3+ day, 14+ hour ago   (810+ words) It’s not very fashionable to be strongly pro-migration these days. The Albanese government continues to agonise over how to rejig the program to meet its budget targets – including Net Overseas Migration (NOM) falling from about 300,000 at present to 225,000 by 2027–28. The…...

3+ day, 14+ hour ago   (655+ words) Pauline Hanson is a woman who says she ‘doesn’t back down’. This week brought two high-risk demonstrations of heels firmly dug in to prove it....

3+ day, 23+ hour ago   (1117+ words) With New Zealand’s 11th election under the MMP proportional system due in November, it’s easy to take the influence of minor parties for granted. But just over 40 years ago, things were very different. In 1984, with the conservative National government of Robert…...

4+ day, 16+ hour ago   (571+ words) It’s been a year of devastating floods and fires around the world and has served as a stark reminder of the increasing ravages of climate change. Globally, however, progress to limit emissions is faltering, with economic pressures, international conflicts, the…...

5+ day, 2+ hour ago   (1015+ words) There have been two topics on which former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has been a persistent, passionate commentator in the three decades since his retirement. One was intensely local: Sydney urban planning. The other was as wide as the…...

5+ day, 10+ hour ago   (309+ words) Jim Chalmers on Wednesday will release projections from the government’s Intergenerational Report to bolster Labor’s argument against One Nation’s Super proposal....

6+ day, 2+ hour ago   (979+ words) The proposal sounds appealing but is deeply flawed. Australia’s high tobacco tax undeniably makes untaxed sales profitable. Yet this incentive is not by itself a cause. Whether a tax creates a thriving illicit market depends on the strength of the…...

6+ day, 15+ hour ago   (448+ words) Pauline Hanson’s attention-grabbing policy to give mortgage holders and renters is high populism while being – according to its many critics – low economics....

6+ day, 16+ hour ago   (976+ words) Should the federal government be constitutionally able to ban a group, resulting in stiff criminal penalties for its continuing members, even though the group has not committed any crime? This is the dilemma the High Court is facing with the…...