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Opinion

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The iPhone 13 Pro Max is the priciest of the four new phones, with major telco plans starting at $117 per month over 24 months.
Analysis
Phones

Apple iPhone 13 plans aimed at the data hungry

Those looking to upgrade may find themselves paying for a lot more data than they really need.

  • by Tim Biggs

Latest

Christian Porter has given up his frontbench berth - for the moment at least.

Porter shows the bar is now so low for Parliamentary accountability it’s getting hard to see

It will now be left to the poor voters in his WA seat of Pearce to determine just how immune the electorate has become to the litany of scandals, conflicts and contempt.

  • by Janine Perrett
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Christian Porter’s resignation from the cabinet on Sunday.
Letters
Letters

Porter’s secretive behaviour should disqualify him from Parliament

Christian Porter’s resignation from the ministry should not be an end to the “blind trust” matter. The public should be told who has bankrolled his legal fees.

A woman in Melbourne’s hotel quarantine program earlier this month.

Now is the time to trial home quarantine for returned travellers

Sitting there staring out at a virus-riddled city, the entire quarantine machine seemed like a massive waste of time, manpower and resources.

  • by Louise Radcliffe-Smith
Column 8 Granny dinkus with mask.
Opinion
Column 8

The economic divide is a fine line

That comes in vanilla, caramel and mocha.

Ollie Wines of Port Adelaide poses after winning the 2021 Brownlow Medal.
Analysis
AFL 2021

Explaining the Brownlow’s great mystery: vote inflation

The major talking point at the Brownlow Medal on Sunday was the enormous vote tallies garnered by the top contenders, especially the first four.

  • by Jake Niall
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Donations from the big end of town are down as a result of the pandemic.

Increased boardroom diversity needs to go beyond gender

Australia’s corporate boardrooms, like its parliaments, remain too “pale and male”. But diversity in leadership is still a goal worth chasing for business and politics alike.

  • The Herald's View
Clayton Oliver is tackled by Marcus Bontempelli.

Will the bye disadvantage the Demons?

This week on the Real Footy podcast, Michael Gleeson, Jake Niall and Caroline Wilson look ahead to the grand final, review Brownlow night and talk off-field moves at the AFL and Carlton.

All roads lead to the infrastructure party

Australia’s infrastructure price party isn’t over just yet

The scramble to buy massive infrastructure assets is picking up pace as cashed up buyers chase a steadily dwindling number of large assets.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 18: Len Ikitau of the Wallabies celebrates with Michael Hooper of the Wallabies after receiving a penalty during The Rugby Championship match between the Australian Wallabies and the South Africa Springboks at Suncorp Stadium on September 18, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Opinion
Wallabies

Why the radio silence when calling the Wallabies should be as simple as ABC?

The Wallabies’ absence from the national broadcaster is hard to fathom, especially considering a couple of Australian rugby doyens are waiting in the wings.

  • by Wayne Smith
The Australian National Memorial and newly opened Sir John Monash Centre sit just outside Villers-Bretonneux.

Australia may have trashed a relationship it honours every Anzac Day on the Somme

The nation’s dealings with France were built on trust and confidence.

  • by Richard Ogier
Bianca Hall, co-host of Please Explain

Concussion is rising in community footy, with kids bearing the brunt

Today on Please Explain, sports reporter Peter Ryan joins Bianca Hall to talk about the crisis hitting club competition.

  • by Bianca Hall
At its last meeting in April, US Federal Reserve Board chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the Fed was in no hurry to raise US interest rates. Now, it seems, it is thinking about it.

Is the Fed about to signal the start of the tapering of its bond purchases?

The Federal Reserve Board meets this week to decide the course of US monetary policy amid economic and political uncertainty.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
After weeks in lockdown we don’t need to police children at play.

Public shaming of supposed lockdown criminals has got to stop

Before lockdown, it would not have occurred to me that people would take photos of strangers so they could put them on social media to criticise them.

  • by Saman Shad
Ashley Klein.
Opinion
NRL 2021

The referees will always be in crisis — but let’s stop moaning about them

Rugby league’s unhealthy obsession with match officials has become predictable and boring.

  • by Andrew Webster
The Melbourne Storm celebrate reaching another preliminary final.
Analysis
NRL 2021

As the NRL race narrows, who can beat the Melbourne Storm?

Penrith get the finals shot at Melbourne they so badly wanted but after two weeks of play-offs, it’s clear the Storm are a cut above those chasing their crown.

  • by Phil Lutton
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The decision to parachute senator Kristina Keneally into the western Sydney seat of Fowler at the expense of local Vietnamese lawyer Tu Le has led to calls for diversity quotas.

