Our allies have a Plan B as geopolitical tectonic plates shift, and Australia needs one too
Allied nations are openly reassessing their global relationships with China and Russia in light of the US’ increasing unpredictability. Australia? Not so much.
One of the first acts of Australia’s new anti-corruption agency was to commit ‘significant non-compliance’ with finance law by failing to officially sign off on tens of millions of dollars of construction costs.
The Nationals frontbenchers who refused to vote for the hate speech laws were right to do so — but what happens next could set a harmful precedent.
Australia is giving the Trump administration billions while it sets about attacking our allies and trashing the norms of western democracies. And all America’s apologists can say is “keep your head down”.
Once these powers are granted, they are very rarely relinquished.
SBS management have told workers they’re all out of money, and they’re all out of ideas, in an all-staff email over union negotiations.
Thanks to Trump, the Nobel Peace Prize is being used like a diplomatic Groupon
Peace, apparently, is conditional on prize distribution.
Plus a new geopolitical phrase is taking hold.
Japan is suddenly our third-favourite destination, and rapidly closing in on New Zealand in second spot.
Ley has ‘tense and charged’ discussion with Nationals colleagues as Coalition splits on hate speech laws
The Liberals and Nationals have found themselves at odds over the Albanese government’s hate speech legislation, and French President Emmanuel Macron has told world leaders to stand up to bullies.
Editors’ picks
As Greenland melts, Trump sees an opportunity
The struggle for Greenland shows that climate denial was only intended for the rubes. For Trump, a melting ice sheet is a golden opportunity.
Giving ASIO and Home Affairs ever more power and money hasn’t stopped terrorism. Why do we think it will now?
Australia is on the verge of again rewarding failure by expanding further the powers of ASIO and the failed Home Affairs department. It hasn’t worked before.
As ICE coverage escalates, so too are White House attacks on the press
Recent antagonistic confrontations between the White House and the press, fronted by press secretary Karoline Leavitt, signals a worsening relationship ahead between the media and the Trump administration.
On Notice: Parliament back for Bondi response, a national day of mourning, and the Hottest 100 countdown
Fires one minute, floods the next: 26 photos show a devastated Great Ocean Road
Australians have a right to their personal data. In practice, it’s not easy to use it
Early data from Australia’s national youth mental health service shows that the teen social media ban emerged as a prominent factor in why 12- to 15-year-olds were coming to them.
Push the Dutton: A history of great election post-mortems
No, One Nation isn’t leading the Coalition. The real story is how Albo is undermining the major parties
Australia stays silent as allies learn no Trump deal is worth a damn
The bigotry deep within the MAGA movement is infecting our politics
The bigotry spreading out from Donald Trump’s MAGA movement should be part of the post-Bondi discussion of antisemitism in Australia.
Reader reply: Let me briefly share my shoes so you can walk a metre in them
Simon Tatz, former chief of staff in the Gillard-Rudd government and former senior adviser for the Greens, responds to Bernard Keane.
Know something?
We want to hear from you. Contact us securely and anonymously to share information.
Our team
Recent contributors
The nation’s peak Islamic body was not only the last stakeholder group to be consulted before the draft of the hate speech bill was made public, but it was also not provided a draft as other organisations had been.
The government’s hate speech bill is very much the product of the Albanese-era. And the reaction to it from the opposition is also deeply in character for a flailing Coalition.
With the impending departure of Kevin Rudd from the US ambassador role, News Corp will need a new subject for slow news days.
The Australian has run at least 10 stories decrying Cathy Wilcox’s controversial cartoon about the Bondi royal commission. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Tackling hate is not just a legal issue; it is a social and structural one. Laws matter, but they work best alongside education.
Recent developments in the Bruce Lehrmann case in Toowoomba show how complicated the justice system is to navigate.
As bushfires ravage Victoria, firefighters and locals battle the flames: A photo essay from the frontline
Welcome to a little something I like to call ‘the data centre black hole effect’.
A grass fire at one of Australia’s largest solar farms has laid bare the depth of anti-renewables feeling in sections of regional Australia. But it has also shone a light on a massive double standard.
Despite claims of a tight labour market, it seems Australian employers are waiting to see what impacts higher inflation might have.
Australia’s economy looks to be in good shape — especially when you compare it to what’s happening in Donald Trump’s America.
The government’s handout to Rio Tinto last week to ensure the future of the expensive, enormously energy-hungry Tomago plant in NSW rewards a strange collection of bedfellows.
Labor is handing millions of taxpayer funds to private equity firms with no rationale beyond propping up manufacturing. Along with its new raid on super, it shows a disregard for being careful with other people’s money.
Instability in the Indo-Pacific is increasing, bringing the geopolitical uncertainty caused by the actions of Trump 2.0 right to Australia’s doorstep.
Plus the French embassy in Washington is having a time.