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My Australian story starts with a photo. It is a photo of a man with a face hitherto unseen in the world. The bearded man wears a long winter coat, collared shirt and stylish hat. In his right hand he holds a stone axe. He is standing next to a ceremonial …

The implosion over hate laws is a bad start to the Coalition’s new year and for supporters of good government. The situation is existential, but the outcome is not preordained. Liberals and Nationals have agency to affect the outcome. History suggests …

Did you sign up for the gym this month? Perhaps you cancelled your Uber Eats account? This is the season for resolutions – the time when many of us commit to eating better, exercising more and getting off our phones. Treasurer Jim Chalmers should make …

The world as we know it is changing fast. It is not at all clear what the seating arrangements will be or who will be leading the opposition when parliament resumes next Tuesday. At face value, the disarray of its opponents is a gift for the Albanese …

On Sunday, the lifesavers at Australia’s most iconic beach turned surfboards into stretchers and ferried wounded victims of this country’s worst terrorist attack to waiting ambulances. According to an ABC fact check, more than 100 shots were fired …

About once a decade, travel expenses and politicians’ access to entitlements crash their way into the headlines, usually to the discomfort of a government as the opposition ratchets up pressure for a ministerial scalp. The latest uproar was sparked …

According to police, the bomb was packed with screws and ball bearings. Weapons such as this are called fragmentation devices. They are designed to cause as much damage as possible, the shrapnel ricocheting out from the blast.

The big lie the Liberal Party told itself was that moderates lost their seats at the past two elections because they were moderates. For the hard right, it was the perfect lie. Like much of what they imagine, it is the inverse of what is true.

It is difficult to know which numbers are the more appalling, the very large ones or the ones that are tragically small. Is it the scale of the destruction of threatened species habitat approved by the Albanese government, or is it the fact that the surviving population of night parrots could be counted by most children under 10?

Normally, I would welcome a new wind farm project. However, having read Bob Brown’s article (“Licence to kill”, January 24-30), I can see that the cost in rare native species can be too high. Furthermore, why do we approve a multinational company, …

The waste of money and effort by Australia on the AUKUS agreement is appalling (“‘Rich dummy’: How the AUKUS deal is set to fail”, January 17-23). There are so many better things to spend and concentrate on. Australians should be less concerned, …

Thank you, Rick Morton, for your excellent report on the government’s agenda to cut funding to NDIS recipients or deny access to others (“Exclusive: One third of reassessed NDIS plans see cuts to funding”, January 10-16). This callous agenda reveals …