Coalition immigration policy: unbalanced, unachievable, unworthy
Coalition immigration policy: unbalanced, unachievable, unworthy
Peter Hughes

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.

Recent articles in Our Top Five Each Week

Labor should not take Green preferences for granted
John Menadue

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?
Helen McCue 

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.

Aged care is turning the family home into an entry fee
Kos Samaras

Aged care is turning the family home into an entry fee

Scarce aged care places increasingly favour families able to pay large accommodation deposits, drawing on housing wealth that may be the only debt-free asset shared across three generations.

There is no ‘debate’: them is us – Message from the Editor
Catriona Jackson

There is no ‘debate’: them is us – Message from the Editor

Another week, another migration policy. Except that makes it sound normal, and this nasty race to the bottom between those who purport to represent us is anything but.

The growing gap between Australia’s policies on nicotine and reality
Alex Wodak

The growing gap between Australia’s policies on nicotine and reality

Australia’s tobacco and vaping policies have helped create a vast illicit market while governments continue to pour money into enforcement and neglect cheaper, more effective harm reduction.

Five myths behind the Coalition’s migration crackdown
Alan Gamlen

Five myths behind the Coalition’s migration crackdown

The Coalition promises the biggest migration cut in Australian history, but its policy confuses arrivals with net migration, oversimplifies housing pressures and mistakes political symbolism for serious integration policy.

What of those who truly own football?
Martyn Pearce

What of those who truly own football?

Manchester City may face severe punishment if its financial breaches are upheld on appeal. But the people who will live with the consequences had no say in the decisions that brought the club here.

Lula can still win – but Brazil’s right has staged a formidable comeback
Mike Elk

Lula can still win – but Brazil’s right has staged a formidable comeback

Lula trails Flávio Bolsonaro heading into Brazil’s presidential runoff, after a campaign shaped by voter fatigue, hostile media coverage and sustained intervention from Trump’s political network.

Trump has hollowed out the State Department
Richard Broinowski

Trump has hollowed out the State Department

Donald Trump has sidelined professional diplomats, left embassies vacant and elevated ideological loyalists, weakening the State Department and making US foreign policy more coercive, erratic and dangerous for allies.

New India-US clash, why Xi mentions the war, China’s marriage revolution  – Asian Media Report
David Armstrong

New India-US clash, why Xi mentions the war, China’s marriage revolution – Asian Media Report

India is speaking more openly against Washington as the US and China settle into an enduring rivalry. Elsewhere, Thailand reels from deadly floods and Malaysia presses ahead with Myanmar deportations.

The One Nation vote is a map of government neglect
Kos Samaras

The One Nation vote is a map of government neglect

One Nation’s rise is often treated as cultural anger. New data point to something more concrete: poor health, financial insecurity and communities left without the services that make life work.

Three leaders, one reminder: moral courage is not dead in politics – Message from the Editor
Catriona Jackson

Three leaders, one reminder: moral courage is not dead in politics – Message from the Editor

When I wrote my very first editor's message 19 months ago, I said that P&I expected leaders to display the moral courage required if we are to tackle existential threats. I have been reminded how true this is every week. You expect courage and intelligence in those who purport to lead, and you make that crystal clear in the letters and articles we publish daily, and increasingly in the social media discussions they prompt.



More from Our Top Five Each Week

All earlier articles in Our Top Five Each Week (2753 more)

