AUKUS Pillar 1 is running on Australian cash and undeliverable promises
Australia is pouring billions into US and UK submarine industries while both countries struggle to meet their own naval needs. The risk is that AUKUS leaves Australia without the submarines it was promised.
Remembering John Timlin
John Timlin moved through theatre, publishing, politics, football and friendship with generosity, wit and an extraordinary instinct for helping other people realise their ambitions.
Anti-Modi protesters join forces, Japan leads ICC defence, toxic wildfire haze returns – Asian Media Report
Rahul Gandhi backs ‘Cockroach’ demonstrations, Trump’s world court attack seen as illegal, AI producing have and have-not countries, and China’s unique ancient art replica.
Pork barrelling: an urgent case for the NACC
Pork barrelling is not always corrupt, but discretionary grants create obvious risks of political favouritism and conflicts of interest. The NACC should provide clear guidance on where legitimate politics ends and corruption begins.
Want to pause frontier AI? Start with the chips
Frontier AI depends on a highly concentrated supply chain for advanced chips. That creates a practical chokepoint governments could use to slow new model training without giving up the benefits of existing AI.
La Bola Negra is about the Spanish Civil War – but is unmistakably about our present moment
A new film about queer lives erased by the Spanish Civil War feels newly urgent as Spain again debates sexuality, historical memory and the political legacy of Francoism.
Australia’s ‘digital duty of care’ was just introduced to parliament. So what’s in the bill?
The government's digital duty of care would require online platforms to prevent serious harm, while new safeguards aim to protect journalism, research, education and public-health content from overreach.
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The thirty years that were never normal
The post-war decades created an extraordinary period of rising wages, affordable homes and economic security. Those conditions are gone. Politics must stop promising their return and start deciding how prosperity is shared in a slower-growth world.
The cars that ate the world? Message from the Editor
As I flew out of Australia on the way to China this week, the big media screens in Sydney Airport featured a Financial Review story on high rotation. The headline screamed 'Chinese brands devour Australia's electric vehicle market'. It was accompanied by a shady illustration – the red and yellow Chinese flag with a blacked-out human figure superimposed across the top.
Let’s have a fair go on community development grants
Community infrastructure funding should be allocated according to need and merit, not electoral advantage. The latest Senate inquiry shows why Australia needs a cleaner system.
Trial by commentary is eroding the presumption of innocence
High-profile allegations increasingly trigger media commentary, corporate distancing and public judgments that can undermine the presumption of innocence long before any court has determined guilt.
Postpone the AI public offerings
AI companies are warning investors that frontier systems could create catastrophic or existential risks. Governments should impose licensing, independent testing and enforceable safeguards before those companies become even harder to restrain.
Protest is a right, not a licence
Across Australia, protest is increasingly conditional on permits, fees, insurance and official approval. Systems designed to facilitate peaceful assembly are becoming barriers to exercising a democratic right.
Australia’s home battery success points to an alternative to giant data centres
Australia’s home battery rollout shows how infrastructure can be distributed rather than concentrated. The same principle could reduce the pressure AI data centres place on power, water, housing and local communities.
Cutting migration won’t fix Australia’s housing problem
Australia’s housing crisis is the result of failing to build enough well-located homes, not excessive migration. Cutting migration instead risks weakening the economy while leaving the real problem untouched.
Wall of Tears: 18,457 names for the children killed in Gaza
A vast public artwork naming 18,457 children killed in Gaza has arrived in Sydney, confronting viewers with individual lives too easily reduced to statistics.
I’m sick of immigration being blamed for problems it doesn’t cause
Migration has become an easy target for voter frustration, but the promised cuts are unlikely to deliver what politicians claim – and could create serious economic problems of their own.
A childcare subsidy is not a universal childcare system
The 3-Day Guarantee gives more families access to subsidised early education and care, but universality requires something more fundamental: a guaranteed place and a government responsible for providing it.
A ceasefire has not stopped the destruction of southern Lebanon
Since the April ceasefire, Israeli forces have destroyed dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and built new military infrastructure across occupied territory.
US sanctions could kill the ICC. Its allies must now defend it
US sanctions could leave the International Criminal Court unable to bank, insure its staff, use essential technology or pay suppliers. Its member states now face a choice between defending the court or watching it be dismantled.
Human extinction 'now possible' doctors warn
A major new Lancet commission identifies nuclear war and malicious AI among threats capable of causing human extinction this century, with climate breakdown posing an escalating longer-term danger.
America’s gun violence survives on myths, profit and political cowardice
America’s response to gun violence is built on myths about policing, deterrence and constitutional rights, while political leaders continue to avoid the reforms most likely to save lives.
The great credit card surcharge swindle
The new card rules do not stop businesses passing on transaction costs. They simply require the advertised price to be the price customers actually pay.
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.
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The Sporting Spirit
Bernard Corden — Spring Hill Queensland 4000
Recovering Paul Keating
Jack Arnold — Armidale NSW 2350
Compulsory voting is a must
Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Capitalism to its bitter end ... for some
Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Shutting the gate after data centres have bolted
Fiona Colin — Melbourne
1933-2026 – a life
SHEELAH EGAN — ACT
The growth economy
jo Vallentine — coolbellup, W.A.
Realism rather than naval fantasy
Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041
