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Opinion

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Chairman Gordon Cairns and CEO Brad Banducci of Woolworths. Big W - big headache
Opinion
Companies

Big W joins growing club of retail orphans

Woolworths boss Brad Banducci can’t sell his loss-making Big W chain in its current state and, with $2.7 billion of lease commitments, closing it down would be rash.

  • by Elizabeth Knight

Latest

Donald Trump drives a golf buggy on his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland.
Opinion
National

'If you’re playing golf with him, he’s going to cheat.'

Golf really is a rich treasure trove of insights into presidential personalities - and guess what - Donald Trump cheats.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
Marie Kondo in a scene from her series "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo."
Opinion
National

Marie Kondo sparks joy for me - but not in the usual way

A great Australian past-time has been given new life by the guru of decluttering.

  • by Emma Betty
Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reacts as he responds to a  question during a press conference, after the presidential elections in Kiev, Ukraine, on Sunday, March. 31.
Analysis
Europe

How a TV comedian could have the last laugh in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky strong showing could help determine the future of a country that's become the front line in a new confrontation between Russia and the West.

  • by Iuliia Mendel and Neil MacFarquhar
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman, James Shipton: ''Why not litigate?''
Opinion
Companies

ASIC asks 'Why not litigate?' There are reasons it shouldn't

The best use of litigation against large companies, in the absence of clear-cut and indefensible breaches of the law, is as a negotiating tool.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Scott Morrison stole Joe Hockey's budget limelight in 2015 but he has a tougher task ahead this week.
Opinion
National

Last chance for the Morrison government rests on two things

There's a catch in the Prime Minister's budget week planning.

  • by Sean Kelly
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Then-Treasurer Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during question time on August 21, 2018.
NSW

Time to restore tranquillity to our beautiful country

The politicians really are in a bubble far removed from Australians and their concerns.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visits a recycling facility in Melbourne yesterday. Mr Shorten has announced Labor's commitment to tackling plastic use and boosting recycling.
National

Don’t waste chance for recycling boom

The issue is not political. It compels co-operation. It is urgent.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
Analysis
Federal

Bill Shorten treads gently with careful climate change plan

Labor's policy is as much an effort to neutralise the political attack as to find ways to truly reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

  • by Shane Wright
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's budget will effectively kick-start a six-week election campaign.
Opinion
The economy

The budget's getting better, but the economy's getting worse

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will be hoping to convince us the budget improvement is lasting, but the weak economy is temporary. It’s more likely to be the other way round.

  • by Ross Gittins
Comcast Ventures MD, Australian Daniel Gulati
Opinion
Companies

How the post Google, Facebook era could be 'golden age' for media

A rising Australian investor in Silicon Valley thinks there could be big opportunities for media companies in a post Google, post Facebook world.

  • by John McDuling
In the Herald dinkus
Opinion
NSW

In the Herald: April 1, 1986

Bomb suspect identified, James Cagney dies at 86 and notables’ day at the races.

  • by Stephanie Bull
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver his first federal budget on Tuesday. Illustration: John Shakespeare
Opinion
Federal

Coalition government shows stubborn unwillingness to fix debt

This week's federal budget represents an opportunity for an ambitious politician such as Josh Frydenberg to demonstrate long-term vision.

  • by Nick Dyrenfurth
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern comforts her nation after the Christchurch atrocity.
Opinion
Federal

It's not wrong to worry about immigration in the wake of terror

Dress it up any way you want, radical Islamist terrorism has made many Australians anxious about our immigration program.

  • by Amanda Vanstone
Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were charged with paying bribes to get their daughters into elite colleges.
Opinion
National

Education isn't a meritocracy, it's a 'parentocracy'

In Australia, and elsewhere, the system doesn’t favour academic merit, but parental wealth and efforts.

  • by Kellie Bousfield
Column 8 granny dinkus
Opinion
NSW

Column 8

"Need duty-free? I'm going to Hell."

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News Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro announce the new Cabinet. 31st March 2019. Photo by Edwina Pickles.
Analysis
NSW

Berejiklian's cabinet reflects the direction of her new government

Gladys Berejiklian has been described as "the great hope for the progressive moderates". Her new cabinet reflects this. 

  • by Alexandra Smith
Those who want to play rather than watch sport in Sydney have limited options.
Opinion
Sport

Tough times for those who'd rather play than watch in Sydney

We are forced to revert to soccer piracy.

