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government
National Affairs
Making a living differently
Jon Altman
16 December 2016
The abolition of Community Development Employment Projects has undermined economic renewal in remote Indigenous communities
Books & Arts
Ken Loach’s wasteland
David Hayes
2 December 2016
Cinema
| The veteran director’s tender dive into the indignity of Britain’s welfare system tries too hard to avoid complication
Essays & Reportage
Susan Kiefel and the politics of judicial diversity
Kcasey McLoughlin
30 November 2016
The appointment of the new chief justice is a reminder that diversity and merit are not mutually exclusive
National Affairs
Restoring the independence of the solicitor-general
Gabrielle Appleby
15 November 2016
George Brandis’s backdown is only the first step in clarifying and protecting the role of this key legal officer
National Affairs
A fragile relationship
Gabrielle Appleby
5 October 2016
From the archive
| Relations between the attorney-general and the solicitor-general play a key role in the rule of law in Australia
. So what explains George…
National Affairs
In New South Wales, the return of politics as usual?
David Clune
4 October 2016
A slump in popularity highlights the challenges for Mike Baird’s brand of leadership
National Affairs
Beating the Senate at its own game
Peter Brent
29 September 2016
Short of constitutional change, there’s one way to sort out a dysfunctional Senate – and we got a glimpse during the hung parliament
Essays & Reportage
New map, old roads
Patrick Sullivan
2 September 2016
It’s time for a national inquiry into how the outback can be better funded for black and white alike, writes
Patrick Sullivan
National Affairs
Immigration’s vaccination paradox
Peter Mares
5 August 2016
With more than 800,000 temporary migrants in Australia, the assumption that everyone who lives here is a permanent resident or a citizen has created dangerous blind spots, writes…
Essays & Reportage
Farewell to the spirit of 1967
Patrick Sullivan
29 June 2016
The rise of “deficit metrics” and the federal government’s retreat from Indigenous affairs have reversed the direction set by the historic 1967 referendum,…
National Affairs
A not-very-compelling reform proposition
Paddy Gourley
16 May 2016
Another in a long line of reports on the Australian Public Service fails to understand the nature of the public sector, writes
Paddy Gourley
National Affairs
Victoria spends up big – or does it?
Tim Colebatch
27 April 2016
Transport is where the action is in this week’s Victorian budget, writes
Tim Colebatch
, but the spending isn’t quite as generous as it looks
Books & Arts
How they invented the prime minister
Norman Abjorensen
8 April 2016
Books
| The Australian prime ministership was created out of almost nothing during the first five decades of the twentieth century, writes
Norman Abjorensen
Essays & Reportage
Forgetting how to govern
Anne Tiernan
3 February 2016
Why do parties have so much trouble learning from past successes and failures, asks
Anne Tiernan
Books & Arts
A touch of amnesia
Paddy Gourley
1 December 2015
Books
| Laura Tingle is right to say that government must become better at remembering, writes
Paddy Gourley
, but her argument has memory lapses of its own
Essays & Reportage
This glorious moment
Stuart Macintyre
12 August 2015
Extract
| Seventy years ago this week, prime minister Ben Chifley announced that the war in the Pacific was over. Planning for peace was already well under way, writes…
Books & Arts
The Qing is dead! Long live the Qing!
John Fitzgerald
11 August 2015
Books
| Political philosopher Daniel A. Bell wants us to see China as a meritocracy-in-progress, writes
John Fitzgerald
. But is he really defending autocracy?
Books & Arts
The rising tide that lifts some yachts
Jane Goodall
13 July 2015
Books
| Why are we angered by stories of Greek hairdressers retiring at fifty on public pensions, asks
Jane Goodall
, yet unmoved at the thought of bailed-out…
Books & Arts
Timber to ashes, ashes to earth
Sylvia Lawson
21 May 2015
Cinema
|
Sylvia Lawson
on Canberra’s last Electric Shadow, George Brandis and the Australia Council, and
Testament of Youth
and
X+Y
Books & Arts
Groups are dumber than you think (but we can make them smarter)
Paul ’t Hart
14 May 2015
Books
| Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie want us to think differently about making decisions in groups. But there’s a small herd of elephants in the room, writes…
National Affairs
Austerity ends, but where’s the vision?
Tim Colebatch
5 May 2015
Victoria’s Labor treasurer might have echoed Tolstoy in his budget speech, writes
Tim Colebatch
, but the fine print doesn’t rise to the challenges facing the state
National Affairs
Simpler, fairer and easier to comply with: the tax option with bravery added
Tim Colebatch
31 March 2015
Can the Coalition – and Labor and the Greens – rise to the challenge of tax reform?
Tim Colebatch
assesses the government’s discussion paper
National Affairs
Back to base
Peter Brent
16 March 2015
Are the self-appointed consciences of the Liberal Party helping the government?
Peter Brent
doesn’t think so
National Affairs
Small targets, small ambitions
Marija Taflaga
12 March 2015
Australia’s major parties have learned the wrong lessons from the failure of John Hewson’s 1993
Fightback!
campaign and the success of John Howard’s bid…
National Affairs
Two intergenerational reports for the price of one is no bargain
Tim Colebatch
5 March 2015
A serious message has been swamped by politics in this latest attempt to model the next forty years, argues
Tim Colebatch
in Canberra
National Affairs
How to stop the leadership turnstile
Peter Brent
26 February 2015
John Howard had an enormous stroke of luck, writes
Peter Brent
. To realise that is to recognise that imitating him is counterproductive
National Affairs
Time to slay some sacred cows
Michael Gill
13 February 2015
Better ways of dealing with the federal budget deficit would also boost growth, argues
Michael Gill
Books & Arts
Revolutionary Sydney
Andrew Dodd
3 February 2015
Books
| Three men and a city in turmoil.
Andrew Dodd
reviews two new books about Sydney’s formative years
Essays & Reportage
Silence
Christine Kenneally
29 January 2015
Geoff Meyer’s quest to establish his family origins ran up against inadequate state government archives and obstructive officials, writes
Christine Kenneally
National Affairs
Fixing Australia’s democratic deficit
Geoff Heriot
17 October 2014
Australians buying a used car benefit from clear consumer safeguards, writes
Geoff Heriot
. Why not accord voters similar protection from the excesses of campaigning politicians?
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