Comment

Australia must take up the challenge presented by its rift with the United States over trade and foreign policy to strengthen bilateral relationships with other countries in these critical areas. We should also move to capitalise on the opportunities President Donald Trump has created by pulling back on climate commitments and USAID.

In the forthcoming Australian election, the actions of the re-elected Donald Trump will be the dominant issue, especially the tariff war and the future of the AUKUS nuclear submarine project. Trump failed to recognise the AUKUS acronym. His policies on Ukraine, Gaza and climate change are all of great concern. Politicians are often regarded as economical with the truth. In Trump’s case, he may be incapable of distinguishing between truth and falsehood.

It is almost impossible to imagine a legal system that could fail a person more comprehensively, over a longer period of time, at more levels and in more ways, than the system that failed Brittany Higgins.

This month’s High Court ruling on Indigenous property rights confirms the full humanity of First Nations people.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, who some colleagues believe has not laid a glove on Chalmers, says everything will be revealed in due course. In the meantime, the clock is running down and all we are getting are general statements masquerading as serious policy.

There is a tendency, especially after his recent victory, to overstate Trump’s intelligence. The media that dismissed him once as a buffoon is anxious not to miss his genius a second time. He could ride a tricycle into the joint sitting and most outlets would be reluctant to call him a clown.

As for the global order, Trump may in his own oafish way be telling us an inconvenient truth: there is no global order. Whenever I hear talk of a global order, it brings to mind something the neuroscientist Abhijit Naskar once said: ‘Order is nothing but friendship with chaos.’

It’s back to plan A for the prime minister after Tropical Cyclone Alfred swamped any thoughts of going to an April election. However, Labor is determined to see the extended timetable as more of an opportunity than a setback.

The Catholic Church is at it again. The decision in Bird v DP has the privileged, affluent and braggadocious church publicly thanking the High Court for a ruling that pierced the hearts of thousands of survivors who were, as children, raped or sexually assaulted by Catholic clergy.

If Trump isn’t to learn from history – and we can only assume this is the case – perhaps he should catch a re-run of the 1980s cult movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, with its lesson on tariffs.