News
Angus Taylor’s troubles go international, in brawl with Naomi Wolf
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Controversial American feminist writer Naomi Wolf, in an extended phone call (which she videoed) with a Taylor staffer, demanded an apology from the energy minister over his inaccurate claim they’d been corridor near-neighbours at Oxford in 1991 and for implying that she’d campaigned against Christmas.
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Medevac repealed after government comes to secret arrangement with Jacqui Lambie
Lambie had indicated previously that her vote for the repeal would be conditional on the government meeting a condition which she would not specify. She suggested security matters were involved.
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Lessons on terrorism and rehabilitation from the London Bridge attack
OPINION & ANALYSIS: In a deeply tragic irony, the two victims who lost their lives to a man who made a mockery of their idealism were assisted by two others who appear to have genuinely benefited from prison rehabilitation programs.
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Chinese ‘spy’ case may be the greatest challenge to Australian security since Petrov – but caution is needed
OPINION & ANALYSIS: If this alleged attempted interference by China is proved – if it is indeed provable – this would rise to the level of an unacceptable attempt to subvert Australia’s democratic processes.
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Frydenberg turns up heat on Westpac chiefs as bank issues a ‘response plan’ to scandal
Westpac is accused of 23 million breaches of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing law, with the alleged breaches include transfers of money to the Philippines for child sex exploitation.
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Paul Keating attacks media for ‘pious belchings’ over China
Former prime minister Keating attacked The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in particular for their China coverage.
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Mr Morrison, I lost my home to bushfire. Your thoughts and prayers are not enough
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Fire officials warn that this week's catastrophic fire conditions are "where people die". Climate change has arrived, and politicians should drop the meaningless rhetoric.
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Drought and climate change were the kindling, and now the east coast is ablaze
OPINION & ANALYSIS: These unprecedented fires are an indication that a much-feared future under climate change may have arrived earlier than predicted. The week ahead will present high-stakes new challenges.
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Australia is spending less on diplomacy than ever before – and its influence is suffering as a result
OPINION & ANALYSIS: The aspirations for our diplomacy must be upgraded beyond the bare minimum. Ten years on from Diplomatic Deficit, Australia must resist the magical thinking that foreign affairs and trade somehow happen by themselves.
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Attorney-General targets Market Forces in push against environment groups
Attorney-General Christian Porter singled out Market Forces in a Monday statement that said he was co-ordinating advice across several portfolios on what could be done to protect resource businesses from such activism.
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Labor looks to boost protections for workers in insecure jobs: Albanese
With job insecurity on the rise and widespread casual employment, many people had unpredictable income and hours and few protections. “These Australians deserve a greater sense of security”, says opposition leader.
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Victorian police now have ‘shoot to kill’ powers when cars are used as weapons: here’s why this matters
OPINION & ANALYSIS: There are clearly risks in shooting at a moving vehicle. Unlike what happens in films, bullets generally do not stop moving trucks or cars.
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Australia needs a Media Freedom Act. Here’s how it could work
OPINION & ANALYSIS: The imperative to protect press freedom is fundamental and deserving of general recognition and protection. In light of these concerns, our international obligations and the rule-of-law concerns for legal clarity, consistency and proportionality, it is time for a Media Freedom Act.
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Morrison says China knows ‘where Australia is coming from’, after meeting Chinese vice-president
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters he’d made the point ‘which was well received, that Australia is an independent, sovereign nation’.
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Australia is facing a looming cyber emergency, and we don’t have the high-tech workforce to counter it
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Nick Warner, the new director general of the Office of National Intelligence, has sounded the alarm about Australia’s lack of preparedness to counter cyber-threats.
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Define the boundaries in new phase of Australia-China relationship: Penny Wong
‘It is inevitable that Australia will make more decisions that China doesn’t like,’ said Labor's Penny Wong.
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View from The Hill: Another Australian PM finds a phone call with Trump can land you on the sticky paper
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Though the call between Trump and Morrison does not indicate any Australian government wrongdoing, it shows how the PM’s bromance with the president brings its political embarrassments.
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Keep calm and Carry On Boris?
OPINION & ANALYSIS: After Boris suspended parliament, I began to think that maybe beneath the frenzied manner he was actually a skillful operator who was going to bend the rules to buy time until he could call an election that he thought he could win. But after last week's Supreme...
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Greta Thunberg: What might Lily and Abbey Morrison say to their dad, the prime minister, about the Climate Change activist?
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Morrison bypassed the climate summit, so he won’t be able to give his daughters a first-hand description. But they may have opinions.
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View from The Hill: To go to China you have to be invited: Morrison
OPINION & ANALYSIS: With Australia-China relations at a low point – due to Australia’s foreign interference legislation, the banning of Huawei from 5G network and other issues – there’s no indication when an invitation might come. Not that the Prime Minister wants to seem anxious.
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As Scott Morrison heads to Washington, the US-Australia alliance is unlikely to change
OPINION & ANALYSIS: Trump isn’t the first deeply unpopular president Australia has seen and he won’t be the last.
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MP Gladys Liu defends herself after concerns about her Chinese associations
Liberal MP Liu issued a statement following a politically disastrous interview with Sky on Tuesday night in which she repeatedly floundered when pressed on her connections to Chinese organisations.
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Climate change is bringing a new world of bushfires to Australia
OPINION & ANALYSIS: While fire is a normal part of Australia’s yearly cycle and no two years are alike, what we are seeing now is absolutely not business as usual.
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The Great Barrier Reef outlook is ‘very poor’. We have one last chance to save it
OPINION & ANALYSIS: As Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise - an outcome supported by government policy - the continued downward trajectory of the Great Barrier Reef is inevitable.
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Religious Discrimination Bill is a mess that risks privileging people of faith above all others
OPINION & ANALYSIS: We should not have one model of special protection for religious faith and a lesser model of protection for all other people.
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Government boosts scrutiny over Chinese targeting of university sector
The taskforce will have members from universities, national security agencies and the federal education department.
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Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Yang Hengjun is not Australian spy
Dr Yang has been held in Beijing under harsh conditions, without access to lawyers or family for more than seven months before being formally arrested.
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Australia to send naval and air assistance to protect Middle East sea lanes: Morrison
Scott Morrison stressed this was an international mission, but so far the United Kingdom is the only other country to have signed up.
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George Pell has lost his appeal. What did the court decide and what happens now?
SPECIAL FEATURE: Save for a successful appeal in the High Court, Pope Francis will likely expel Pell from the priesthood. The family of the second survivor is suing him and or the church for civil damages, as may others.
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Scott Morrison tells public servants: keep in mind the ‘bacon and eggs’ principle
Scott Morrison describes the “the bacon and eggs principle” where “the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed”.
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Inside China’s vast influence network – how it works, and its reach in Australia
SPECIAL FEATURE: The operations of the Chinese Communist Party are generally opaque, especially to outsiders. But in recent years, the party’s reach and influence with the Chinese diaspora has become much more obvious, particularly in Australia.
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