Opinion
Opinion
NSW
Our year of breathing dangerously: Sydney, Hunter pollution alert
Rising air pollution is a failure of governance, says the author of a report that identifies hotspots from Liverpool to Parramatta Northt and Muswellbrook.
- by Ben Ewald
Latest
Opinion
Banking & finance
AMP dodges disintegration but hasn't escaped unscathed
The royal commission may not have decreed the end of vertical integration but the recommendations it did make, and its own internal challenges, will still impact and reshape AMP.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Banking & finance
Taxpayers should not be subsidising lifestyle of wealthy retirees
The current imputation cash refund system is, essentially, a reverse death duty: low and middle-income earners are subsidizing the estates of the very wealthy.
- by Emma Dawson and Tim Lyons
Analysis
National
Royal reckoning: is it enough to make the banks change?
Royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne has made 24 referrals for criminal or civil action - and 76 recommendations that will shake up the industry in a way that hasn’t happened in generation - but was it the great reckoning the public hoped for?
- by David Estcourt and Rachael Dexter
Opinion
Federal
Where idiots play: the Parliament of the inappropriate
Assistant Minister Scott Buchholz is apologising for being an idiot, but won't say what sort of "inappropriate behaviour" caused a female RAAF officer to complain about him. So what's new?
- by Tony Wright
Opinion
Soccer
Silence from FIFA president as world unites behind Hakeem
The question is whether FIFA is prepared to apply the kind of pressure that might make a difference and possibly save Hakeem Al-Araibi's life.
- by Sam Wallace
Opinion
Small business
Who’s really to blame for too many unwanted graduates?
Australia’s skill base suffers as students choose oversupplied professions.
- by Tony Featherstone
Opinion
Banking & finance
Why you're better off paying a mortgage broker yourself
Reform of mortgage broker pay is long overdue, writes Jessica Irvine.
- by Jessica Irvine
Opinion
NSW
In the Herald: February 7, 1952
The King is dead, the new Queen, and Menzies speaks
- by Brian Yatman
Opinion
Health & wellness
Pushing happiness as the holy grail is creating 'generation anxiety'
We’re still teaching children to deny their feelings and pursue happiness as the holy grail.
- by Jill Stark
Editorial
Banking & finance
RBA shows it can change its mind on interest rates
Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe had good news for homebuyers in his speech on Wednesday.
Letters
NSW
Investors bank on business as usual after Hayne report
The big banks are shown to be guilty of greed and corruption, but their share prices rise sharply.
Opinion
NSW
Labor better hope it has shaken its skeletons in NSW
If memories of the last NSW Labor government were fading, they would have been resurrected this week.
- by Alexandra Smith
Opinion
The economy
Let's not talk ourselves into an interest rate cut
Amid talk of interest rate cuts, it's also important to consider the strengths of the domestic economy.
- by Jessica Irvine
Opinion
Consumer affairs
Labor is exploiting misunderstandings about franking credits
The problem the electorate has with the Labor Party policy proposal is unraveling the terminology.
- by Tony Dillon
Opinion
National
The culture driving teachers like me from the profession
As many as half of Australian teachers leave the profession within their first five years in the job. This young teacher understands why.
- by Erin Canavan
Opinion
Banking & finance
Messy and lacklustre: CBA earnings suffer from Hayne hangover
CBA says banking conditions are challenging
- by Elizabeth Knight
Opinion
North America
Trump shamelessly used Jewish Americans in State of the Union address
While slurring refugees as a dangerous threat, the US President sought to shield himself from charges of racism by invoking a Jewish tragedy.
- by CJ Werleman
Opinion
AFL
Saints coach wisely quits TV gig in year of living dangerously
With his job on the line, St Kilda coach Alan Richardson is right to give up his weekly Fox Footy appearance.
- by Jake Niall
Opinion
NRL
A sanctuary for sinners, rugby league must be more frugal with its charity
Rugby league has helped reform many lost souls but another serious incident means the code has no choice but to be more clinical with its outreach.
- by Phil Lutton
Analysis
Federal
Lower rates were once a political positive, but a cut will not be on Scott Morrison's wish list
Political rhetoric and economic reality are on a collision course.
- by Shane Wright
Analysis
Racing
From rags to riches to disgrace: Weir's career and reputation in ruins
The rise of Darren Weir was one of racing's great rags-to-riches stories, but it has ended in disgrace after he was disqualified from racing for four years.
- by Michael Lynch
Analysis
Technology
Why you should not buy a 5G phone in 2019
Let's put aside the hype for a moment and look at what a 5G smartphone in 2019 really means for you.
