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Opinion

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Opinion
Retail

Are you an op shop haggler? You might get more than you bargained for

I work in an op shop and have reluctantly discovered that charity often begins - and ends - at home.

  • by Jo Stubbings

Latest

Ashton Agar was just one Australian to drop a catch during the fruitless World Cup campaign.

Who should follow Warner out of the losing T20 World Cup team?

Australia had just one player under 30 in the team that lost to India and missed the Twenty20 World Cup finals. What changes need to be made?

  • by Malcolm Conn
The new buildings defining Blacktown.
Analysis
Architecture

‘The forgotten bits of Sydney’: Our newest sports hub is one out of the box

Blacktown’s city architect Bill Tsakalos says Sydney’s west has been neglected by architects. Not any more.

  • by Julie Power
Spending your superannuation can be daunting and, at times, confusing. Here’s all you need to know about accessing your nest egg.
Analysis
Super Fit

How do you actually spend your super? Here’s all you need to know

Spending your superannuation can be daunting and, at times, confusing. Here’s all you need to know about accessing your nest egg.

  • by Bec Wilson
If you’re happy with your current fund and it provides an account-based pension with the features you want, stick with it.

I have $1.9m in my super. Can I add in more to save on tax?

While adding to your super once it hits the cap isn’t possible, your savings can still grow through the power of compound interest.

  • by Noel Whittaker
Why do we insist that specifically money doesn’t buy happiness? What’s wrong with having it both ways?

Money can’t buy happiness? No, but it certainly helps

Why do we insist that specifically money doesn’t buy happiness? What’s wrong with having it both ways?

  • by Paridhi Jain
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Opinion
Charity

I’m being generous this EOFY, but the taxman is not

We’re less generous than we used to be. Could that be because the taxman is hassling us about our benevolence?

  • by Ross Gittins
Tucker Carlson and Clive Palmer hold a press conference at one of Palmer’s homes in Brisbane.

He’s ‘rooting’ for Putin’s war in Ukraine: How did Tucker Carlson get an Australian visa?

The issue with Carlson is not so much his political outlook or unstinting support for Donald Trump. Rather, it is his attitude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  • by Jon Richardson
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Opinion
Column 8

Eastern distributors cross paths

While footy types hoof it to the try-line.

Julian Assange pictured in 2010 before his ordeal with the US justice system began in earnest.

Julian Assange and I once campaigned to save the Fitzroy Pool. Now my old friend is coming home

I’ve known Julian for three decades. For nearly half that time, he has been denied his freedom. That he will finally be able to come home and spend time with his wife and young children, is almost overwhelming.

  • by Suelette Dreyfus
Australia’s largest supermarkets face billions in fines under the new mandatory code of conduct, if they abuse their relationship with suppliers.
Analysis
Retail

Why grocery giants won’t lose sleep over $9b penalty threat

Coles and Woolworths face multibillion-dollar fines if they put the squeeze on suppliers, but is this is a realistic threat?

  • by Colin Kruger
Kean on renewables.

Matt Kean’s appointment puts climate before politics

This is an important appointment by the federal government that will provide an opportunity to help all Australians.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
Analysis
Assange saga

The campaign to free Assange is over. The public argument about him is not

The campaign to free Julian Assange has reached a dramatic final moment. A moment that will divide opinion just as much as every other phase in his remarkable life.

  • by David Crowe
Mitchell Marsh of Australia drops a catch.

Drama and farce reign, but Australia didn’t deserve a World Cup semi-final

Afghanistan sealed Australia’s World Cup fate at 1.05am Caribbean time, but the defining moment of a failed campaign arrived well before then.

  • by Daniel Brettig
Julian Assange boards a jet to fly to the Pacific for his US court date.
Editorial
Assange saga

After 12 years, freeing Julian Assange was long overdue

Julian Assange’s sorry saga finally looks to be nearly over after vexing governments on multiple continents for more than a decade.

  • The Herald's View
Opinion
Aviation

Alarms will be sounding at Qantas, but not in the cockpit

It’s not as though Qantas can look at its latest result in the World Airline Awards and shrug its shoulders. Instead, it should roll up its sleeves. 

  • by David Evans
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court in 2019.

I’m relieved for Julian Assange. I’m also deeply concerned

My own prison ordeal gave me a taste of what Assange may be feeling. He’s out – but the chilling effect on press freedom remains.

