The world does not need more risk managers
Politics and institutions are increasingly governed by risk management, not leadership. But real leadership requires imagination, courage and the willingness to challenge false stories.
The antisemitism commission must hear the voices it excludes
The focus of Block 3 of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was on online hate but the commission did not hear about the hate directed at pro-Palestinian groups.
Australia's disability budget – a plea for recalibration
Australian governments can find billions to spend on weaponry that maims but not on the NDIS, which is facing budget saving measures that will have malign consequences.
The government asked charities what reform was needed; it has the answer
Reforms to strengthen protections for public interest advocacy by charities need to be legislated this year.
When census takers come calling, truth gets complicated
Indonesia’s economic census is meant to produce a snapshot of the nation, but distrust of officials and fears about privacy may blur the picture.
The Iran deal failed because it was built to break
The Islamabad Memorandum did not collapse simply because shipping attacks resumed. It failed because Washington and Tehran signed one text while understanding the bargain differently.
Disjointed journeys in the housing market
Following young people's pathways into (and out of) home ownership can cast light on their future possible trajectories and be useful for a forward-looking housing policy.
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Rubio’s attack on the ICC is a test for Australia
The Trump administration’s campaign against the International Criminal Court is a direct attack on accountability. Australia must not abandon its Rome Statute obligations.
The next Basin Plan is a disaster in the making
Members of the Murray-Darling Basin Knowledge Alliance explain why the original Basin plan was flawed and the proposed new plan will also fail to protect and restore the rivers of Murray-Darling Basin.
US foreign policy cannot look away from Sudan
Sudan’s genocide is receiving too little attention. The US must pressure the UAE to end its support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and help deliver urgent humanitarian aid.
Australia's pioneering anti-fascists
Ninety years after the Spanish Civil War began, the Australians who fought for the Spanish Republic remain largely excluded from official remembrance.
Australia's new architecture in the Pacific should include China
Vulnerable Pacific Island states should have the freedom to keep their options open rather than being locked into collective defence alliances that are erroneously based on containing China.
The President who converts loyalty into money and power
Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures show how political loyalty can be converted into money, access and market value while US institutions struggle to restrain conflicts of interest.
When democracy needs restraint
The essence of a liberal democracy is to let people whose lifestyles we disapprove of remain equal before the law. Such restraint is needed in the debate across Africa about LGBT rights.
The Iran lesson: why the US will lose a war with China
The US war on Iran exposed weaknesses in American power. Asia-Pacific allies should rethink defence settings built around US dominance and confrontation with China.
Productivity is the symptom. Rentier capitalism is the disease
Australia’s unfinished economic reform goal should be to make Australian capitalism work better by directing capital towards productive enterprise and away from dependence on asset inflation.
Those who endure and a question of priorities
Encounters with two Vietnamese men shaped by war raise an uncomfortable question for Australia’s older, wealthier generation: what are our priorities now?
A diary, a face, a name – and the humanity genocide tries to erase
Diaries, videos and personal testimony can cut through denial and abstraction, forcing the world to recognise the individual lives caught inside genocide.
Inaction on Tomago is a price Australia cannot afford
Keeping Tomago open is not just about one smelter. It is a test of whether Australia is prepared to invest strategically in manufacturing, energy and industrial capability.
More economic myths that are holding us back
Markets are often treated as if they naturally maximise public benefit, but they can just as easily reward speculation, weak care, low wages and ecological destruction.
From compliance to opportunity in AI: the key is capability
The Australian conversation about AI has settled around risk and regulation. Its economic promise will turn less on the rules Australia writes than on the capability built around the technology.
China’s rise demands a more serious Australian debate
Australia is right to protest China’s missile testing, but moral indignation and selective outrage are no substitute for a serious strategy on China’s growing power.
Future pharmacy should put patients and taxpayers first
A new report from The Grattan Institute recommends that responsibility for setting pharmacy remuneration be shifted to the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, in order to ensure Australians can safely and easily access essential medicines.
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
Spiritual hunger not met by western religions.
Michael Breen — Robertson NSWSpiritual hunger unmet by religin
It's the appalling lack of good faith
Hal Duell — Alice Springs
The predictable, inevitable decline of the US
Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Stunted immaturity
Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook
Productivity comes from investment.
Finn Ryan — Rockingham WA
Australia's evolving democracy
George Cloughley — Cronulla, NSW
Antisemitism Commission must repudiate genocide
Richard Llewellyn — Colo Vale
When is a private school not private school
Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA
