The attack on Helen Haines must change how Australia does politics
Australia needs a politics that can withstand fierce disagreement without making cruelty a form of entertainment or intimidation a condition of public service. Helen Haines should have been able to go to work and return home safely. That is the starting…
A Scam in Plain Sight: How Foreign Facebook Pages Turn Political Outrage Into Cash
Patriotic branding, attractive AI presenters and fabricated scandals can all serve the same business. Investigations across Australia, Britain and the United States show how Facebook page operators turn attention into income, with political debate caught…
Clash of the Titans: Hastie, Ben Roberts-Smith and One Nation
Andrew Hastie deserves credit for standing by his sworn evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case. One Nation’s attacks have exposed a disturbing idea of loyalty: that protecting a celebrated soldier’s reputation should matter more than a…
Keeping Mamdani Away From 9/11 Won’t Bring New York Together
The campaign to exclude New York’s mayor from September 11 commemorations raises a question larger than his politics: can a city mourn together without agreeing on who should govern it? New Yorkers should be able to disagree with Zohran Mamdani and stand…
Boys Aren’t Being Feminised. They’re Being Monetised.
The right blames feminism for pushing boys towards the manosphere. The harder truth is that technology companies and online influencers have learned how to turn male insecurity, loneliness and anger into profit. A boy says he feels invisible. Politicians…
Georgia Tree Secret Harbour by-election: lessons for Labor
Standfirst: The Georgia Tree Secret Harbour by-election was a difficult contest and a sharp wake-up call for Labor. The party campaigned hard, but early message control, questions about residency and wider economic frustration made it harder for voters…
To Strike or Not to Strike: When Student Protests Becomes a Real-World Lesson in Democracy
Students were told they should be in classrooms rather than protesting Pauline Hanson. But when young people peacefully engage with politics, scrutinise elected representatives and speak about decisions that will shape their future, are they stepping…
Is Roger Cooked, or Is He Cooking?
Roger Cook inherited one of the hardest acts in Australian politics to follow. Yet three years later, Western Australia is building new railways, roads, hospitals, housing and energy infrastructure while maintaining comparatively strong finances. He…
The Ten Commandments vs One Nation: Does the Party Practise the Christian Values It Appeals To?
One Nation often presents itself as a defender of traditional Australian and Christian values. That makes the Ten Commandments a useful ethical test—not because a political party should behave like a church, but because a movement invoking traditional…
Building Better AI: How Albanese’s Data Centre Rules Could Support Innovation, Communities and the Environment
Artificial intelligence is often discussed as though it exists somewhere in the digital ether. We see chatbots, generated images and automated services appear on our screens, but rarely see the enormous industrial infrastructure operating behind them.…