This Month
Chalmers’ reform summit will be 3 days of nothingness
The meeting will end in the usual whimper with a fleeting sideways glance at productivity, where business groups have already capitulated.
The rules of the crying game for politicians
Like stripes, the right to cry in public must first be earned. The people need to know their leader is otherwise brave and wise.
June
How the ABC can fix the ‘Lattouf problem’ for good
To uphold its charter of impartiality, the broadcaster should issue a general directive that no staff make controversial comments about contentious issues.
Chalmers is talking tax reform to avoid that which can’t be named
Any employer with the temerity to raise the forbidden topic at the talkfest won’t be invited to private drinks in the Treasurer’s suite afterwards.
Welfare for life: How a broken system is driving higher autism rates
It is a national tragedy that more than one in 17 Australian boys aged between five and nine are now diagnosed and tens of thousands are on the NDIS.
NIMBYism and construction costs are why you can’t own a home
The enabling of new planned cities and exurbs with greater density and outstanding amenities may be the best of the worst alternatives.
Are Labor’s industrial relations summits a union power grab?
The last time Labor held an “open dialogue” summit, it was merely a front for the ACTU to have the government endorse its legislative agenda.
May
Factional enemies of NSW Liberals reform are opposed to election wins
Those demanding that the three administrators leave are not helping Sussan Ley either, who has declared her determination to lead from the centre.
Australia has chosen the Labor way of dependency
If Australians knew the country was at a tipping point, they deliberately chose the tip. Becoming the poor white trash of Asia is now a distinct possibility.
April
Revenge of the doctors’ wives is why women vote teal
Professional Australian women have also embraced this new designer political hue; delighted not to have to vote Coalition and not willing to vote Labor either.
Magic pudding economics is about to make all of us poor
Australia is now ruled by short-term ethical dilemmas instead of concern for long-term consequences.
March
WGEA gender targets quack like quotas
Just as the critics of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency warned 20 years ago, what starts off as an aspiration has become a must-do for companies.
Mining’s promising future could come under union siege
At the heart of any Labor government lies the obligation to serve the interests of their parent company, the union movement, before the national interest.
Memo to Hugh Marks: DOGE-like efficiency’s the fix for ABC’s news bias
The new managing director forcing the newsroom to operate as productively as commercial rivals would lead to more stories, more views and more angles.
February
What Chalmers should say to save Washington from itself
The treasurer has a wonderful story to tell about free trade that might help save US exceptionalism from Fortress America.
Why Australia’s Fair Work Act changes hurt housing
The new rules are sinking jobs and businesses, and mean more expensive housing and an explosion in innovation that could create the very real risk of no building industry
January
I was sex discrimination commissioner, but Trump has a point about DEI
The old biases the women’s movement railed against so persuasively have been replaced by new biases, almost as unfair and opaque as those of the ancien régime.
March 2022
The West has found its backbone and purpose in Ukraine
After decades on the back foot, the West has been shamed into action. Now it should challenge Russia’s rotten state and hollow economy.
February 2022
Is the AGL dream team the PM’s climate saviour?
The bid to decarbonise Australia’s power giant could allow the government to let the market carry the transition risk and show the climate independents that private enterprise has it covered.
Let’s judge governments on their record, not the rumours
If we decide elections on faux character assassination, real accountability will be lost and the contest for government all the poorer.