  • by Luke Kennedy
Rebesl
Analysis
Rugby Union

Rebels with a cause: Coleman sums up team's unity

The controlled anger of the Rebels pack against the Reds, plus Coleman's reluctance to leave his mates to go off for a HIA, showed again that this is a serious team.

  • by Paul Cully
Joko Widodo, Indonesia's president, left, greets Prabowo Subianto, presidential candidate, right, on stage during a fourth presidential debate in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday, March 30.
Analysis
Asia

Jokowi's optimism outshines Prabowo's darker impulses

The latest presidential debate revealed President Joko Widodo as a multilateralist and internationalist while his challenger Prabowo Subianto offered a darker, isolationist vision.

  • by James Massola
Electric cars queue in the bus lane, left, on the main road into Oslo, Norway.  In Norway some 30 per cent of all new cars sport plug-in cables. The country plans to have higher taxes on traditional cars.
Opinion
Climate change

Australia in the slow lane as Coalition stalls on EV strategy

The Coalition will not release it's electric car strategy until next year.

  • by Bryce Gaton
The education gap in NSW is widening.
Opinion
National

Some advice for NSW's new education minister on her first day

First on the new minister's agenda should be to create an echelon of expert teachers.

  • by Peter Goss
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook.
Opinion
Technology

Why the internet needs new rules, and where to start

By updating the rules for the internet, we can preserve what's best about it while also protecting society from broader harms.

  • by Mark Zuckerberg
Pauline Hanson's One Nation has been the way regional and rural voters have registered their disillusionment with the major parties.
Opinion
National

You need to have a heart to do politics

But with an election close, Scott Morrison had to consider the angles too.

  • by Claire Kimball
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pictured on Sunday after her election victory.
Letters
NSW

The winning attributes for tomorrow's students goes beyond a few marks

The world our present school children will move into will be very different to that of their parents.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor candidate for Chisholm Jennifer Yang on Wednesday.
Opinion
Federal

Chinese-Australians have had a gutful of politicians' tokenism

Bill Shorten's WeChat moment was political tokenism at best, a horrible insult to Chinese-Australian voters at worst.

  • by Jieh-Yung Lo
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian enters with former prime minister John Howard on election night.
Opinion
NSW

Federal Coalition can learn from Berejiklian's victory

Since everyone loves a winner, adoration for Premier Gladys Berejiklian has poured forth from Coalition quarters.

Pauline Hanson and James Ashby in the Al Jazeera documentary.
Opinion
Federal

In like Minns: Labor's leader in waiting has firm agenda for NSW

The most likely replacement for Michael Daley as opposition leader is Chris Minns, 39, who favours pill testing and opposes lockouts.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
One Nation official James Ashby in an Al Jazeera sting video, seeking donations from the US gun lobby.
Opinion
Federal

The callous, pointless vacuum at the dead heart of One Nation

The escapades of Hanson's acolytes in America expose her party for what it is. John Howard's gun reforms, meanwhile, may struggle in today's Parliament.

  • by Jacqueline Maley
Theresa May at a press conference at 10 Downing Street last year.
Analysis
Europe

Europe, the killer of British Tory PMs

Theresa May was never required to pitch to party members and therein, perhaps, lay the seeds of her future difficulties.

  • by Philip Johnston
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has claimed she has been misrepresented in secret recordings released as part of an Al Jazeera's investigation.
Opinion
National

Pauline Hanson has a right to be upset about Al Jazeera sting

Unethical reporting will simply reinforce the view among One Nation's supporters that elites are out to get them, and will break all the rules to do so.

  • by Misha Ketchell
Coogee barista Kenny Hudson.
Opinion
NSW

Baristas: one of Sydney's fastest growing professions

Who won the hotly contested competition for the nation's best barista, asks Helen Pitt.

  • by Helen Pitt
Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, two characters in Game of Thrones.
Opinion
TV & radio

Game of Thrones: a masterpiece of long-form TV

If you haven't started watching it yet, do. By the time you've finally caught up, maybe HBO will have announced season nine.

  • by Michael Deacon
Matt Le Nevez and Asher Keddie, Offspring publicity by John Tsiavis. Courtesy of Network Ten
Opinion
TV & radio

Great ideas to save Oz film and TV, but government just isn't listening

A Senate committee tabled its report on the future of film and TV production in this country last week. Just don't expect the government to respond.