Left’s identity politics crisis a progressive problem

A shallow understanding of identity politics among many on the Left is a significant threat to progressive politics.

  • by Emma Dawson
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has been looking at how far-right groups raise money online.

Australia well placed to turbocharge its strategic tech capability

The real potential of AUKUS lies in how the new grouping can be leveraged in the long term to help Australia deal with the profound technological disruption about to sweep the world.

  • by Fergus Hanson and Danielle Cave
Queues will be a part of our new normal.

Lining up for the new normal? Have patience

Are you a homo impatientus? Does standing in a queue – any queue – feel like torture? Get ready for the post-COVID world.

  • by Penny Flanagan
A Virginia class fast-attack submarine. Australia decided to invest in US nuclear-powered submarines and dump its contract with France to build diesel-electric subs because of a changed strategic environment, Scott Morrison said on Thursday,
Letters
Letters

If Morrison can deceive the French, why not us?

Sydneysiders will be aware that they will have nuclear-powered submarines in the harbour in the distant future.

Working from home could mean some big savings but this has knock-on effects for major industries.

The economic consequences of working from home that no one is talking about

The work from home revolution has many benefits. But there are also some underappreciated economic consequences we need to consider.

  • by Jennifer Duke
Steph Lentz’s sacking was perfectly legal under state and federal laws.

As Australia’s climate policy disappoints, hope is found in court

Amid the background of government inaction on emissions, climate litigation is on the rise.

  • by Sophie McNeill
Column 8 Granny dinkus with mask.
Opinion
Column 8

Two fingered salutes to the whistling police

Some discipline required for the tin eared.

Steven King (right).
Opinion
AFL 2021

Four Points: the grand final assistants who could coach Carlton, ditch the bye, Tigers’ smart call

Clarko aside, Steven King and Adem Yze are both assistants at teams playing the AFL grand final and both have been largely overlooked so far in discussions of the Blues job.

  • by Michael Gleeson
Some areas of Sydney have an aversion to high density living.
Opinion
Strata

COVID secrecy could spell disaster for apartment residents

Strata communities cannot understand their risk profile unless the state government and NSW Health share more information about positive cases of COVID-19.

  • by Jane Hearn
Tensions between China and Taiwan have been rising.

Successful deterrence: Why AUKUS is good news for Taiwan

Australia’s description of Taiwan last week as a “critical partner” marks a significant shift in language, one that will not have gone unnoticed in Beijing.

  • by Natasha Kassam and Darren Lim
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

A year into the Abraham Accords shines a light into future

The Middle East, so often in the news for its problems, has, during the past year, pioneered a major historic breakthrough likely to have enduring effects, in the form of the Abraham Accords.

  • by Colin Rubenstein
Gutherson talks to Ashley Klein/
Chammas on Monday
NRL 2021

Strike two: Panthers trainer who stopped play against Eels warned before

The Penrith trainer hauled over the coals for an incident earlier in the year is now under investigation by the NRL. He wasn’t even on the field at the time.

  • by Michael Chammas
Housing

Rising house prices offer NSW a recovery opportunity

The long Sydney lockdown has produced a strange paradox where house prices have risen even as the economy struggles.

  • The Herald's View
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 18: Marika Koroibete of the Wallabies scores a try during The Rugby Championship match between the Australian Wallabies and the South Africa Springboks at Suncorp Stadium on September 18, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Fighting fit: Why the Wallabies are in their best shape since the 2015 World Cup

You have to go back to consecutive wins at Twickenham six years ago to find the same sort of back-to-back performances by Australia.

  • by Paul Cully
Euphemisms are not always helpful.
Opinion
Death

A few lively thoughts on dead euphemisms

Saying a person has “passed” when they have died is a generational thing to a large degree, sprinkled with a tendency to want to appear up with the jargon.

  • by Jim Pilmer
Christian Porter.

The problems with Porter

It is beyond satire that a politician who introduced laws demanding greater transparency for political donations accepts an anonymous donation himself.

  • by Jon Faine
Tuipulotu Katoa, brother of Sharks star Sione (inset), went to hospital with a staph infection, but tests revealed he also had a serious heart problem and a brain aneurysm.
Opinion
NRL 2021

Brain aneurysm, staph infection and heart murmur turn young gun’s life upside down

A lot of difficult stories have come out of the Bulldogs camp this year, but none compare to what Tuipulotu Katoa is going through.

  • by Danny Weidler
An illustration of Morrison and Macron.
Opinion
Defence

‘Do not forget Australia’: Morrison must hope an old friendship holds

The Australian-French friendship was created in blood. With France now the European leader, the consequences of a falling-out could prove very injurious.

