Evidence
Healthcare is 'universal' for those who can pay
Carol Bennett Hip pocket pain is replacing the once soothing notion of universal, free access to health services. For over a decade "out of pocket" health costs have been rising in Australia, making a joke of...
PM is missing the point about class warfare
Peter Hartcher Today's poll confirms that the Gillard government remains on track to lose the election due in 153 days. It also shows that one of its main escape plans is not working.
Taking stock on a conflicted whaling season
Andrew Darby As Japan's most tumultuous Antarctic whaling season yet draws to a close, it seems everybody dodged, if not a harpoon, then a bullet.
Historic day as victims file in with power on their side
Barney Zwartz Twenty years ago Bill Nelson left court a crushed man, his solicitors telling him to give up his quest for redress as a child sex abuse victim because the Catholic Church had all the power.
Victim upbeat as commission makes an impressive start
Barney Zwartz Twenty years ago Bill Nelson left court a crushed man, his solicitors telling him to give up.
Giving teeth to racist dogma
Matthew Zagor As Scott Morrison has now confirmed his ''behaviour protocols'' for boat arrivals released into the community is opposition policy, it's worth looking at exactly what the opposition immigration...
Fortune favours the not-so-brave Abbott
Mike Carlton Tony Abbott is coasting to The Lodge on a dream run, first class up the pointy end. No federal opposition leader has had it so easy since 1941, when Labor's John Curtin gained government after the...
Greiner's roads push a source of confusion
Anna Patty A few folks on Barry O'Farrell's backbench - and maybe one or two in his cabinet - are scratching their heads about his decision to appoint a former Liberal premier, Nick Greiner, to head its...
PM's dog and pony show a lost cause
Jack Waterford Julia Gillard has concluded a week's electioneering without any obvious signs of triumph.
Anne Summers
It's a woman's right to choose, not a man's to try to control
Anne Summers If Tony Abbott was hoping he could tiptoe to an election win without having to take a stand on abortion, he was wrong.
Gillard an ineffectual campaigner
Peter Hartcher Julia Gillard has spent the past month campaigning energetically as she approaches the election. What difference has it made to Labor's standing with the people? None, according to Monday's Nielsen...
Media call just a piddling distraction
Paul Sheehan What follows is a quote from a column I wrote about Stephen Conroy, which enraged him.
The media must embrace reform to survive
Katharine Murphy Should we be surprised when it comes to media reform that most of the protagonists are working an angle?
Tim Colebatch
The fix is in on 457 visas
Tim Colebatch The foreign worker program is being rorted just as the student visas were.
Whether in war or peacetime, honesty must be paramount
Ramesh Thakur The invasion of Iraq by the United States, Britain and Australia began on March 20, 10 years ago. In Britain Foreign Secretary William Hague has written to senior members of government to not discuss...
Waleed Aly
Without reforms, who will leash the media?
Waleed Aly Everyone's conflicted in this debate, and it's the public interest that loses out.
Hugh Mackay
Nostalgia for Kevin 07 does not a mandate make
Hugh Mackay A political week that promised high drama ended in low farce. Rudd was denied his Second Coming.
Winning is not Labor's priority
Peter Hartcher Federal Labor has now expressed an unmistakeable preference. It is prepared to lose government for the next three years or more, as long as it can retain its comfortable internal arrangements for the...
PM in snake pit with no antivenom
Paul Sheehan At 6.02 pm last Wednesday I received a text sent from Parliament House in Canberra. It said: ''I'm hearing Labor has been asked to stay in Canberra on Friday.
Ross Gittins
Big companies' tax avoidance blatant and shameless
Ross Gittins Paying your fair share is anathema to multinationals.
