opinion
environment
indigenous affairs August 28, 2021
The politics of the greater good
It’s taken a long time but the concept of the “greater good” – the sense of a shared destiny, of shared interests, collective purpose, a common future – is finally returning to our politics. Largely this is the result of the need to build community...
immigration August 21, 2021
Scott Morrison has an answer for everything and a solution for nothing. Like the neoliberalism of which his party was once so proud, he is all promise and no delivery. His press conferences have long been a masterclass in dictating the terms of...
environment August 14, 2021
Before the past couple of years, most Australians were either unaware of Sky News or considered it a bit of a joke. The consensus was that nobody watched it, and the people who did were out on the fringe. Anyone who maintains this today is simply...
law & crime July 17, 2021
Saving Tasmania’s Tarkine rainforest
What has happened to the Bob Hawke standard of prime ministerial courage, the one that saw him safeguard Australia’s environment and Indigenous heritage? Hawke’s first act as prime minister in 1983 was to save the Franklin River in Tasmania. In 1987...
environment June 26, 2021
Before the voters got a chance to pass judgement on the Morrison–McCormack Coalition, the Nationals’ party room did. And its judgement was that the deputy prime minister was failing to deliver for his core constituencies. Dispatched was mild-...
environment April 17, 2021
When Malcolm Turnbull was dumped last week from New South Wales’ Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy advisory board as quickly as he was appointed, the move shocked many people. Turnbull was dropped by his own protégé, the state’s Environment...
environment April 3, 2021
A foreign policy for the climate
Britain’s Conservative government last month declared the fight against climate change its top diplomatic priority after a comprehensive review of its foreign, defence and security policy. In the United States, Joe Biden has mainstreamed climate...
environment February 13, 2021
On Monday Scott Morrison walked into RAAF Base Williamtown near Newcastle to the soundtrack of the movie Top Gun . It may have been appropriate to his mission that day – lauding the progress of the Joint Strike Fighter program – but it was a parody...
environment December 19, 2020
Big holes in the Coalition’s pre-election bucket list
As the year like no other draws to an end, the challenges and crises it presented have highlighted the nation’s strengths and dramatised its weaknesses. Facing up to these realities will be particularly daunting for our political leaders as they...
environment November 7, 2020
Palaszczuk’s one day, and also the next
You may not have noticed, and that was the whole idea. The moment it was clear Labor’s Annastacia Palaszczuk had won a thumping victory in the Queensland election, Scott Morrison disappeared from view. The prime minister, who had spent a week on the...
environment October 31, 2020
After the virus: A green recovery
Covid-19 is the biggest economic and social crisis we have faced since the Great Depression and World War II. Australia’s failure then to understand and grapple with the direction of the international economy meant our recovery was much slower and...
