How big should Australia be?

Immigration is back at the centre of federal politics – again. The Coalition’s new leadership is arguing Australia needs lower numbers, tougher rules, and a clearer cap on how many people we bring in each year. It’s a familiar conversation. In the lead up to the 2024 election, Peter Dutton tried …

Beer, gas and capital gains tax

In Canberra, a fight both major parties have tried to avoid is back. The Senate is examining the capital gains tax discount – the Howard-era change that slashed tax on asset profits and helped turn housing into a national obsession. It’s long been considered untouchable, especially after Labor’s …

Speak the truth, pay the price: Australia's broken whistleblower laws

Whistleblowers have exposed some of Australia’s biggest scandals – from Robodebt and misconduct in the banking sector, to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan – stories that often only come to light because someone inside decides to speak up. But for the people who do, the personal cost can be devast…

“We’re winning so much”: Trump’s message to Americans

Full of hubris and bravado, the State of the Union Address was classic Trump – the showman who knows how to work a crowd.  In the chamber there was plenty of love, but on the streets of America the President’s popularity has been falling. Today, US journalist Steve Clemons, editor at large of The…

Is it time for Ukraine to cut a deal?

When Russia struck Ukraine four years ago it kicked off the first full scale war in Europe since World War II. Now, as Russia knocks out Ukraine’s power grid, and people freeze at temperatures of below minus 20 – is it time for President Zelensky to cut a deal? Today, Kateryna Argyrou Chair of th…

Could the Andrew scandal bring down the King?

By the time a wide-eyed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was slumped in the back of a Range Rover on his way to the police station last week, the reality had hit home. The man who was once a prince, watching his life crumble before his eyes. Now, as the world reels from Andrew’s arrest, and the royals s…

Why Elon’s million satellites could spell disaster

Elon Musk and his SpaceX team want to launch up to one million satellites as part of a proposal to power massive data centres in space. They pitch it as a clean, green alternative to regular data centres. But as Earth’s orbit becomes increasingly crowded, what will Elon’s mega constellation do to …

Inside the Coles and Woolworths 'fake' discounts case

Coles and Woolworths are now in court. The case, brought by the consumer watchdog, came on the back of hundreds of angry posts on X, TikTok and Reddit from shoppers archiving the supermarkets giants’ prices – and accusing them of gaming their “Down Down” and “Prices Dropped” promotions. The ACCC …

Why Howard’s battlers are turning to Hanson

This week Pauline Hanson declared there are “no good Muslims” and renewed her call for a ban on people from Gaza and other so-called “terror hotspots”. After a backlash from across the community she has since walked back her comments on Muslim Australians, but her track record for stoking racial di…

“Yarning with Youth”: our new Commissioner for Aboriginal kids

Sue-Anne Hunter has had a long career which started as a social worker and reached the heights of Commissioner for Victoria’s Truth Telling Commission - The Yoorook Justice Commission. Now she’s been appointed as Australia’s first National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Chil…