Comment

Our national environment law does not deal with greenhouse gas emissions or the dangerous global warming they produce. To be blunt: the law that is meant to protect our environment offers no protection whatsoever against the biggest threat it faces now.

There’s a glint of excitement in John Howard’s eye, as if he’s found a lolly in his pocket. His brows hop up and down. His hands clasp his legs. He is saying out loud something he has long thought.

Australia is in the enviable position of not having to choose between the US and China. We can and should have effective relationships with each, both to our benefit and to the global benefit.

Peter Dutton’s weaponisation of this human disaster is a cynical caricature of the government’s response. From day one Albanese and his foreign minister, Penny Wong, have not resiled from condemning the barbarity of the Hamas slaughter of 1400 Israelis.

Australia has a long and proud tradition of journalists upholding truth ... We need that sort of journalism. At a time of increasing disinformation and decreasing trust in government, if we don’t protect journalists, they can’t tell us what we need to know.

The disclosure contained fewer syllables than the number of people trapped within it. The line was as short and unwilling as a secret: “There are currently 13 on Nauru.”

It is time we stop pretending the overwhelming ‘No’ vote at the referendum wasn’t fanned by racism, underlying all the lies and misrepresentation. This is not to say all those who voted ‘No’ were racists. Rather, it is increasingly clear racism was the mostly unstated agenda of some of the referendum’s strongest public opponents.

Anthony Albanese has moved on from his thwarted attempt to have an Indigenous Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution. It is frustrating the opposition and disappointing some key leaders in the Aboriginal community. Greatly assisting the prime minister’s pivot to other agendas in the second half of this parliamentary term was a headline-generating four days in Washington, DC.

Australia’s defence force should be focused on defending Australia, not threatening our neighbours. This seems like an obvious statement, but it is in fact highly contentious within defence leadership and directly contrary to the conclusions of Australia’s most recent Defence Strategic Review.

Liberal democracy depends on rational debate, where evidence is testable, both sides use a common language and accept accountability for misleading. If democracy is to survive, it will require each of us to commit to hard knowledge, rational calculation, basic values and an obstinate will to end avoidable suffering.