Opinion

National Comment

Rinehart's raid stirs media pot

Posted: 03 Feb 12 | When Gina Rinehart pushed the go button on buying 10 per cent of Fairfax Media she put the entire sector under the blowtorch, both in investment terms and from the perspective of the role the media has in influencing political and social policy. |

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Tight ship, tight lips and few surprises at Facebook

Posted: 02 Feb 12 | ABOUT time too. Facebook is on the point of filing papers in preparation for its initial public offering. This is both big news and no news at all. |

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In politics, as in life, fruit doesn't fall far from the ministerial tree

Posted: 01 Feb 12 | Leave aside who told who what. The fact is the Prime Minister's office thought it was legitimate politics to organise an Aboriginal protest against her political rival. |

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Too tolerant of ugly racism

Posted: 31 Jan 12 | REJECTING discrimination in the constitution would empower us all. |

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Abbott's stance on gay marriage looks like strong-arm tactics

Posted: 30 Jan 12 | TONY Abbott's decision to wait until the Parliament had shut down at the end of last year before making it clear that he would block a conscience vote on any gay marriage bill could cost him in the long run. |

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Drop Bear complacency a danger to us all

Posted: 26 Jan 12 | I will never trust Wikipedia again. After last week’s blog about the blackout protest I received a message on Twitter, complaining about the online encyclopedia’s treatment of its Drop Bear page. |

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Many cultural hands make the Australian way of life work

Posted: 26 Jan 12 | Australia Day is perhaps unique. There are few countries in the world that conduct such extensive self-examination on their national day. |

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Why we can't trust Gillard any more

Posted: 25 Jan 12 | The Prime Minister has let us all down, particularly young people. |

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A pokies trial in the ACT is bordering on futile

Posted: 25 Jan 12 | THERE are two good reasons why you wouldn't want to rely on the results of Julia Gillard's much-ballyhooed poker machine trial in the Australian Capital Territory: geography and history. |

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Why Rudd's return is Labor's only chance of survival

Posted: 24 Jan 12 | NOT once since April last year has the Gillard government polled as well as the Rudd government polled at its worst. Kevin Rudd led one of the most popular governments in Australian political history. Julia Gillard is now leading one of the least popular. |

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Caffeine less vital than conviviality of a cuppa

Posted: 23 Jan 12 | "COFFEE," wrote the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, "makes gloomy". Odd for a somewhat manic writer. I agree. Perhaps we ''up'' people are supposed to be coffee junkies, shaking for a short black by elevenses. But while I enjoy the flavour of my daily decaffeinated espresso, the last thing I want is to be more switched on every morning, then slumping when the buzz dies. |

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Courage untested until ship sinks

Posted: 20 Jan 12 | COURAGE is a virtue and heroism is admirable, but do we have a right to demand them? Which of us cannot look back on his or her own life and remember decisions, or compromises made, or silences kept because of cowardice, even when the penalties for courage were negligible? |

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It's stiff cheese for Wilkie, the mouse who roared

Posted: 19 Jan 12 | LEAVING the beach on a recent Saturday afternoon on a day when a bright deep blue sky reached down to meet blue water, I walked through a beachfront hotel, through the bar and then a large room filled with poker machines. As always with gambling rooms, it was dark, with most of the light coming from the garish machines. The room was packed. |

Comments (36)

Cruise ships will still have a future

Posted: 18 Jan 12 | UNTIL the weekend, the name Costa Concordia would have meant very little to anyone outside Italy. But in the space of a couple of hours late on Friday, when the ship hit rocks off the island of Giglio, all that changed. By Saturday morning, it was being compared to the Titanic. |

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For tyrants considering embalming, some advice

Posted: 17 Jan 12 | NORTH Korea's decision to embalm ''dear'' departed dictator Kim Jong-il's body and put it on permanent public display revives a practice as old as the pharaohs, which can still serve nefarious political ends. |

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Childcare cuts will send home those who should be in the workforce

Posted: 16 Jan 12 | WHEN a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney surveyed students about their plans for the future, the men spoke of careers but the women also factored in families and children. |

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Without car manufacturing, we are on the road to ruin

Posted: 13 Jan 12 | The federal Coalition is correct to start a rethink of its manufacturing policy, particularly in relation to the car industry. |

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Eco pirates deserve a long haul, not a free trip home

Posted: 12 Jan 12 | Geoff Tuxworth, Simon Petterffy and and Glen Pendlebury are determined Australian pirates. They may only be passive-aggressive, but they are aggressive nonetheless. |

Comments (33)

Migrant remarks on the nose

Posted: 11 Jan 12 | Teresa Gambaro, the opposition's citizenship spokeswoman, has raised interesting issues regarding new migrants. |

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And now a word for our sponsor

Posted: 10 Jan 12 | Advertising has helped stock the storehouse of human knowledge. |

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