Serving through conserving
Political conservatism increasingly trades in grievance and division, while neglecting the environment, equality, democracy, intergenerational responsibility and the social bonds that genuinely deserve conserving.
The migration maths falls apart when you look at bridging visas
Plans to slash the bridging visa population are central to Coalition and One Nation migration targets, but the backlog is complex and reducing it would deliver far less to net migration than their policies assume.
Not the place for a cathedral of sport
Canberra needs better health, education, debt management and city planning long before it needs a new stadium, especially on one of the national capital’s most valuable public sites.
Trump misses out on Nobel Prize again and imposes new sanctions on the International Criminal Court
The latest US sanctions target the International Criminal Court as an institution, raising the stakes for allies that profess support for international justice but may now have to defend it against Washington.
Navi Pillay’s Nobel is a vote of confidence in international law
Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize recognises a lifetime of work against apartheid, genocide and impunity, while affirming the international legal institutions now facing renewed political attack.
AI and the limits of sovereignty, Part Two: What would actually have to change
Sovereignty has never meant an unlimited right to impose harm beyond national borders. AI and other global risks may require that principle to be extended to new forms of transnational danger.
AI companies are preparing for catastrophe. Governments should be too
Leading AI companies are reportedly preparing for the fallout from a major cyberattack or other catastrophic event, intensifying calls for governments to regulate frontier AI before disaster forces their hand.
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What Australia should recover from Paul Keating
In this speech, James Curran reflects on Paul Keating’s foreign policy legacy and argues that Australia has lost the strategic confidence and autonomy needed to shape its own future in a changing Asia.
Australia’s International Development Policy three years on
Three years after Labor launched its international development policy, Australia is a more reliable donor than many of its peers. But an increasingly ambitious aid program still lacks clarity about its priorities, trade-offs and capacity to deliver.
Climate resilience is missing a critical piece: care
Climate adaptation plans routinely overlook childcare, aged care and other essential services, leaving families and unpaid carers to absorb the human and economic costs when climate disasters strike.
Trump’s power is fading, but his AI gamble could still reshape the world
Donald Trump remains globally consequential, but his ability to bend other governments and institutions to his will is diminishing. AI is the major exception, where deregulation could unleash risks that outlast his presidency.
Climate finance must transfer power, not just money
Climate finance will not deliver justice if communities receive project funding but remain excluded from decisions, governance and the long-term institutional support needed to sustain change.
Australia is building AI capacity without the ecosystem to use it
AI delivers productivity gains only when firms have the skills, management capability, infrastructure and industrial networks to put it to work. Australia’s weakness lies less in the technology than in the ecosystem around it.
AI and the limits of sovereignty, Part One: Why national rules are not enough
In the first of two parts, Robin Brown and Gregory Andrews examine why AI, climate change, pandemics and online markets repeatedly outrun national regulation, and what existing arms-control and international regimes can teach us about governing risks that cross borders.
Want affordable housing? Build up, not out
Home ownership has become increasingly unaffordable because land prices have increased so much under population pressure. The only way to restore affordable housing is to increase urban density.
Be careful – international students are listening
A South Asian perspective on migration politics, student confidence and the long-term value of Australian international education.
Environment: Humanity continues to foul its fragile nest
Seven of the nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as human pressure on the Earth accelerates, yet Australia continues to expand fossil fuel extraction while presenting itself as a climate leader.
The Congo, cobalt and our limited attention
Cobalt mining in the Congo exposes both the hidden human cost of technologies we rely on and the limits of a news culture that directs our attention towards some crises while leaving others almost invisible.
Australian island base's hidden US military role
Runway extensions, new military infrastructure and US planning are transforming the Cocos Islands into a strategically important forward operating base, with little public debate about the role Australia is assuming in a future conflict with China.
Coalition immigration policy: unbalanced, unachievable, unworthy
The Coalition’s migration plan promises dramatic cuts to net overseas migration and the temporary visa population, but key measures are inconsistent, administratively weak and in some cases beyond government control.
Labor should not take Green preferences for granted
Labor’s primary vote is weakening while Green preferences remain crucial in close contests. Albanese’s hostility to the Greens may become increasingly difficult to sustain.
How much aid is the Australian government giving to Palestine?
As wealthy countries cut aid, Australia remains far below the UN target for development assistance. Its support for Palestinian statehood is not matched by an adequate humanitarian response to Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Takaichi dominates Japanese politics, but her honeymoon may be short-lived
Sanae Takaichi has consolidated extraordinary political power, but the economic conditions that sustained the Abe era have changed and Japan’s fragmented opposition may not remain her only problem.
Israel's war against Gaza
Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.
Download the PDFLatest letters to the editor
Presiding instead of leading
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
A fantasy supported
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
Thank you for telling the secret
Pamela Curr — Brunswick
Inflation and interest rates: blame the government
Harry Audus — Arana Hills Qld
It's a lousy way to live
Hal Duell — Alice Springs
His Bobness, in a nutshell
Peter Webster — Launceston TAS
What is the answer? Productivity?
Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA
Australia must heed the Tassiriki Call
Ray Peck — Hawthorn Vic
