September 2024
Why Dutton’s playing a very dangerous political game
Peter Dutton and Donald Trump have a knack for political division. There’s no doubt that stoking fear and the politics of division can be brutally effective, but the last thing Australia needs is to import the damaging culture wars of the American far right, dominated by bonkers conspiracy theories adhered to by militant acolytes untroubled
August 2024
Who is holding the purse strings?
Next month, the Albanese government is due to announce its proposed changes to Australian electoral laws. It has been a long road. The minister responsible, Senator Don Farrell, had planned to introduce the laws by the end of last year.
July 2024
Why Queensland is Miles ahead of the game
Canberra doesn’t really have a fossil fuel industry, which perhaps explains why we lead the country in decarbonising our economy.
June 2024
Muddled answers and outright lies: what the Biden-Trump debate says about the dire state of US politics
There are no parallels for the first debate of the 2024 US presidential election cycle.
Why the US government’s pursuit of Julian Assange was becoming both damaging and untenable
Today, in a surprise development likely weeks in the planning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was able to leave the United Kingdom for the first time in more than a decade after reaching a plea deal with the US government.
Bring out yer dead! Amid nuke hype Tanya Plibersek approves Gina Rinehart’s gas pipeline
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has just approved a new coal seam gas pipeline in Queensland.
Machiavelli would have known what to do about PwC
Today, the name of Niccolò Machiavelli is a byword for cynicism and hunger for power, but there was one profession so parasitic and selfish even he could not stomach it.
For a robust democracy, we need a working anti-corruption system and truth in political advertising
Transparency, integrity and accountability were buzzwords of the 2024 state election, yet Tasmanians went to the polls without knowing where their politicians get their money, without laws requiring truth in political advertising, and without an anti-corruption body that is fit for purpose.
May 2024
The Assange litmus test and the fight to shape a future Trump administration
Who would have thought that the legal and personal travails of Julian Assange, the Australian citizen whom US authorities are invested in prosecuting and jailing for the rest of his life without deep consideration of his fundamental rights, would become a lightning rod for former President Trump’s re-election hopes?
Can Jim Chalmers ‘buy’ a reduction to inflation?
While money can’t buy everything, the Australian Government can ‘buy’ a lower Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The great greenwashing myth being sold to Australians
Nobody likes to be hoodwinked, but that’s what big companies are essentially doing when they engage in greenwashing – giving consumers the false impression they have business practices that help the environment instead of harming it.
April 2024
The Cruelty Is The Point: Australia and the Politics of Empire
Watch Dr Emma Shortis’ address to ‘Night Falls In The Evening Lands: The Assange Epic’ at RMIT University, Melbourne, on 9th March 2024.
Labor’s pledge to depoliticise the public service is undermined by the government only hearing what it wants to hear on climate change
While last year’s robodebt royal commission exposed a shocking lack of ethics among senior ranks of the Australian public service, the systemic condition still largely seems to be regarded as an aberration.
Whether you tune in or not, journalism’s a public good that benefits us all
For three years, Meta and Google have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Australian publishers in exchange for using news content.
March 2024
Tasmania’s fear of government debt is hurting the state
Tasmanians have been badly served by its government’s exaggerated fears about the condition of the state budget.
January 2024
If Trump comes back, do we want him as our ally?
“Who in God’s name does he think he is?”
Weapons of mass obstruction hurt democracy
Be it administrative incompetence, secrecy and trickery, the failure of the Morrison government to hand over Cabinet documents about the Iraq War to the National Archives should trigger serious analysis of how Australia enters conflicts, writes Ebony Bennett.
The Pink Test is a feel-good story, but does it help where it’s really needed?
With the federal government announcing a desire to double charitable donations by 2030, Stephen Long examines the potential inefficiency & inequity of relying on charities, rather than governments, to provide essential services.
December 2023
Biden’s Burden: Four Percentage Points, a Struggling Economy and a Fragile Democracy
In the United States, one of the men vying for the presidency faces 91 criminal charges in four concurrent criminal cases.
September 2023
The Australia-US Alliance has Long Gone Unchallenged. The Delegation to Free Julian Assange Changes That
The Australian politicians pushing for Assange’s release represents a rare crack in the wall of bipartisan support for the sacrosanct alliance.
August 2023
New political donations laws will help level the playing field and afford fairer elections to all Tasmanians
In June, a joint Parliamentary Committee published recommendations that would significantly reform Australian electoral law.
July 2023
More work needed despite launching of National Anti-Corruption Commission
Australia may finally have a national anti-corruption watchdog, but we still have a long way to go to reach genuine accountability and transparency in our system of government.
June 2023
ABC redundancies could harm the public’s trust in the reliable broadcaster
The latest redundancies at the ABC are a cruel blow to public interest journalism and its role in holding the powerful to account.
May 2023
Ending Nazi Symbols: Let’s Get It Right
Australia needs legislation outlawing the public display of Nazi symbols in the service of white supremacist ideology, but it is critical that we get the free speech balance right.
April 2023
Tide of Public Opinion Backs the Science
Tasmania’s coastal waters are in trouble and Tasmanians know it. Recently published research in the journal Nature, the world’s leading science journal, found that more than 500 common species of marine life have declined around Australia in the past decade. These declines are most marked in the rocky kelp-dominated reefs around Tasmania. We know that
NSW minority government is a sign of the times
Elections in New South Wales are always interesting, and this year’s has given us a week of suspense over whether the Minns Labor government would be a minority or majority government.
February 2023
Ultimately, it’s the senate that needs to drive accountability and integrity in politics
Australia’s newest integrity institution, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), will help root out corruption and hold the powerful to account.
One hundred years of the Coalition – will Nationals and Liberals be celebrating?
This February marks an important anniversary in our nation’s electoral history – but for some reason it appears the centenary has approached with remarkably little fanfare from the enduring, occasionally fractious, political couple.
November 2022
It all adds up for pollies, the truth is out there
Tasmanian MPs will continue to debate new political donations disclosure laws, and amendments to the Electoral Act, in Parliament next week. But will our elected representatives grab this opportunity to introduce truth in political advertising laws for Tasmania?
October 2022
How the government supports greenwashing
Unlike in almost any other country, Australia’s corporate greenwashing is being facilitated and encouraged by government. By Polly Hemming
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