do, or I would not be doing it. But there comes a point at which even the most bright, energetic and invested teacher must make a choice between their profession and their wellbeing.
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Companies
QBE gets whacked with 'first strike' against remuneration report
QBE Insurance got whacked by investors at Thursday’s shareholder meeting, with a massive 'first strike' against its remuneration report.
- by Colin Kruger
Opinion
Federal
There's more to school than NAPLAN
NAPLAN is not, and should never be, the sole measure of a child’s achievement at school or of the success of a school.
- by Robert Randall
Analysis
AFL
The way they're playing now, GWS won't even make the grand final
The AFL's pretty boys need to have a good look in the mirror - and not just to check on their hair.
- by Wayne Carey
Opinion
Books
Peppa Pig should be proud
In more modern times, subversive authors and characters have continued to make their mark.
- by Lucy Mangan
Opinion
Sustainability
Plan to kill carp with herpes could prove as foolish as cane toad
The idea that there are reserve Dad’s Armies of citizens ready to retrieve many tonnes of decomposing fish smelling off-the-scale like the gates of Hades is beyond preposterous.
- by Simon Chapman