Wednesday 14 February is a big day in Indonesia. The nation goes to the polls, and a new President will be elected. A popular and successful President will be succeeded by one of three candidates, none of whom is especially popular or generates much enthusiasm among voters.

Late yesterday the final part 2 of the government’s Closing Loopholes industrial relations bill was passed by the Senate.

Australia’s Parliament is set to pass a new set of reforms to the Fair Work Act and other labour laws, that would enshrine certain protections for workers against being contacted or ordered to perform work outside of normal working hours. This “Right to Disconnect” is an important step in limiting the steady encroachment of work

Politicians are often accused of backflipping when they change their minds.

On Wednesday, 31 January 2024, Richard Denniss and Allegra Spender MP addressed the National Press Club for a debate on the Stage 3 tax reforms. **Check against delivery** [See below for transcripts] Tax is good. Tax is an investment in our society and the highest taxed countries in the world also happen to be the

Unless minimum employment standards for care and support workers using digital labour platforms are guaranteed, decades of slow progress towards proper recognition of care work and equal pay for women could be undone.

Australians right across the country are calling out for cost-of-living relief, but the government doesn’t want to risk any measures that will increase inflation—keeping interest rates higher for longer, or worse, pushing them up even further.

“Who in God’s name does he think he is?”

The industrial reforms system needs important repairs, writes Dr Fiona Macdonald – no more, no less.

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.

With a Trump resurgence looming, the Australian Government’s fixation on AUKUS should not come at the expense of what we are frequently assured is one of the core components of the US-Australia alliance: shared democratic values, writes Dr Emma Shortis.

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.

As the anniversary of the Jan 6 insurrection approaches, what are the implications of the crisis of American democracy, or a more successful coup attempt, for the rest of us? With a few important exceptions, there is startlingly little written – in Australia, internationally and even within the United States – on the “what if”

For decades, the Grinch has had a terrible reputation as a Christmas-hating monster who railed against the festivities of the season and stole the townspeople’s presents, food and decorations in an attempt to stamp out the whole technicolour carnival.

It’s a bitter irony.

In the United States, one of the men vying for the presidency faces 91 criminal charges in four concurrent criminal cases.

Labour hire workers can no longer be paid less than employees doing the same job in their workplaces as a result of industrial reforms passed by Parliament. However, other important reforms to close loopholes in employment laws and stop exploitation of workers and avoidance of standards won’t be voted on in Parliament until next year.

Australia has one of the weakest tax systems for redistribution among industrial nations, and as Dr Jim Stanford writes, the Stage 3 tax cuts will make it worse.

As the Budget outlook improves, with most of the benefits of Stage 3 tax cuts going to those earing over $120,000, over 80% of workers will be short-changed

The United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai has played out like a dystopian satire. Hosted by a petrostate, the official facilitator of the proceedings, Sultan Al Jaber, is also the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company—if you scripted it, it wouldn’t be believable.

The hydrogen dream has become widespread in the Australian climate conversation: apparently, with it, we’re going to decarbonise Japan, Korea, and the world! Is this ambitious vision a genuine step towards a greener future or merely a diversion from ongoing fossil fuel expansion?

Old-fashioned climate change denialism is the risk you run when you hold an international climate conference in a Middle Eastern petrostate and hand the reins to an oil baron, writes Stephen Long, but in practice, is Australia really much better?

‘Thylacine of the sea’ at risk of extinction this summer if salmon farming doesn’t cease in Macquarie Harbour

Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws, and have profound implications for global climate action, writes Stephen Long.

In parliament last week, responding to the temporary blocking of a legislative favour to Santos, Foreign Minister Penny Wong berated the opposition. The bill – which did eventually pass – is designed to facilitate massive expansion of the gas industry.

Australia’s lack of a research integrity watchdog leads to wasted funds, misdirected efforts and risks to public health.

The wage rises for low-paid workers on awards and those working in aged care helped drive the strong wage growth.

“You know what you’ve been doing,” said Foreign Minister and Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Penny Wong, wagging her finger at the Opposition senators across the Chamber.

The RBA made it clear one group continues to do well, and continue to spend – and they are also the ones who are about to get a massive tax cut.