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Letters

Tasmania cannot beat the $1b cost of an AFL stadium

The political turmoil in Tasmania over the cost of the new AFL stadium has provoked readers to respond.

Latest

Healthscope hospital pic.
Analysis
Healthcare

‘Over my dead body’: Fight to keep Healthscope’s hospitals alive just getting started

Just what will it take to ensure the lights stay on at 37 hospitals employing 18,000 staff across Australia? We are about to find out.

  • by Colin Kruger
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Opinion
WordPlay

Why your chippy has a ‘toolbox’ and bullet trains ‘fang it’

The racing roots of “fanging it”, the double meanings of “rooted”, and the uniquely Australian “pub test”.

  • by David Astle
US President Donald Trump poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka in 2019.

Trump agrees to visit China after ice-breaking call with Xi

The US president said he had accepted an invitation to visit Beijing after the call with his China counterpart – their first since he returned to power in January.

  • by Michael Koziol and Lisa Visentin
Opinion
Pets

Our dogs have a human problem, and it’s becoming a pet hate

The NSW government is reviewing companion animal legislation for the first time in 20 years. But animals are not the issue here.

  • by Malcolm Knox
How much longer could I spend dodging posts about Trinny Woodall’s eyeshadow?

Instagram has decided I’m a sad old sack. It’s only partly true

An email had warned me I was locked out of my account due to “suspicious activity”. And like that, I lost milestones, breakdowns and my dog’s I Dream of Jeannie costume.

  • by Kate Halfpenny
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Andrew Alauni (black shirt) competes at a Run It Straight event.

Run It Straight is anarchy in the guise of sport

The law of the jungle rules in the collision competition.

  • by Darren Kane
Elon Musk and Donald Trump speak in the White House on March 14.

The Trump-Musk bandwagon was always going to crash, but it’s done so with impressive violence

In reality, few are surprised by the public divorce between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, a master showman who does not like to share the limelight.

  • by Michael Lind
Mokbel wearing a wig at the time of his arrest in Greece.
Analysis
Naked City

Crooks who zigged when they should have zagged

He remembered to floss but forgot to duck. Here’s our list of 10 of the underworld’s biggest blunders.

  • by John Silvester
Greg Swann is the AFL’s new footy supremo.
Opinion
AFL 2025

Four things the AFL’s new football supremo must do to fix the game

The AFL has been glacial in addressing a raft of issues. Here’s how Greg Swann can make footy better, in four simple steps.

  • by Jimmy Bartel
We need workplace policies that acknowledge and accommodate the realities of caregiving.
Opinion
Workplace

At home and work, women are burning out. Why are we letting it happen?

The uncomfortable truth is that we continue to rely heavily on the unpaid labour of women, without offering them adequate support or recognition.

  • by Lynda Chalmers
Enrolment rates for domestic students began to plateau in 2016, and recently have started to fall sharply.
Opinion
Careers

Want a secure, high-paying job? Don’t expect university to get you there

If I were finishing high school today, would a university degree offer the same value proposition it did a decade ago? Increasingly, it appears not.

  • by William Bennett
I understand your resentment. I just think it is better directed elsewhere.

I think my colleague is exploiting a work policy. Is my resentment fair?

I know it can be deeply frustrating to encounter and be affected by unfairness in the workplace, but I would reflect on who is really to blame.

  • by Jonathan Rivett
Jim Chalmers
Opinion
GDP

Someone’s doing the heavy lifting – and it’s not the government (any more)

Gold diggers aren’t the only ones stepping up as the government dusts its hands off. And that’s not a bad thing.

  • by Millie Muroi
Illustration by Dionne Gain

Chalmers has earned the right to snub the Coalition, but here’s why he shouldn’t

If Jim Chalmers wants to be remembered as a reforming treasurer he needs to sometimes work with the Coalition. That should start now.

  • by James Massola
PERTH, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 05: Aziz Behich of the Socceroos celebrates scoring a goal with teammates during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round Three AFC Asian Qualifier match between Australia Socceroos and Japan at Optus Stadium on June 05, 2025 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Perfectly imperfect: Unlikely hero takes Socceroos to brink of another World Cup

Thursday night’s clash with Japan grimly tested the patience of all those who watched it. Then it was richly rewarded with Aziz Behich’s 90th-minute goal.

  • by Vince Rugari
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Letters
Letters

Discipline out of school matter for the parents

Age readers react to the proposal that principals be able to act on students who misbehave out of school hours.

Kim Kardashian will give evidence in the trial.
Opinion
Body image

Kim Kardashian’s $148 pierced nipple bra is not a stunt – it’s empowerment

I’ve suffered through a real double-piercing, now every woman can access that feeling of empowerment without the pain.