- by Krishan Sharma
Opinion
Markets
Bloodbath averted: The world economy may have been saved in the nick of time
The Fed chief's instincts may have just bought the world economy another year.
- by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Opinion
North America
Trump will call for 'unity' in State of the Union address. It's a scam
It's one of the most dispiriting rituals that attend State of the Union addresses in the Trump era but this time around, there's just no excuse for playing along.
- by Greg Sargent
Opinion
Tax
Tax the rich, not the helpless
Today, apparently, policy is king. The odd person who gets in the way of the ever-turning wheels is seemingly disposable.
- by Nicholas Stuart
Letters
NSW
Cost of corporate greed is public's loss of faith
In the fallout from the banking royal commission, we are all poorer.
Opinion
Life & relationships
'Why is it OK to ban certain races on your dating profile?'
'You’d never find a job advertisement that discriminates applicants based on race. Why is it OK to put a race-based ban on your dating profile?'
- by Jessie Tu
Opinion
NSW
In the Herald: February 6, 1965
The ballad of Winston, Doug and Ramblin' Bob.
- by Brian Yatman
Opinion
National
'Permanently destructive': new tower will make North Sydney's problems worse
There is a single site suitable for a civic centre in North Sydney and the state government is putting a building on it.
- by Jeremy Dawkins
Opinion
Banking & finance
'Why wait': challenge laid down to the banks and Parliament
Here's a way we can get some action from the banks without having to wait.
- by Adele Ferguson
Opinion
Banking & finance
The banks haven't escaped unscathed, quite the contrary
The reaction to the royal commission's final report might suggest the major banks got off lightly. They didn't.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Federal
It's getting absurd: Josh Frydenberg's struggle with one little word
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg can't find the words to apologise for attempts to avoid the royal commission on banking.
- by Tony Wright
Opinion
North America
Americans have finally wised up when it comes to Trump
Democrats in 2020 will have a receptive audience if they make the case that Trump has made the US less free, less united, less respected in the world, less safe and less decent as a people.
- by Jennifer Rubin
Opinion
Banking & finance
Hayne report kicks true reform down the road ... again
Failure to tackle bank structure means that, in a decade or so, another treasurer will have to call another royal commission.
- by Andrew Linden and Warren Staples
Opinion
Banking & finance
Quiet and determined: how a couple of lawyers stole the show
In popular culture lawyers are either bumptious self-important figures of fun or, at worst, greedy and immoral. Kenneth Hayne and Rowena Orr showed the profession in a much more flattering light.
- by Duncan Fine
Opinion
Banking & finance
Bank short sellers feeling $5b worth of Hayne pain
That noise you're hearing that's like a painful intake of breath is the sound of bank short sellers being squeezed - $5.3 billion worth of pain.
- by Elizabeth Knight
Opinion
The economy
Never fear, Hayne is a new start – and not just for the banks
If you think that once the dust has settled on the royal commission we’ll find little has changed, you haven’t been paying attention.
- by Ross Gittins
Analysis
TV & radio
How much more reality TV can viewers take?
Nine and 10 stretch their programs beyond 90 minutes some nights – while Seven exceeds two hours.
- by Michael Lallo
Analysis
Federal
Perverse perk: The 'dud' executives paid to quit
Many of the bureaucracy's leaders seem to expect a golden handshake upon their departure.
- by Markus Mannheim
Opinion
Federal
Will the High Court gag public servants?
We'll soon know whether sacking bureaucrats over their expression of political views is constitutional.
- by Kieran Pender
Federal
Alison Harcourt, the almost-forgotten genius
This remarkable woman's impact on Australian society almost went unnoticed.
- by Markus Mannheim
Opinion
Federal
Telegraph boy to brilliant bureaucrat
Sir William Cole, 1926 to 2019, was among Australia's greatest public servants.
- by Paddy Gourley
Opinion
Federal
Panicking over an employee's past
A labour-hire firm that works for the APS provides a perfect example of how not to sack a recruit.
- by John Wilson
Opinion
Federal
The expenses lapdog or watchdog?
The public doesn't necessarily see politicians' travel spending as evidence of greed.
- by Richard Mulgan
Opinion
Federal
Russia's shoe on the other foot
The long-downtrodden motherland has gained some hints of Western decadence, but little of its liberty.
- by Mark Thomas
Opinion
Federal
Catching mice with privatised cats
We'll solve no social problems by whittling away at the government's role in providing services.
- by John Falzon
Opinion
Federal
Super diagnosis over-egged, but prescription has merit
Our system has become so expensive and complicated that a government-run fund is warranted.
- by Andrew Podger