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Crikey is an independent news website featuring commentary on politics, media, business, culture and technology.

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Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Dreyfus pushes substantive overhaul of secrecy laws after years of expansion

Secrecy laws applying to public servants will be simplified and improved, and there will be better protections for journalists.

It’s a travesty McBride had to plead guilty, but the public want whistleblower reform

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus pledged to establish a whistleblower protection authority in 2019. He needs to get a move on.

David McBride’s case shows why military whistleblowers need adequate protection

What constitutes ‘public interest’ suffers endless scrutiny. What endangers ‘national security’ does not.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

We should be afraid, but not for the reason the major parties tell us

The bipartisan hysteria unleashed in response to a landmark High Court ruling spells the death of a free society.

Who is Helen Toner? Meet the 30-something Australian OpenAI board member who voted out Sam Altman

‘She knew quite early she was headed for the big leagues,’ said one person who knew her from United Nations Youth Australia.

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto and expelled Liberal Moira Deeming (Images: AAP/Private Media)

More chaos for Vic Libs as Moira Deeming launches action against Pesutto

Deeming seems keen to ensure Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto suffers headaches that would keep Nurofen in business for generations.

UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Francesca Albanese on Australian media’s Gaza blind spots and accepting a reporter’s apology

Albanese speaks to Crikey about her experience of the Australian media and leaves a stern message for the government regarding its commitment to international law.

Displaced Palestinian children in Gaza (Image: EPA/Haitham Imad)

Rehumanising the discourse means telling stories of personhood in Gaza, not just horror

There is a narrative behind every horror witnessed in Gaza — one which must be sought out for the person it represents.

The pro-Palestinian movement is a social revolution in a changed Australia

The ethical urgency of Gaza has met a new post-Anglo Australia to produce something extraordinary.

Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Competition reforms are on the way — but how tough will they be?

The government is consulting on moves to strengthen competition laws, with big company mergers and acquisitions in the firing line.

49 women have been killed in 2023 as a result of violence. Are we actually making progress?

While certain statistics show a promising downward trend in domestic violence, there is clearly a long way to go.

A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble of his Rafah home (Image: AP/Hatem Ali)

The secrecy that surrounds Australia’s involvement in Israel’s atrocities

Co-belligerency is more than a failure in soft diplomacy, as Australians are being kept in the dark about operations at Pine Gap.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (Images: AAP)

Dutton eager to exploit slaughter and hate 9/11-style — but he’s not alone

In the 9/11 mindset, there’s always an existential crisis and a need for action that overrides protections. Now we’re in it in Canberra and Sydney.

An air strike on the Gaza Strip (Image:  EPA/Atef Safadi)

The right is using the fight against anti-Semitism to dehumanise Palestinians and justify slaughter

The right was routinely anti-Semitic for decades. Now it’s anti-Palestinians. The object may change, but the desire to bully and victimise remains.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Incompetence, culture wars and conservatism dominate our political cycle

Will voters reward an effort to govern well, or will they be keener on following Peter Dutton into culture wars? The opposition leader wants to find out.

(Image: Gorkie/Private Media)

Infrastructure project hit list released as review reveals shambolic spending program

Scott Morrison once proudly boasted of his $120 billion infrastructure investment program. An independent review has found major problems with it, including huge cost blowouts.

(Image: Gorkie/Private Media)

Optus has had a horrific two weeks, but it still can’t hold a candle to Qantas

Optus and Qantas might both be poor at communication when they stuff up, but the airline’s illegal behaviour is far worse than that of the telecommunications provider.

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News done fearlessly.
News done fearlessly.
News done fearlessly.
US President Joe Biden (Image: AP/Evan Vucci)

America’s two-party system is failing voters when it comes to Biden’s approach to the Middle East

Without preferential voting, citizens in the US must either decide the lesser of two evils, or ‘throw their vote away’.

NSW Premier Chris Minns (Image: AAP/Bianca De Marchi)

Thousands of Labor voters in western Sydney campaign for Chris Minns’ resignation

Voters from the traditional Labor heartland are even considering supporting independent or Greens candidates at the next election, fed up with Labor’s silence on Israel.

(Image: AAP/David Gray)

We see and hear more in the media about the Middle East, but we learn a lot less

There’s so much more going on in the region than the Israel-Hamas war, but it’s not as clicky so it goes under-reported.

Seven West Media's Kerry Stokes (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Kerry Stokes’ failing Seven can still get a media deal done

Seven West Media has hit a new low on the sharemarket but it’s still climbing on board the latest deal to shrink Australian media diversity.

Anthony Albanese berates Peter Dutton in Parliament yesterday (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Anthony Albanese accuses Peter Dutton of weaponising anti-Semitism

‘That you would attempt to weaponise anti-Semitism in this chamber and make it a partisan issue is, frankly, beyond contempt’.

(Image: Private Media/Zennie)

PwC’s Russian sanctions scandal confirms ‘ethical failure of big business’: Greens senator

The accounting firm’s Cyprus arm is being investigated for alleged attempts to help its Russian clients evade sanctions.

(Image: Gorkie/Private Media)

Would you borrow $120,000 to pay private school fees?

Australian parents are treating their kids’ education costs like a mortgage — something to be paid off over time.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Inexperienced Bullock puts pandering to inflation hawks ahead of Australians

The RBA governor says there’s still a risk of a wage-price spiral, and as many households are doing well more monetary punishment is needed.

Anti-vaccine, conspiracy group Stand Up Now Australia's local strategy, Community Connect, with its founder Peter Harris (Image: Stand Up Now Australia)

Anti-vaxxers are winning local elections across Western Australia

Without much ado, a network of conspiracy theory-promoting councillors were elected across Western Australia last month.

Bayswater Power Station in the Hunter Valley (Image: AAP/Mark Baker)

Heat death isn’t the only cost of our addiction to fossil fuels

A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the cost of the rising frequency of extreme heat events. And that doesn’t include the death toll from coal-fired power.

Clive Palmer (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

Clive Palmer sues government over ‘extremist’, ‘anti-coal’ judge in $69bn lawsuit

Palmer’s company Zeph Investments, 100% owners of Waratah Coal, is accusing the government of installing a pro-climate change judge in an attempt to deny new coal projects.

A wildfire in Alberta, Canada, in June (Image: AAP/EPA/Alberta Wildfire Handout)

Traumatised Canadian firefighters may not be able to help Australia this summer

There aren’t enough Australian firefighters to protect us from a possible Black Summer season, but a burnt Canada warns it’s exhausted.

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