Cabinet papers from 2004 show the government was being forced to consider many of the issues that continue to dominate political minds. The stark difference was financial discipline then. The second Trump era will test reform mettle now.
Russia’s folly is pushing its former Soviet satellites further away. The Azerbaijan President is right to have rejected Vladimir Putin’s obfuscation over the shooting down of an airliner.
Anthony Albanese has done the right thing stepping in to pull rank on the Victorian Labor Party over its unseemly attack on Peter Dutton and his wife. It’s also time to focus on policy, not personality.
Jim Chalmers’ mission: to convince voters Labor has not lost its way with cost-of-living pressures front and centre in voters’ minds.
The late US president went from being unknown outside his state to becoming a tireless worker in and out of the White House.
In the end, cricket is a game of numbers and the most satisfying statistic from this Test was delivered by fans.
The embrace of a more Eurocentric view might please the bureaucrats in the UN but it is not what has defined us as a nation, and likely not what voters will put up with for very long.
Changed mindset not more aid needed to break cycle of violence
Farmers have every right to feel put upon to satisfy the unrealistic demands of city dwellers divorced from the reality of where the electricity they demand actually comes from.
China’s ambassador to Australia’s assertions set out a transactional give-and-take approach to diplomacy: Canberra gives what China wants on foreign policy priorities and Beijing will take Australian products
New Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin’s colleagues must fall in behind his agenda and leave behind the divisions under which John Pesutto’s ambitions to become premier evaporated.
Labor’s danger is that Middle Australia will conclude the government has lost control of the economy.
It is imperative that the West ensures that the replacement for the monstrous Assad dictatorship is not another basically terrorist mob that retains fealty to al-Qa’ida.
Konstas’s unorthodox approach will give tragics plenty to debate. Does the ramp shot really belong in Test stroke play? No doubt it was a fitting way to declare his purpose on the biggest stage of all.
Disaster response did much to cement the nation’s place in Asia.
Protest party promises to wreak havoc if given the balance of power.
Unless they can sort out their own internal divisions, the Victorian Liberals will not be the potent force they need to be. And voters will continue to be the biggest losers.
That spirit is alive in Bethlehem, where an enterprise of traditional handmade glass decorations – ‘handblown by Muslims, painted by Christians, shipped by Israel’ – is thriving. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah Sameach and happy holidays to all.
Economic benefits of infrastructure must outweigh cost to taxpayers.
Solomons send Canberra on a merry Christmas dance over funding.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/page/5