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Grattan / Mining tax deal ticks off a commitment in time for the birthday

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra WITH its first anniversary on Sunday, the Abbott government wants to trumpet achievements. Ministers have been asked to put forward what they’ve done in their portfolios for airing in […]

Natural disaster grants for Canberra organisations

Commonwealth Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, and ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Simon Corbell, have announced 20 projects that will share in $5.2 million to help communities withstand the effects of disasters and […]

Grattan / Arms runs likely to be step to deeper Australian role against Islamic State

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra WHEN Tony Abbott says he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself on Australia’s Middle East commitment – specifically about joining air strikes – what he means is that […]

Grattan on Friday: Attacking the RET will open another tough battlefront for Abbott

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra TONY Abbott has got a heap of unwanted publicity this week as a result of his response to cantankerous Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, who upbraided him for being late […]

Menzies, a failure by today’s rules, ran a budget to build the nation

By Richard Denniss, Australian National University ROBERT Menzies left Australia in far worse financial shape then he found it, at least according to current treasurer Joe Hockey’s favourite debt and deficit benchmark. Having inherited budget […]

The John Howard Reading Room opens here in Canberra

BILLIONAIRE Kerry Stokes will today formally open the John Howard Reading Room at UNSW Canberra (known to most Canberrans as ADFA) today with the former Prime Minister John Howard attending. The new Reading Room is […]

Canberra’s School Welfare Officers under the axe in chaplaincy row

LABOR Senator Kate Lundy says new Government documents show that the welfare officers of 25 schools across Canberra are facing unemployment as a result of the Abbott Government’s decision to only fund religious chaplains. In […]

Moore / When human rights go wrong

“It is worse for refugees than for other Australian prisoners. When others go into prison in Australia they have some idea of why they are there and when the sentence will finish,” says political columnist […]

Grattan / Clive Palmer to Chinese: I’m sorry

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra PUP leader Clive Palmer has made a grovelling apology to the Chinese for his extraordinary outburst on television, in which he referred to them as “bastards” and “mongrels”. In […]

The Commonwealth wants your thoughts on child care

THE Federal Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley is taking an interest in childcare in Canberra and calling on our community to make submissions to the Productivity Commission’s review. ACT residents are being encouraged to […]

Grattan / Better leaders could shore up Australia’s eroding political culture

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra HIGHLY respected journalist and historian Paul Kelly, whose Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation is published on Tuesday, argues that there is an “Australian Crisis” […]

Carol Mills speaks out on her Westminster row

CAROL Mills, the Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, has issued an extraordinary statement in the wake of recent fevered media reporting in the United Kingdom over her proposed appointment to be Clerk of […]

Grattan on Friday: Shorten bombshell puts Labor in uncharted terrority

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra BILL Shorten had little practical alternative but to name himself as the person police had been investigating in relation to an alleged rape in the 1980s. The opposition leader […]

Grattan on Friday / In Conversation with ASIO chief David Irvine

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra DAVID Irvine retires next month after five years as Director-General of Security, heading ASIO; before that he was head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, which spies abroad. He’s […]

Shane tries to keep the Commonwealth interested in the Canberra environment

SHANE Rattenbury said the ACT Government will not be walking way from a Parliamentary Agreement item to maintain an ongoing approvals role for the Federal Government in environment protection matters. “It is extremely important that […]

Joe Hockey gets outnumbered in the battle of the stats

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra When a government has to negotiate with crossbenchers there is often an element of humiliation involved, especially if that government suffers from a touch of “born to rule”. Governments […]

Joy Burch’s hope of securing pre-school funding

THE Assembly has voted unanimously in favour of a motion calling on the Abbott Government to commit to continuing funding for preschools in the ACT next year. “The ACT Government has been providing 15 hours […]

Grattan / Tell us more about policy overseas, Turnbull exhorts media

By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra COMMUNICATIONS Minister Malcolm Turnbull has criticised the Australian media’s lack of interest in how other countries tackle the big policy challenges that are faced here. “The Australian media rarely […]

Moore / Why we need to be saved from Facebook

“ The role of government should not just be about checks and balances on their own agencies. They also need to protect ordinary people from a further insidious, creeping blight on our freedoms that is […]

A climate of terror?

By David Holmes, Monash University THE Abbott government’s shift from Voltaire to Orwell last week is an act of political desperation. Replacing divisive changes to the Racial Discrimination Act (because they have no hope of […]

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Grattan / Mining tax deal ticks off a commitment in time for the birthday

Natural disaster grants for Canberra organisations

Grattan / Arms runs likely to be step to deeper Australian role against Islamic State

Grattan on Friday: Attacking the RET will open another tough battlefront for Abbott

Menzies, a failure by today’s rules, ran a budget to build the nation

The John Howard Reading Room opens here in Canberra

Canberra’s School Welfare Officers under the axe in chaplaincy row

Moore / When human rights go wrong

Grattan / Clive Palmer to Chinese: I’m sorry

The Commonwealth wants your thoughts on child care

Grattan / Better leaders could shore up Australia’s eroding political culture

Carol Mills speaks out on her Westminster row

Grattan on Friday: Shorten bombshell puts Labor in uncharted terrority

Grattan on Friday / In Conversation with ASIO chief David Irvine

Shane tries to keep the Commonwealth interested in the Canberra environment

Joe Hockey gets outnumbered in the battle of the stats

Joy Burch’s hope of securing pre-school funding

Grattan / Tell us more about policy overseas, Turnbull exhorts media

Moore / Why we need to be saved from Facebook

A climate of terror?

News

Ad man Pawl Cubbin dead at 57

Unconscious people rescued from burning apartment building

Have you seen Paul?

Grattan / Government’s banking royal commission misjudgement comes back to bite

Fitzharris plans ‘more frequent’ bus services

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Cedric Bryant

Danielle Nohra

Dougal Macdonald