  • by Cat Woods
A woman holds an Israeli flag with red paint on it to resemble blood as protesters block a main road during a rally calling for a hostages deal on September 13, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

My grandmother fled the Holocaust. Now it’s time for Jews to abandon Israel

Until Israeli politics can radically reorient itself, it’s time to construct a vision of Jewishness that’s independent of the state that pretends to act on our behalf.

  • by Josh Szeps
Revenue declines at Star’s Gold Coast property also partly reflected seasonal issues.
Opinion
Casinos

The $400 million sting that could snuff out Star for good

After enjoying a moment of calm, the walls are closing in again for the casino operator as the prospect of a hefty fine threatens the future of its Queensland and NSW casinos.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Suspended students interpret the experience as a message that they don’t belong at the school anymore.
Opinion
Education

School suspensions beget more suspensions. It’s rare that they fix student behaviour

When I worked as a school principal, literally nothing in the job robbed me of more sleep than when I had to suspend students.

  • by Adam Voigt
Is the new US Visa ban the beginning of a new level of interference from America?

Could Anthony Albanese be caught up in Trump’s new US visa ban?

A hidden announcement from the State Department about consequences for foreigners “complicit in censoring Americans” has sparked a new level of global interference not seen from America since the end of the Cold War. Peter Hartcher asks, is this the beginning of a new level of interference?

  • by Peter Hartcher
Your fancy new job title may sound impressive, but it might actually be complete nonsense.
Opinion
Jobs

Why your fancy new job title is probably a lie

We don’t want a world where career progression is measured by a garbled collection of words on your email signature instead of by the work that you actually do.

  • by Tim Duggan
Donald Trump, then-president-elect, and Elon Musk at the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in November.
Opinion
Elon Musk

They were meant for each other, but Trump and Musk were always going to blow up like a SpaceX rocket

It was a match made in MAGA heaven – the world’s richest man with the world’s most powerful. But Elon Musk was never, and never could be, No.1. The break was inevitable.

  • by Bruce Wolpe
US President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill

Master of deception: How Trump is fudging the numbers

The costs of Donald Trump’s proposed One Big Beautiful Bill are being significantly understated by a Republican accounting trick.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Lee Jae-myung on the campaign trail this week.

He’s survived slums, sweatshops and a stabbing. Now this leader has to survive Donald Trump

When the US president launched his global trade war in April, South Korea was hamstrung, frozen by political turmoil. And a key industry was in the firing line.

  • by Lisa Visentin
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The class of 2030: Mitchell Woods, Ryley Smith, Isaiya Katoa and Lehi Hopoate all feature in Andrew Johns’ long-term vision for NSW.

The budding Blues playmakers who will dominate Origin’s future

The NSW playmaking spine for 2030 will have talent, skill and speed to burn – provided we let these young stars develop at their own pace.

  • by Andrew Johns
“You can’t handle the truth,” bellowed Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men.

You can’t handle the truth about Victoria’s secret school cuts

What did we learn from Education Minister Ben Carroll’s appearance before budget estimates? As it turns out, quite a bit.

  • by Chip Le Grand

The Liberals are not just going through a phase – this is a full-blown identity crisis

The party is not in good health. Sussan Ley’s main challenge is to ensure the party understands just how much trouble it is in.

  • by Shaun Carney
Rum’un, the Tasmania Devils’ club mascot is at risk of extinction because of dramas in the state’s parliament.
Analysis
AFL 2025

Why some AFL club presidents hope political convulsions sink the Tassie Devils

Should the Devils collapse, the $360 million designated to Tassie over a decade will remain in AFL coffers, and the drafts of 2027, 2028 and 2029 will be preserved.

  • by Jake Niall
Letters
Letters

Not representative at all of political position

The defection of a senator from the Greens to Labor has sparked readers’ reaction.

Ukrainian drones destroy Russian bombers
Opinion
Drones

Ukrainian drone strikes show up Australia’s out-of-date defences

With a focus on AUKUS and averting risk, Australia risks fighting the last war rather than the next one.

  • by Mick Ryan
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock.

Is the RBA a glass-half-full type of place? Its next rate decision will tell us

The national economy grew by a less-than-expected 0.2 per cent in the first three months of the year. At face value, the figure would seem to strengthen the case for a rate cut.

  • by Shane Wright and Millie Muroi
Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

In this fragile union of colossal egos, it was always going to end in tears

It is not surprising Donald Trump and former “first buddy” Elon Musk would finish their relationship in a flame-throwing blaze, given both missed out on genes that carried understatement or restraint.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
US President Donald Trump with Elon Musk outside the White House in March.

