50 Results

Julia Gillard has shocked Canberra by bringing Bob Carr into her Cabinet as Foreign Minister.

Is it any wonder that Australia’s energy and climate change policy is in a permanent state of confusion, writes Dr Richard Denniss, executive director of Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute.

Julia Gillard’s federal cabinet reshuffle — promoting Bill Shorten and Mark Arbib while sacking good ministers — again demonstrates her lack of judgment and fragility.

Nicola Roxon’s appointment as Australia’s first female Attorney-General presents several opportunities to address issues handled poorly by Robert McClelland.

Has there ever been a more self-serving public campaign than the one being mounted by Clubs Australia? It’s time for a closer look at the alleged benefits of clubs to the Australian community.

Transs-xual and inters-x Australians will now only have to provide a medical certificate from their regular physician in order to change the s-x on their passport, writes Kate Doak, a writer and postgraduate student

Julian Assange may face prosecution for revealing the identity of an ASIO officer. But governments disclose secret things all the time.

An anti-piracy lobby group has bowed to pressure and released a controversial report on the impact of internet piracy on the Australian economy, following howls of protest over its existence and veracity.

Anonymous’s attack on an American cyber-security company was for the lulz, until it revealed a multimillion dollar plan to attack WikiLeaks.

A backbench revolt over the stance on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange’s imprisonment is one thing. Julia Gillard’s government has a bigger problem with simple competence.

The WikiLeaks cables — far more significant than anyone has acknowledged — will change governments. But both the mainstream media and the federal government appear to be completely oblivious to the fact.

Australia’s charter of rights is dead on arrival. Good riddance, a human rights academic tells Crikey intern Patrick Tombola, but others like Julian Burnside lament the lost opportunity to recognise those on the margins of society.

Is the government backing away from introducing a bill of rights? In the absence of any serious negatives, we should expect a human rights act within this parliamentary term, writes Susan Ryan, chair of the Australian Human Rights Group.

It now seems the Brennan committee report will not recommend an Australian bill of rights. How did such a good idea get bogged down in the fallacy that judges would abuse their power? asks Richard Ackland.

The National Security Legislation Discussion Paper was released last week. And it may be one of the worst discussion papers ever, with no structure, barebones commentary and lots of blank pages.

Richard Farmer explores why some people hate brussel sprouts, AG Robert McClelland’s proposed security laws and the fight against free speech at Yale University Press.

Robert McClelland’s new terror bill is based on the notion that people are simply psychological crash-test dummies, rather than robust and resilient citizens in a free society.