No doubt, it is good to see some signs of life returning in manufacturing, construction, real estate and retail. Reportedly, some people are importing more cars. (Good for them.) But in reality, this ...

No one likes being a downer at Christmas time, so…as we look forward into 2026, we can all agree that some economic growth is better […] ...

Reportedly, the on again, off again debate between Ruth Richardson and Nicola Willis may be on again. Fabolous. Nothing can help us better understand a wildly contentious issue than having someone ...

For months, the economic recovery has been said to be imminent, and the forecasters at the banks keep promoting that message, even though the former predictions of good times in 2025 have now been ...

Decades ago, Alexander Cockburn wrote a column pointing out that the true believers in the power and precision of the defence industry’s latest weaponry tend to be (a) their gullible government ...

For gangs, the Misuse of Drugs Act (1975) has been one of the best recruiting tools they’ve ever had. Criminalisation of a raft of illicit drugs not only provide s them with a wildly lucrative black ...

If something isn’t really broken, no wonder people feel suspicious when government promises to “fix” it to the potential benefit of corporate interests. In 2011, Parliament passed legislation that ...

In the wake of the IPCA report, it is easy to understand why the politicians have been so willing to endorse terms like “cover up” and “ corruption.” It is convenient to explain what went wrong in ...

So asset sales are back on the agenda, and will be dependent only on the coalition government getting re-elected next year. Yikes. Right wing governments are forever selling off the assets created by ...

These are the perennial political questions that every incumbent government has to face. Do people feel better/wealthier/more secure now than they were three years ago? Not much, it seems. In last ...

Politicians are often urged to reach consensus on certain issues, so that everything doesn’t just flip back again when there’s a change of government. Unfortunately, these calls for consensus are ...