Victoria
Nicholas Reece
The 'austerity fairy' is no saviour for Victoria
Nicholas Reece The budget decisions made during tough economic times are critical to the fortunes of the state.
Farrah Tomazin
Victoria: same battleground, different objectives for Baillieu and Abbott
Farrah Tomazin If Abbott wins the federal poll, what's in it for Baillieu?
Alan March
Victoria needs a Plan B to guide future growth
Alan March Please, can we take a comprehensive and sequenced approach to urban and regional planning? Victoria's planning system is being hacked at in an ad hoc manner - again.
Josh Gordon
Politics behind Victoria being short-changed
Josh Gordon Remember when Kevin Rudd promised to ''stop the blame game''? It was in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, the budget was awash with cash and there were wall-to-wall Labor state governments...
Tim Colebatch
For Victoria, it's a case of life in the slow lane
Tim Colebatch After 20 years of surprisingly solid, even enviable, growth, Victoria is now at the crossroads. The forces that drove its growth in recent years have gone into reverse.
Kenneth Davidson
Victoria can escape the public-private partnership black hole
Kenneth Davidson There is a way to free up money to pay more to teachers, nurses and TAFEs.
George Pappas
Victoria ponders uncertain future
George Pappas Despite economic strengths pessimism and uncertainty reign in Victoria.
Steve Bracks
Victoria, on the move to despair
Steve Bracks Many of us warned that Victoria would suffer if infrastructure projects stalled and business costs did not continue to fall. Now we have the evidence.
Baillieu's commitment to a fair Victoria is on the line
Philip Lynch, Spencer Zifcak Victorians will learn a lot about their government's commitment to fairness, transparency and democratic accountability next week.
Michael Power
Victoria passes the buck on carbon
Michael Power The Baillieu backflip on emissions reductions is a dereliction of duty.
Paul Austin
In Victoria, the house takes all
Paul Austin Crown, the casino that changed Melbourne, is getting bigger. Much bigger. Under legislation that received bipartisan support in State Parliament this week, the casino will be able to expand its...
A goat in sheep's clothing?
Jack Waterford The personality, temperament, character and reliability of Tony Abbott is pretty much the primary issue that voters should be weighing up.
Following the path of Mulga Fred, wanderer
Tony Wright In the past few decades we have been joined by ever-growing numbers of long-distant wanderers.
Coalition must be smarter when it issues preferences
Gerard Henderson Julia Gillard, Wayne Swan and Greg Combet appear to believe Labor will win the election.
Comment
NAPLAN is driving our students backwards
Peter Job High standards of literacy and numeracy are a fundamental responsibility of schools and teachers.
Territory given little cause for celebration
Emma Macdonald and Peter Jean Federal largesse to the ACT was minimal in the budget, despite the announcement it would claw back $74 million.
State playing politics on trains
Josh Gordon Former Liberal premier Dick Hamer simultaneously had three big infrastructure projects on the go: the West Gate Bridge, completed in 1978; City Loop, completed in 1981; and the first two stages of...
Coalition policy falls short of workers' worst fears
Ben Schneiders Large employers and miners are the winners from the Coalition's workplace relations policy, which will ease some of their concerns about Labor's Fair Work laws.
Cynical game played at the expense of the disabled
Mark Kenny Around 2 million Australians desperate to see disability insurance become a reality are now caught in a political game of chicken with neither side of politics prepared to unconditionally back...
One shot at boosting our schools: it's now or never
Nicholas Reece The education reforms are the circuit-breaker our schools desperately need.
