Keywords: National Interest Test
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AUSTRALIA
- Peter Mares
- 12 April 2024
1 Comment
The ABC’s recent Q+A housing special left many questions unasked and unanswered. Labor, Coalition and Green MPs all say they want more people to be able to buy their own homes. The most obvious way to achieve that would be to reduce the price of housing. Yet no politician will make that an explicit policy aim.
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AUSTRALIA
- David Halliday
- 28 February 2024
1 Comment
The main purpose of government is to promote the welfare of its people. And yet over the last few decades, through numerous inquiries, it’s become clear that the Australian government has failed to provide services for the Australian population as well as might be expected.
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AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 04 January 2024
Throughout recent decades of Australian history, the stance every government has taken on asylum seekers has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge.
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AUSTRALIA
- Binoy Kampmark
- 30 November 2023
3 Comments
Charged with breaching national security for exposing alleged war crimes by Australian forces in Afghanistan, former Australian military lawyer David McBride's trial in Canberra rekindles a debate that tests the boundaries of military obedience and public interest. At the heart of this legal battle lies the question: when does the duty to expose wrongdoing outweigh the duty to follow orders?
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ENVIRONMENT
- Andrew Hamilton
- 12 October 2023
3 Comments
Pope Francis' latest Exhortation 'Laudate Deum,' is an evocative sequel to 'Laudato Si’, juxtaposing the urgency of our environmental predicament with the fragility of human hope. Before the upcoming COP28 conference, as nations teeter between action and inertia, the Pope's message is clear: our shared environment, and the most vulnerable among us, hang in the balance.
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AUSTRALIA
- Mark Gaetani
- 12 October 2023
3 Comments
Beneath the facade of Australian prosperity lies a hidden country where over three million citizens, including a staggering 761,000 children, grapple daily with the hard choices that come with poverty. With an urgent need for reform, what policy shifts could bring about the transformation this nation needs?
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INTERNATIONAL
- Binoy Kampmark
- 20 September 2023
3 Comments
Novak Djokovic's on-court triumphs are undeniable, yet off-court controversies spark widespread debate. Navigating the complex interplay of admiration, critique, and understanding becomes essential in grasping the narrative of this unparalleled yet enigmatic champion. Can we disentangle his sporting prowess from off-court controversies?
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AUSTRALIA
- Kerry Murphy
- 28 July 2023
How has Australia's asylum seeker policy changed over the past thirty years? The approach of every government has reflected the shifting political landscapes and challenging humanitarian issues that have continually shaped Australia's response to those seeking refuge.
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AUSTRALIA
- James Massola
- 13 June 2023
2 Comments
In a year defined by surging living expenses, RBA Governor Philip Lowe finds himself the object of public ire, his failed rate predictions and aggressive anti-inflation measures becoming a litmus test for the enduring effects of a global crisis. Will the Labor party dare sever ties with Lowe, or will they allow him to continue wielding the hammer, regardless of the mounting human cost?
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 11 November 2022
3 Comments
In Justice in Kelly Country, author Lachlan Strahan writes on the life of his great-great-grandfather, a policeman whose career stretched over thirty years. When a significant part of that story is intermeshed with such a fiercely contested story as Ned Kelly’s, telling it introduces the further complexities of the writer’s sympathies and judgments.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Max Jeganathan
- 15 August 2022
3 Comments
Despite a post-pandemic bull-run, both the national and international economy are now stalling. Interest rates are going up. Markets are going down. Inflation seems unstoppable. While many factors are to blame for the rising cost of living, a catalysing force continues to be our response to the war in Ukraine.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 July 2022
One of the tests by which we can judge political maturity is whether it gives due weight to complexity. It is easy to reduce political conversation to opposed statements between which we must choose. That will sometimes be appropriate. Often, however, discussion of policy raises several different questions, each of which needs to be considered.
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