  • by Karl Quinn
Mea culpa, of sorts: Cameron Bancroft and captain Steve Smith admit to ball-tampering.
Opinion
Cricket

Taylor's suggestion CA sandpapered over cracks raises more concerns

When Mark Taylor admits he has no idea what truly took place in the months or even years before the Cape Town scandal, where does that leave the sport?

  • by Neil Breen
Going on empty: When the next global financial crisis hits, rates in some economies will go deeply into the red.
Opinion
Markets

Who will pay for the world's debt mountain? It's you, dear saver

Someone has to pay the price of the financial excesses of the last few decades. With low and negative rates, that "someone" will be savers.

  • by Satyajit Das
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Million-dollar man Tom Scully.
Analysis
AFL

How a discarded Tom Scully ended up in a Hawthorn jumper so soon

The story of how Tom Scully, the former $6m man, was given away to Hawthorn and his stunning recovery

  • by Jake Niall
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton during a practice session at Bahrain.
Analysis
Sport

Time for F1's moral blind spot over Bahrain to close

Once more, then, F1 finds itself impaled on the horns of the thorniest moral dilemma.

  • by Oliver Brown
Big scalp: Ashleigh Barty had not beaten world No.2 Petra Kvitova in four previous attempts.
Analysis
Tennis

Ash Barty edges to rightful spot among the world's best players

Now Ashleigh Barty has broken through to the women’s world’s top 10, there’s an overwhelming sense that the time is now for Australia’s highest-ranked player.

  • by Scott Spits
Vintage display: Benji Marshall and the Tigers celebrate a try.
Analysis
NRL

Benji and Robbie have got Tigers loving their football again

Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall are making it look easy. And it's rubbing off on the whole team.

  • by Phil Gould
"Prepare for recession": Get out of risky assets while you can, Citigroup tells its clients.
Opinion
Markets

Brace for nightmare before Christmas, banking giant warns investors

Citigroup has issued an explicit recession warning for the world's largest economy, advising clients to exit risky assets and prepare to ride out the storm.

  • by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Dominant: Erin Phillips
Analysis
AFL

How can you stop AFLW Adelaide star Erin Phillips?

The Crows co-captain is clearly the best player in the women's game, so how will the Blues look to stop her on Sunday in the grand final.

  • by Daniel Cherny
A-league
Analysis
Soccer

Devil in the detail in agreement on new look A-League

Proposals from the new league working group due on Sunday will, if adopted, bring about a sea change in the way the highest level of the Australian game operates.

  • by Michael Lynch
 James Pattinson's fast bowling helped to demolish NSW.
Analysis
Cricket

Into the mystic of my holy cricket memory

If you are viewing the Shield final as a kind of trial for international status, and the Ashes, then James Pattinson’s return is especially well timed.

  • by Tim Boyle
Big job ahead: Australia's new director of rugby Scott Johnson.
Opinion
Rugby Union

Johnson has a fighting chance of saving Australian rugby

After watching the Sunwolves humble the Waratahs, Scott Johnson might have been having second thoughts. But he is the right man to steer Australian rugby.

  • by Paul Cully
Belgium and Argentine players and referees pose with a "Say No to Racism" banner during a quarter-final football match.
Opinion
Workplace

We all have a part to play in stamping out racism at work

Jim Bright argues that everyone has a responsibility to call out racism in the workplace.

  • by Jim Bright
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Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.
Opinion
National

Weasels win from cycle of vengeance

One of the worst lessons to emerge from Australia's pointless leadership scheming is that the ultimate winner is neither the attacker nor the avenger.

  • by Peter Hartcher
 Pauline Hanson has refused to condemn her former colleague Senator Fraser Anning for his Christchurch comments.
Letters
NSW

Hanson's attempt to deflect views an insult

Pauline Hanson's denial of wrongdoing by herself and her One Nation colleagues is an insult to every Australian voter.

Scott Morrison and  Jacinda Ardern hug following the service for those killed in Christchurch.
AAP
Editorial
National

Time to force social media to take responsibility

The shocking footage live-streamed from the Christchurch attack has convinced the government to take action against the social media companies that spread it around the world.

That was her mistake ... One Nation leader Pauline Hanson chose to stand alongside James Ashby, left, and Steve Dickson on Thursday.
Opinion
Federal

Why the cult of Pauline won't be enough for One Nation this time

Hanson made a mistake this week by appealing to her base while flanked by the men who are bringing her down, writes the author of the book on her 1998 campaign.

  • by Margo Kingston