DateTitleAuthor
5 Sep 2026Australia cannot deny its share of the climate catastropheBob Brown
5 Sep 2026The danger of not knowing what you don’t know, part one: How Trump dismantled the US Institute of PeaceConnie Peck
4 Sep 2026The major parties collapsed. Why didn’t the Greens rise?Kos Samaras
4 Sep 2026The pieces I can't shake – message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
3 Sep 2026Private health insurance costs taxpayers $13 billion a year. What for?John Menadue
3 Sep 2026Hard New World: Can Australia survive America's decline?Richard Broinowski
2 Sep 2026AUKUS is a $368 billion gamble Australia does not need to takePeter Briggs
2 Sep 2026Migration is not the problem. Bad migration policy isAlan Gamlen
2 Sep 2026The China I was taught to fear – and the China I metJohn Frew
1 Sep 2026Remembering Gaza’s children should not be controversialSue Wareham
30 Aug 2026Might Kyrgios actually know what he is doing?Adrian Rosenfeldt
29 Aug 2026Why do problems with church governance persist?John Warhurst
29 Aug 2026Gaza’s reproductive crisis: The devastating toll on women and childrenRefaat Ibrahim
28 Aug 2026Afghanistan: Present, past and futureGareth Evans
28 Aug 2026Help us tell the real China storyCatriona Jackson
27 Aug 2026Debunking mass deportation hypeAbul Rizvi
27 Aug 2026How decades of bad policy broke public service payPaddy Gourley
26 Aug 2026Who is lobbying the Australian government? Most of the industry is hidden from viewChristian Slattery
26 Aug 2026Banks claw back credit card rewardsCrispin Hull
26 Aug 2026Anger and fear is real – but don't blame migrantsAlan Gamlen
25 Aug 2026Can AI fix Australia’s cost-of-living crisis? Part one: productivity and living standardsMichael Keating
25 Aug 2026Labor - the middle ground is not enough!Jack Waterford
22 Aug 2026A judgment that challenges the IHRA definition of antisemitismGreg Barns
22 Aug 2026Smuggled smokes and the benefits of cooperation with ChinaJocelyn Chey
21 Aug 2026Gen X is still driving down to The River – and finding it dryKos Samaras
21 Aug 2026Keeping P&I strong, brave and free – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
21 Aug 2026After 81 years of men, will the UN finally choose a woman?Connie Peck
18 Aug 2026AUKUS Pillar One, part one: The nuclear dilemma – strategic and operational concernsJon Stanford, Michael Keating
18 Aug 2026Are the rich and old to be pitched against the young and poor?Jack Waterford
18 Aug 2026The planetary emergency is here. The warnings are getting louderJulian Cribb
16 Aug 2026Chinese Australians a largely silent constituency in the AUKUS DebateWanning Sun
15 Aug 2026What courage looks like: David McBride walks freeGreg Barns
15 Aug 2026Of melons and militarism: A Japanese nationalist's verbal missile hits CanberraTessa Morris-Suzuki
15 Aug 2026Muslim defence pact, China-Indonesia naval drill, and giant reformer’s death – Asian Media ReportDavid Armstrong
14 Aug 2026Mental health is not a niche issue. It is the electorateKos Samaras
14 Aug 2026P&I is growing. Help us keep up the fight – Message from the EditorCatriona Jackson
14 Aug 2026ACT Attorney shows federal Labor how to resist a political pile-onAndrew Fraser
11 Aug 2026Migration targets need more than thought bubblesAbul Rizvi
11 Aug 2026Glen Hansard and the Ireland that learned to sing in its own voiceStewart Sweeney
10 Aug 2026China's man in Canberra – a hard act to follow?Glenda Korporaal
10 Aug 2026The UN cannot be left to starve while military spending soarsConnie Peck
7 Aug 2026Victorian Labor's collapse isn't about debt. It's about 2020Kos Samaras
6 Aug 2026What I saw in the West BankMary Robinson
6 Aug 2026India’s students reject the compliance machineRonan Sandhu
5 Aug 2026The hounding of Tony Fauci shows Trump’s ugly AmericaJohn Dwyer
5 Aug 2026Terrorism and the deliberate corruption of language and meaningJohn Menadue
4 Aug 2026Has China won the South China Sea?Geoff Raby
4 Aug 2026Pine Gap protest exposes Australia’s Indigenous rights hypocrisyHenry Reynolds
3 Aug 2026Time to reform Australia’s failed policy on smoking and vapingAlex Wodak
