Comment

In Australia, controversy is treated as an institutional failure rather than cultural vitality. The result is a narrowing of ambition, purpose and the place of literature in our society. The door is opened to mediocrity.

As a former political staffer and an economist, there are two questions I hear a lot. One is, why do governments give so much of our gas away free? The other is, should the “teals” form a political party?

Who would have thought that the coup that dispatched Sussan Ley in favour of Angus Taylor as Liberal leader may have saved the country from a toxic debate on a return to a version of the White Australia policy and a dangerous undermining of the migration program that is an essential part of the nation’s prosperity.

Stephen Hawking once said the history of the universe depends on the question you ask. So, what questions put Donald Trump in the White House twice or made Pauline Hanson the fastest rising politician in Australia?

For several years now, the public debate around AUKUS has gone in familiar circles. How much will it cost? Do the United States or the United Kingdom have the industrial capacity to meet their side of the arrangement? Will the submarines arrive on time or at all?

Since the last election, Australia has witnessed the biggest political on-again, off-again break-up of the 21st century. The slow, messy unravelling – and partial restitching – of the Coalition has dominated headlines, engaged television panels and consumed the press gallery’s attention.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, hitched a ride on the prime minister’s jet as it flew into Canberra on Wednesday morning. The same day, speculation in the national capital was at fever pitch over an imminent challenge to Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal Party.

In some respects, Albanese was already ahead of his Canadian counterpart’s wake-up call ... What remains now is to clearly establish a productive working relationship with Carney, to develop effective middle power coalitions.

This week, the full bench of the High Court heard a challenge to Victoria’s changes to its campaign financing laws, brought by a pair of independent candidates. It is not the only case in the works.

I’ve had the privileged heartbreak of being with two loved ones at the end of their lives. When my father died a little over five years ago, it was in a dedicated palliative care ward in a regional private hospital.