Musk tests his political clout now he’s no longer Trump’s ‘first buddy’

Less than 100 hours after leaving the Trump administration, Elon Musk is out to muzzle the president’s top domestic priority. This could get ugly.

  • by Michael Koziol
Callan Ward.
Opinion
AFL 2025

The footy kiss that said everything about an AFL warrior

Callan Ward is loved, and this adoration from those who inhabit the game is rare. Players so tough are rarely as kind and empathetic in equal measure.

  • by Bob Murphy
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US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Trump’s stupid obsession will unleash pain on America

Donald Trump’s ridiculous trade wars are part of his plan to “Make America Great Again”. But the latest OECD forecast shows the US will be hit much harder than most of the rest of the world.

  • by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Hailey Bieber, 27, launched her Rhode beauty brand in 2022.

Hailey Bieber’s ‘glazed donut’ is a $1.5 billion gamble

The new owner of Hailey Bieber’s skincare company has a strong track record of connecting with Gen Z. But there are risks to this deal, the most significant of which is Bieber herself.

  • by Andrea Felsted
It may seem like Labor’s new proposal might be taxing you twice, but that’s not the case.

Will the new super tax mean my franking credits are taxed twice?

While it might seem like Labor’s new proposal could be taxing you twice, that’s not exactly how the system works.

  • by Noel Whittaker
You can get financial support for aged care if you have limited income.
Opinion
Aged care

Aged care costs are soaring but you can still do it on a budget. Here’s how

Not everyone moving into aged care has a house they can sell, or superannuation to draw down, so here’s how to manage it on a budget.

  • by Rachel Lane
Anthony Albanese and Greens defector Dorinda Cox.

Dorinda Cox’s party switch highlights the defect in political defections

If a politician jumps ship midterm, voters are more than entitled to look askance at the move, even to feel outraged.

  • The Age's View

In one awful decision, Albanese has revealed his do-nothing plan

If you want to govern effectively, you have to be prepared to stand up to powerful interest groups. It’s now clear Albanese isn’t prepared to do that.

  • by Ross Gittins
Anthony Albanese and Greens defector Dorinda Cox.

Albanese is riding high. Why did he take on a senator with so much baggage?

Dorinda Cox’s move to the government benches is a big risk for Anthony Albanese and Labor, and it could go very wrong.

  • by James Massola
Hidden black mould revealed after renters pulled a couch from the wall, submitted to the Facebook page Don’t Rent Me.
Analysis
Science

How bad science warped our ideas about black mould

Fear of toxic black mould infects public consciousness. Should you panic about its health impacts?

  • by Angus Dalton
Elon Musk is inescapable in tech.

I’ve spent time with tech oligarchs – you have no idea just how weird they are

Like the rocket ships Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are shovelling money into, the tech being prioritised by Silicon Valley’s billionaires isn’t designed to save us. It’s meant to save them.

  • by Cory Alpert
There is a power imbalance between academics and young students.
Opinion
University

I thought dating my uni tutor made me special. For him, it was a pattern

At the time, it didn’t feel particularly sordid, given there were only a handful of years between us in age. But later, I began to reflect on the inequity of power.

  • by Madison Griffiths
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President Donald Trump.
Opinion
Science

Trump’s war on innovation is a golden opportunity for Australia, if we’re smart enough to take it

Australia could become a hub for world-class research. But our leaders must act decisively, and quickly.

  • by Luke Heeney and Sarah Davis
Crypto ATMs are becoming a trap for older Australians targeted by scammers.
Opinion
Scams

Depositors beware: Crypto ATMs are the newest way to scam you

Cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up like mushrooms, with more than 1800 operating across the country now – and organised crime has caught on to it.

  • by Elizabeth Knight
Long-lasting wealth is built not from the thrill of the chase, or the excitement of reaching new highs, but from the quiet conviction to keep going through it all.

Feel hopeless with money? You might be in the ‘messy middle’

Long-lasting wealth is built not from the thrill of the chase, or the excitement of reaching new highs, but from the conviction to keep going through it all.

  • by Paridhi Jain
FILE - In this photo released by Irkutsk regional Gov. Igor Kobzev’s Telegram channel on Sunday, June 1, 2025, plumes of smoke are seen rising over the Belaya air base in eastern Siberia after a Ukrainian drone attack. (Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev Telegram channel via AP, File)

Anger over drone attack shows Ukraine hit Russia where it hurt

The brazen operation exploited a key Russian vulnerability – and showed Moscow and Washington that Kyiv can still disrupt Vladimir Putin’s war plans.

  • by Francesca Ebel, Serhiy Morgunov, Alex Horton and Siobhan O'Grady

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/opinion-1ql