5+ day, 14+ hour ago   (645+ words) A new minimum hourly rate is a major improvement for delivery riders, but platform incentives still reward speed, dangerous conditions and risk-taking. It’s the lunch rush in Sydney’s CBD on a putrid summer day, and I’m hurtling along the George…...

5+ day, 15+ hour ago   (179+ words) Australia has no shortage of wealth, projects or policy targets. What it lacks is a coherent strategy for building the capabilities its future society will need. That is why 2088 is a useful horizon. It lies beyond the careers of today’s…...

6+ day, 15+ hour ago   (941+ words) Paul Keating says Australia should resist strategic subordination to the United States without accepting Chinese dominance, and instead preserve its own sovereignty. The Sydney launch of historian James Curran’s new book, Grand Ambition: Paul Keating’s Global Vision for Australia (Simon…...

6+ day, 23+ hour ago   (784+ words) Lisa Havilah’s departure just weeks before Powerhouse Parramatta opens leaves a museum shaped closely around her vision facing questions of leadership, authority and legitimacy. The chief executive who has spent seven years overseeing one of Australia’s most ambitious cultural infrastructure…...

1+ week, 8+ min ago   (973+ words) Australians are becoming less connected, trusting and satisfied with life, but resilience remains – and tackling insecurity could help rebuild social cohesion. Look around the world and you would think the world is burning and Australian society is burning with it....

1+ week, 23+ hour ago   (1157+ words) Joshua Black’s ‘Performance Politics’ traces how Australian politicians have used memoirs, publishing and television to shape public personas and secure their political legacies. The most striking example of performance politics in Joshua Black’s entertaining book comes when an audience member…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (376+ words) Hugh White’s new book warns that declining US power and China’s rise are remaking Asia, while Australia remains dangerously attached to old assumptions about American protection. Hugh White’s new book on Australia’s post-American future, Hard New World, describes a bleak…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago   (1065+ words) Richard Flanagan’s Heresies gathers 24 essays, speeches and reflections spanning politics, literature and public life – with moral force even when the heresy itself is harder to find. Richard Flanagan’s latest book Heresies is a collection of 24 occasional pieces published between 2009 and…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (540+ words) Australia faces worsening climate risks while expanding fossil fuel projects and deepening its ties with Washington. Could Anthony Albanese pursue a more independent path on climate, energy and foreign policy? In the still extremely unlikely event that the Albanese government…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (400+ words) Religious conservatives have long sought influence within the ACT Liberal Party. Their efforts under Zed Seselja offer a cautionary tale about factional power, political ambition and the limits of ideology. Gary Humphries, of course, went from being chief minister to…...