  • by Peter Greste
Cettire has enticed shoppers by offering the latest high-end fashion at low prices, but controversy has grown over how it actually does this.

Hot luxury to bargain bin: The red flag that should have warned investors

A lot of naysayer told-you-sos were around when Cettire spectacularly missed profit expectations this week. Now its shares and luxury clothes are discounted.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Apple is coming off three straight quarters with negative revenue growth, and a fourth — as analysts expect to see — would represent its longest streak in two decades.

Apple’s future could be shaped outside the US amid $57b threat in Europe

Apple has just become the first tech giant to be accused of breaching new European competition laws designed to rein in Big Tech.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in April announced Sam Mostyn as Australia’s next governor-general.
Opinion
Sam Mostyn

Sam Mostyn’s big fat pay rise isn’t what you think. The PM should have said so

What the government did was not fair. Bring on the republic. I’d be happy with Mostyn as the first president.

  • by Jenna Price
NSW players State of Origin I

‘Focus on the physical’: Inside the Blues’ emotional bonding session

Roy Masters joined the NSW squad for their jersey presentation and team meeting on Monday evening.

  • by Roy Masters
The ATO routinely tells taxpayers to wait until at least late July to file their annual return.
Analysis
EOFY

Last-minute ways to boost your finances before EOFY

It is not too late to save on tax and boost retirement savings, but only if you act quickly.

  • by John Collett
Origin coaches Billy Slater and Michael Maguire

Billy v Madge: The real reason behind NSW coach’s ‘glass houses’ sledge

The stage is set for a frosty pre-match press conference in Melbourne. Will Maguire’s gamble in firing up his former Storm fullback be worth it?

  • by Andrew Webster
Matt Okine in the male fertility episode of Secret Science, an informative, upbeat show designed to fill the gap left by Catalyst.
Opinion
ABC

Comedy panels over smart analysis? That’s not what the ABC needs right now

Panel shows loaded with comedians and repeats of Hard Quiz may be cheap and easy, but they’re hardly a triumph.

  • by Debi Enker
Chris Scott speaks with Cats star Tom Stewart in a break in play during Geelong’s clash with Carlton.
Analysis
AFL 2024

Claws for concern: Geelong’s defence is leaky, but that’s not Tom Stewart’s fault

Champion Cat Tom Stewart is being targeted by opposition teams, as per usual. But his teammates aren’t supporting him as they should.

  • by Peter Ryan
Former NSW treasurer Matt Kean and federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

How Labor convinced a former Liberal treasurer to take a key climate job

Matt Kean’s appointment to head the Climate Change Authority has outraged federal Liberals and Nationals, who believe one of their own has joined the enemy.

  • by David Crowe
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Benjamin Netanyahu

What most Israelis hope will happen to Netanyahu when the war is over

More would vote for a man who’s not even in parliament if an election were held today, according to a poll published on Friday.

  • by Peter Hartcher
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Opinion
Column 8

You’ve got a friend in France

If it’s not too late.

Celine Dion at the height of her powers in 1996.

Becoming a Celine Dion fan had nothing to do with her songs

A funny thing happened last Thursday night. I fell in love with a singer I’d always shunned.

  • by Michael Ruffles
Nuclear rabbit

Dutton’s climate politics put our children’s future at risk

What appears forgotten in this latest version of Australia’s climate wars is the reason why our planet cannot be allowed to pass 1.5 degrees of warming. At 1.5 degrees we trigger a domino event where a warming planet reinforces further warming that is irreversible.

Peter Dutton out-campaigned Anthony Albanese on The Voice but the energy debate will be harder for him to win.

Nuclear debate is getting heated, but whose energy plan stacks up?

Will the government’s renewables plan cost $1 trillion? Is nuclear energy cheaper? Can a reactor be up and running by 2037? We answer the nuclear debate’s biggest questions.

  • by Mike Foley
Numbers game: After a spike in calls, the number of holding-the-ball free kicks slipped over the weekend.
Analysis
AFL 2024

The charts that show how the umpires stopped blowing the whistle

The AFL had encouraged umpires to pay more holding-the-ball free kicks in a league directive in late May but, after an early spike, this round had the lowest average since round two.

  • by Jon Pierik
Successful attempts to overturn police objections come as the number of registered firearms in NSW jumped.
Editorial
Guns

People with violent history or mental health issues should hang up their guns

People with histories of mental illness and violence are successfully challenging police objections to them being given guns.

