Comment

Announcing his government’s 2035 climate target, Anthony Albanese said: “We think we’ve got the sweet spot.” … In sport, when the ball hits the sweet spot, it is only good for one side. The other loses. This is the reality of Albanese’s target, a compromise of expedience over evidence, of cowardice over vision, of today over a plan for tomorrow.

Clearly, not everyone saw delusion in Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s run for, and subsequent attacks on, the Liberal leadership.

Picture 2035, a decade hence: 31 million Australians are taking pride in the progress we’ve made to tackle climate change.

Of all the things that could have gone wrong ahead of Anthony Albanese’s first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, few would have predicted the involvement of one of Australia’s most lauded journalists.

The Australian paused late this week in what has been a stream of doting coverage on Linda Reynolds’ successful defamation suit against the former staffer who was raped in her office, Brittany Higgins.

I was recently talking to a dear friend and one-time mentor of mine, a legend of Australian journalism, who asked me if, like him, I barely read news beyond the headlines anymore. More than that, I said, I try to avoid the news completely. I am not alone.

Australia suffers the greatest losses and harm from gambling per adult in the world. Most Australians want reform, regular surveys show. So why is it so impossible?

Anthony Albanese could only nod his head when the host of the Pacific Islands Forum, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, midweek told the assembled 18 government leaders that the ‘world around us is changing fast’.

There are wars, and rumours of more wars, but almost total neglect of what should be the most significant global battle: keeping the planet habitable. It is now a most urgent challenge, with the coincident effect of multiple and converging risks that pose existential threats to humanity this century.

This week a Nazi stood on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne and addressed a crowd of cheering supporters … We have heard timorous statements from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that this is not the Australian way. There were “good people” at those rallies, who mustn’t be pushed into a “rabbit hole”. But that’s where the debate appears to be, and Albanese willingly followed it.