Analysis

The Canberra by-election The establishment pundits regard by-elections as traditionally a way of letting off steam. But the result in the March 25 by-election for Ros Kelly's old seat of Canberra surprised everyone with its intensity. A swing of

Beyond the elections At a time of rising anger against the two major parties, in particular the Labor Party, many people are looking around for a progressive alternative. The many Labor betrayals on so many important issues will, we hope, result

Smooth market functioning So "rogue trader" Nick Leeson blew $2 billion punting the wrong way on the Nikkei 225 index. So the Mexican peso has almost halved in value against the US dollar in three months. So last week the once mighty greenback

Not the thinking woman's party By all indications, 1995 is shaping up to be the year in which the ALP relaunches itself as the "thinking woman's party". Not since the ALP's 1972 "It's Time" campaign has the party placed so much emphasis on its

Labor swaps media barons What lies behind Prime Minister Keating's recent outburst against Labor's former favourite media magnate, Kerry Packer? In describing the rejected Optus-Packer plan for a regional pay TV duopoly (with Murdoch-Telecom) as

Hypocrisy on refugees Targeted at Indo-Chinese refugees, recent amendments to the legislation covering Australia's migrant intake smack of hypocrisy and disregard for human rights. In response to the arrival of several hundred

A tax by any other name The federal government's current hyperbole promoting a carbon tax is gradually being revealed as nothing but a cynical exercise in revenue raising. The Labor government is seeking to exploit the perfectly sensible

The federal government's capitulation to the timber industry on the pretext of "protecting jobs" has come under increasing criticism. One respected researcher, Dr Clive Hamilton, argues that protection of the 509 coupes would not

Editorial: Another slap in the face Last year, Prime Minister Keating labelled strident supporters of cuts to the budget deficit as "deficit daleks". This year, following the large increase in the balance of payments deficit, Treasurer Ralph

How to win the woodchip battle There's no doubt that the extent of the outrage over the government's woodchip licence decision will force the ALP to come up with a range of "compromises" aimed at the green movement in the lead-up to the next

Labor's role in the Liberals' crisis For most people, including members of the Liberal Party itself, the ongoing leadership saga is more like a bad joke rather than something to be taken seriously. After all, there have been five leadership

History lessons It seems only yesterday that we were told of the end of history: that for better or worse, things were the way they were and no more could be hoped for. We'd arrived. This message, universally proclaimed by government and media,