  • The Herald's View
USA versus Australia in the pool.
Analysis
Paris 2024

The USA’s Olympic swimming trials have finished. Australia’s stars have work to do

Five weeks out from the Olympics, we crunch the numbers to see just how Australia’s swimmers are faring against their US rivals.

  • by Tom Decent
During the past financial year, Solomon Lew has moved from being an agitating investor to a controlling shareholder with now nearly 30 per cent of Myer.

How Lew is lining himself up to be the ultimate winner

He has taken his sweet time, but Solomon Lew is putting the pieces in place to cash out a decent part of the retail empire he has spent decades building.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
A Japan bullet train.
Opinion
Trains

High-speed trains are no silver bullet, but they could help shift house prices

A business case cannot be made for bullet trains in Australia, but faster rail connections in and around Sydney and Melbourne would be a winner for decentralisation.

  • by Millie Muroi
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Armstrong, Irwin and Emdur.
Analysis
Logies

Tony vs Larry vs Rob: Unpacking the battle for the Gold Logie

The race for the top gong will be a battle between Tony Armstrong, Larry Emdur and Robert Irwin.

  • by Thomas Mitchell
The AI craze has surprised Wall Street forecasters and spurred a race among strategists to keep up with a sharemarket rally.
Opinion
Regulation

The multitrillion-dollar threat that could spark another financial crisis

A fast-growing part of the financial system is setting off alarm bells.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Pat Cummins

Five things Australia must do to save their T20 World Cup campaign

An historic loss to Afghanistan has left Australia in serious danger of missing the T20 World Cup finals just seven months after claiming the one-day World Cup.

  • by Malcolm Conn

‘Charlatan’? Aussie politicians are #%!* when it comes to insults

Given the predicament our nation is in, it would be reassuring to know our leaders were at the top of their game. Judging by the quality of their insults, we’re in deep trouble.

  • by Michelle Cazzulino
Millie Muroi with her mother.

Mum jokes I won’t be left an inheritance. I might not mind

Would you rather keep paying high taxes on your income, or more tax when you die?

  • by Millie Muroi
Peter Dutton has proposed building seven new nuclear power stations.

Dutton’s tight-lipped nuclear policy takes people for fools

Nuclear power is line-ball when it comes to support or opposition, but many people think it’s worth being investigated.

  • The Herald's View
Peter Dutton has a fight on his hands to convince voters of his nuclear power plans.

Dutton’s nuclear plan is surrounded by false claims and policy gaps – but people are listening

Australians are still paying a price for the energy policy disputes of the past. The nuclear proposal is unlikely to end the argument.

  • by David Crowe
NSW halfback Mitchell Moses.

On AFL grounds, rugby league’s best kickers can get ‘lost’ in Origin

Since the NRL started taking a match to non-traditional states each year, the game’s best kickers have grappled with playing on AFL grounds. Does an oval field make a difference?

  • by Adam Pengilly

Dutton’s nuclear non-policy sets a new low for political debate

The opposition leader called it “bold” and “visionary”, but his policy seems born of cowardice – namely his refusal to confront divisions on climate in the Coalition.

  • by Sean Kelly
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Opinion
Column 8

Cocktail with a slice

While possums find themselves in hot water.

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Eddie Jones’ tenure with Japan opened in similar fashion to his return to the Wallabies.

Another hammering for Eddie will test his revered status in Japan

Club coaches in Japan have worked hard to enhance the esteem in which their competition is held, and they won’t take kindly to heavy losses for the Brave Blossoms.

  • by Paul Cully
Chris Fagan’s Brisbane Lions face a tough task to return to the grand final stage in 2024.
Four Points
AFL 2024

Why Fagan’s Lions can still roar into the four

Not only can the Brisbane Lions still make the AFL’s top four, they deserve to, given the way they’re playing.

  • by Michael Gleeson
D’oh! Peter Dutton as Homer Simpson.

Empty rhetoric: Coalition’s ‘plan’ laden with disinformation

Stop referring to the Coalition’s nuclear brain explosion as a “plan”. Plans require some essential ingredients and Peter Dutton’s “plan” has none of it.

NSW Blues Liam Martin kick chase and tackle on Queensland Maroons Xavier Coates in State of Origin.

NSW dominated the Maroons for 20 minutes with 12 men. Here’s how they do it with 13

The Origin I danger signs were there before Joseph Suaalii was sent off. But the fightback from NSW provided a blueprint to keep the series alive on Wednesday.

  • by Dan Walsh