  • by Tony Wright
The shadow pandemic of mental illness is real but must not be turned into a new reason to panic.

Let’s not panic about the mental health harms of the pandemic

Helping those who are suffering from poor mental health will require us to emphasise resilience rather than illness.

  • by Parnell Palme McGuinness
The decision to parachute senator Kristina Keneally into the western Sydney seat of Fowler at the expense of local Vietnamese lawyer Tu Le has led to calls for diversity quotas.

Keneally, Steggall and the political outsiders

The factions control much in the major parties, but it may take the rise of political outsiders to achieve a more representative Australian democracy.

  • by Jacqueline Maley
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The decision to parachute senator Kristina Keneally into the western Sydney seat of Fowler at the expense of local Vietnamese lawyer Tu Le has led to calls for diversity quotas.
Analysis
ALP

Labor’s fight over Fowler is about a lot more than Kristina Keneally

Until Labor’s NSW Right faction can set aside disputes like this and focus on the swathe of seats on offer across Sydney, then the ALP’s path to victory is narrow.

  • by James Massola
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro will be backing dying with dignity laws.

John Barilaro surprises on right-to-die law for NSW

NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro says rural realism is driving most of his MPs to vote for reform.

  • by Peter FitzSimons
To refuse people entry is not a natural step for a church.

The word from a vaccinated preacher: we don’t urge law-breaking, but we cherish religious freedom

Our churches support emergency action during the pandemic. Longer term, the idea that Christians would exclude anyone from church is extremely problematic.

  • by Phil Colgan
The crowds on Bournemouth beach last year on June 25 became a national scandal.

British statistics suggest beaches aren’t COVID superspreader hotspots

Britain’s crowded beaches in June 2020 did not drive a surge in COVID cases, but experts say travelling to the beach in crammed cars and buses is high risk.

  • by Latika Bourke
The historic laws have passed Queensland Parliament.
Letters
Letters

Have religious leaders forgotten the commandment ‘love thy neighbour’?

Religious leaders argue that everyone has the right to worship in their churches regardless of vaccination status. What about the rights of those vaccinated people who will be harmed by possible exposure to the virus?

Why?
Opinion
Red carpet

I’m no puritan but can the celebs please put the PDAs away

From Ben and Jen’s highly staged red carpet re-debut, to Oscar Isaac eating Jessica Chastain’s arm, it seems celebrities have forgotten how to behave in public.

  • by Nathanael Cooper
Opinion
Home loans

‘I’d hate me, too’: Why I’ve decided to become a property investor

I abhor the idea of taking a home from a young family who could otherwise buy it to live in. But if economics teaches us anything, it’s that incentives matter.

  • by Jessica Irvine
It’s easier than you think to escape the credit card trap.

Credit cards that can save you more than $700 a year

A 0 per cent balance transfer credit card gives you an opportunity to have every dollar you repay chip away at your principal, rather than going toward extortionate interest.

  • by Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon
Nathan Cleary leads the Panthers’ hopes of reaching the preliminary final.
Analysis
NRL 2021

The grand final everyone expected comes a week early after west shootout

Perhaps the biggest winners in all of this were Melbourne. The westies tore into each other, while the minor premiers sat back with their feet up.

  • by Adrian Proszenko
Izack Rodda, Darcy Swain and Folau Fainga’a on Saturday.

Two years out from the World Cup, Wallabies fans can dare to dream

Saturday night’s 30-17 win against the Springboks was the performance of a team ready to fire on the game’s biggest stage.

  • by Sam Phillips
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Scott Morrison announces the AUKUS deal with Joe Biden and Boris Johnson.
Analysis
Defence

Australia’s foreign policy is getting clumsy and arrogant

Has Australia’s diplomacy been strong enough to support our strategic intentions when our actions have such serious consequences?

  • by Anthony Galloway
You cannot lose if you do not play ... Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler.
Analysis
NRL 2021

Bennett showed Cleary he’s the master of mental chess. Hasler won’t even sit at the table

Des Hasler won’t be playing any games with Wayne Bennett as he turned to some classic tactics to start the lead-up to the Souths-Manly preliminary final.

  • by Phil Lutton
It’s possible to bank a profit and walk away with capital losses for future use.

Benefits of participating in a share buyback

An “on-market” buyback, where a company buys shares on the sharemarket and cancels them, typically results in less issued shares, hopefully boosting future dividends per share.

  • by George Cochrane
Emmanuel Macron openly welcomed Joe Biden’s election and praised him at G7.
Analysis
Defence

America’s loss is China’s gain as France lashes out over subs

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be looking at the US-France feud with pleasure and amazement. 

  • by Matthew Knott