comment

Environment December 13, 2025

Ed Husic
Courage needed on gas policy

ANALYSIS: “We need better local gas pricing For Australia, that means doing something hitherto unthought of: telling multinationals that the cost of doing business here is to provide better prices for Australians. These firms can then make up the difference through their export price.”

Environment December 13, 2025

Ed Husic
Courage needed on gas policy

ANALYSIS: “We need better local gas pricing For Australia, that means doing something hitherto unthought of: telling multinationals that the cost of doing business here is to provide better prices for Australians. These firms can then make up the difference through their export price.”

Politics December 13, 2025

John Hewson
Political highs and lows

Before reflecting on the peaks and troughs of Australian politics in this tumultuous year, I want to emphasise the significantly more challenging environment, both globally and domestically. The challenges have largely arisen from Donald Trump finding …

Education December 13, 2025

Carolyn Fraser
The trashing of State Library Victoria

My 17-year career at State Library Victoria ended two years ago, after months of white-anting by management and the most miserable time of my working life. When news of the library’s most recent restructure plan appeared in the press, I received a …

Comment December 6, 2025

Stan Grant
Understanding what separates Russia from the West

I make it a rule to try to look beyond orthodoxy, to eschew certainty. In my experience, certainty is for fascists and fools. Even that which I hold dear and true, such as my faith, I enrich with doubt and struggle. I believe a questioning, open mind …

Education December 13, 2025

Anonymous
Confronting harassment in uni STEM courses

Sitting in my mandatory coding workshop, I felt a spray on the back of my neck. As the thick smell of men’s deodorant spread and sank into my clothes, I saw my tutor slip the can back into his bag before sitting down next to me. I stayed quiet, unsure …

Defence December 6, 2025

Michael G. Smith
How to restore Australia’s national security

A new word has recently been added to Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary, which means it can be used officially in our lexicon – even by the ABC. “Enshittification” is self-explanatory. Coined to describe the modus operandi of the high-tech …

paul bongiorno

Politics December 12, 2025

Explaining Labor’s travel scandal

About once a decade, travel expenses and politicians’ access to entitlements crash their way into the headlines, usually to the discomfort of a government as the opposition ratchets up pressure for a ministerial scalp. The latest uproar was sparked …

Economy December 5, 2025

The PM’s backyard wedding

Anthony Albanese’s official honeymoon ends this weekend, but his honeymoon with the electorate is continuing, according to the latest opinion polls, boosted by his opponents’ disarray and the government’s significant wins since the May election. Albanese …

Politics November 28, 2025

Inside Murray Watt’s environmental deal

Parliament’s last sitting week for the year was an intense guessing game, as Environment Minister Murray Watt haggled with competing sides on how best to reform Australia’s environment laws. Watt had put everything on the line politically, creating …

editorial

Editorial December 13, 2025

Pete Hegseth and the AUKUS folly

The man who sets Australia’s defence policy is an alcoholic former Fox News commentator who is known for his gross financial mismanagement and on at least one occasion paid a settlement to a woman he was accused of raping.

Editorial December 6, 2025

Bruce Lehrmann’s big lie

Bruce Lehrmann is a liar. For years now, he has lied about the night he raped Brittany Higgins. He has made a small industry from this lie. He has sold it to television networks, in exchange for cocaine and sex. He has laundered it in the Murdoch press, where he has been invited to mock his victim and her husband.

Editorial November 29, 2025

Barnaby Joyce’s political grey area

You can say this about Barnaby Joyce: it took him eating dinner in Pauline Hanson’s parliamentary office to realise how much he resembles a steak cooked on an open sandwich press. What the man lacks in integrity, he makes up for in shallow symbolism: the cow was reared by Gina Rinehart.

cartoon

  December 13, 2025

  December 6, 2025

  November 29, 2025

  November 22, 2025

  November 15, 2025

  November 8, 2025

letters

Letters December 13, 2025

Our democracy

Major party politicians have two constituencies (Jason Koutsoukis, “Exclusive: PM’s office directs lobbyists to use encrypted, disappearing messages”, December 6-12). The voter is the constituency in front of them, bombarded with advertising for …

Letters December 12, 2025

Richo’s own goal

It is revealing that all the effusive praise for the late Graham Richardson (Jason Koutsoukis, “The Richo pact: How Graham put Albanese in charge”, November 29–December 5) came from Labor mates; that is, politicians united in pragmatism and timidity, …

Letters November 29, 2025

Insurance fears

Joëlle Gergis (“Can we handle the truth?”, November 22-28) rues the failure of the latest climate COP to prevent the fossil fuel industry destroying our planet. Günther Thallinger, a board member of Allianz, one of the world’s largest insurance …