2 Aug 2026Trump has broken Zeus’ lawGeorge Browning
2 Aug 2026Labor should talk about the cost of capitalismStewart Sweeney
1 Aug 2026Strangers in their own land: Victorian Labor forgot the suburbs that made itKos Samaras
31 Jul 2026Labor needs debate, not managed unanimityKim Carr
30 Jul 2026Australia is wasting the skills migrants bringJohn Menadue
30 Jul 2026The myth of a joint Pine GapPeter Cronau
30 Jul 2026Labor’s controlled conference avoided the questions that matterMargaret Reynolds
29 Jul 2026One Nation’s student visa plan would kill a $55 billion export industryAbul Rizvi
29 Jul 2026Australia should not copy America’s China research retreatWanning Sun, James Laurenceson
28 Jul 2026China and Australia cooperation: is it too much to ask?Jocelyn Chey
27 Jul 2026Trump's campaign against progressivesChris Hedges
27 Jul 2026Seventy-five years on, the Refugee Convention still mattersJane McAdam
25 Jul 2026For President Trump, starting nuclear war is as easy as sending a tweetConnie Peck
24 Jul 2026The half-empty hall: why Gen X broke Australian politicsKos Samaras
23 Jul 2026Productivity growth is the best answer to populismMichael Keating
23 Jul 2026Double hedging in the Indo-PacificJohn McCarthy
23 Jul 2026The fantasy world of Hegseth's testosterone bombPaddy Gourley
23 Jul 2026What if Trump takes the nuclear option?Mark Beeson
22 Jul 2026What is the point of power without purpose?John Menadue
22 Jul 2026Australia’s China panic keeps colliding with realityRichard Cullen
21 Jul 2026AUKUS is being exposed, but will anything change?Julie Macken
21 Jul 2026The myth they sell and the values they betrayRobin Brown, Nick Bogiatzis
19 Jul 2026Concentrated power crushing freedom of expression in CambodiaAndrew Fraser
18 Jul 2026How the Royal Commission should define antisemitismGareth Evans
18 Jul 2026Gaza: from genocide to engineering genocideRefaat Ibrahim
18 Jul 2026How big is the wolf? China in the PacificJocelyn Chey
17 Jul 2026The antisemitism commission must hear the voices it excludesJepke Goudsmit
16 Jul 2026Rubio’s attack on the ICC is a test for AustraliaGreg Barns
16 Jul 2026The next Basin Plan is a disaster in the makingQuentin Grafton, Richard Kingsford, Sarah Wheeler, John Williams
16 Jul 2026Australia's pioneering anti-fascistsMichael Samaras
15 Jul 2026A diary, a face, a name – and the humanity genocide tries to eraseHayley Margolis
14 Jul 2026China’s rise demands a more serious Australian debateGeoff Raby
11 Jul 2026Trump's threats are no substitute for diplomacyEugene Doyle
11 Jul 2026What the Socceroos taught us about belongingMainul Haque
10 Jul 2026Gen Z is not ageing into the old AustraliaKos Samaras
9 Jul 2026Diversifying the critical minerals supply chainMarina Yue Zhang
8 Jul 2026How to address a democracy in retreatJohn Menadue
8 Jul 2026Aged care assessments need experts not algorithmsKathy Eagar, Paul Sadler
7 Jul 2026For Palestinians, diplomacy has become a weapon of delayRefaat Ibrahim
7 Jul 2026Labor’s housing tax reforms must be the beginning, not the endSaul Eslake, Adrian Pisarski
7 Jul 2026The pity of modern systemic corruption in politicsJack Waterford
7 Jul 2026After the heartbreak, what the penalty kick teaches us about courageStewart Sweeney
4 Jul 2026Why Frankenstein still matters in the age of AIAdrian Rosenfeldt
4 Jul 2026The United States cannot celebrate its birth by ignoring its foundationsWilliam J Grimm
3 Jul 2026Monetising grievance: in Australia it's harder than you thinkKos Samaras
3 Jul 2026The World Cup press conference is an ideological checkpointPatrick Gathara
2 Jul 2026The bamboo ceiling: Australia's business failure in AsiaJohn Menadue
1 Jul 2026Australia must have an ambitious research policy to underpin economic transformationKim Carr
1 Jul 2026Health regulator should reverse decision on IHRA definition of antisemitismSue Wareham, Paul Komesaroff
1 Jul 2026Electric vehicles are not a Chinese conspiracyFred Zhang
30 Jun 2026Enough is never enoughGeorge Browning

See the complete index — all 2803 articles in Our Top Five Each Week