Editorials
SMH
Action needed on bank gouging
THE big banks hoped we would somehow forget. As the financial crisis hit and interest rates fell, they failed to cut their lending rates by as much as the Reserve Bank. Then, as the recovery took hold and interest rates rose, they added their own extra slug for mortgage holders. But mortgage holders haven't forgotten, and nor has the Reserve Bank.
The Age
Nation should aim to get parental leave right from the start
Kevin Rudd unveiled his policy a year into the GFC. He can now go further.
The Sunday Age
With elections looming, crime statistics are easy game
Never mind the spin, is Victoria becoming more dangerous?
SMH
Out of your hands: Emoh Ruo passed to the experts
Any reader of Domain looking to buy a home in Sydney knows the supply of housing is falling short of the demand. The result is higher prices for home buyers. Just now the real estate market appears not to be functioning well enough to bring enough properties onto the market, or to encourage the construction of homes at a rate which will meet demand.
The Age
Firefighters still leave women out in the cold
Earlier this week the world celebrated International Women's Day, providing members of both sexes with an opportunity to reflect on the many personal, social and political gains women have made over the years.
SMH
Red leather fetishists
THE Rudd government is doing its best to paint the senate as out of control. Certainly it is out of its control.
The Age
Rebadged but still running off the rails
The government is responsible for the network's defects.
The Age
SBY sees big picture of opportunity
The leaders of only four nations have previously addressed a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament and it is fitting that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should have become the fifth.
The Age
State plans must engage, not exclude, public
People must be won over to higher-density and social housing.
The Age
Shaping up to fight the wrong war
Australia is an island. And, as successive interpreters of the national ethos have noted, that geographical fact has determined so much of the nation's history.
SMH
The end of policy
ONE of the oddities of Sydney is that intelligent policy-making has largely been taken over by gifted independents. The Herald even had a go, last year inviting Ron Christie and other experts to redesign the city's transport system.
The Age
When some parents are more equal than others
Abbott's parental leave plan would fund the wealthy.
The Age
Soldiers in an absurd predicament
The Australian troops deployed in Afghanistan, and in particular the elite and highly accomplished special forces, must find their mission increasingly surreal.
SMH
Eye to eye with Yudhoyono
IN WELCOMING Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Australia is greeting a familiar friend. This is his second visit to Australia as Indonesia's President, but he had been here before his successful 2004 campaign for the presidency. Indeed, before he entered politics, as one of Indonesia's leading reformist generals he was already being cultivated by our Defence Department.
SMH
A department on the spree
PERUSING the detail of Defence Department spending in today's Herald a reader's natural first reaction might be: "Oh well, they do sign up to risk their lives to defend the country. They probably deserve the odd perk."
The Age
SBY visit shows need for closer partnership
Positive relations will help us benefit from Indonesia's rise.
The Age
Iraq's purple badge of courage
Iraq is not a nation that is known for the strength of its democratic process.
SMH
Fixing My University
THE federal government's heady vision for Australian universities is bigger and better - much bigger and better. There is good reason to aim high.
The Age
Nation cannot afford super sleight of hand
Complex products masking poor value? Alarms should ring.
The Age
Celebrate victory, but battles await
International Women's Day offers us the opportunity to take stock of what women have achieved in what has been for too long a male-dominated society.
The Age
Wholesome eating is one of many weapons in cancer fight
Extreme diets can do more harm than good.
SMH
Another week, another mountain for Rudd to move
THE Rudd government is starting to resemble the Monty Python How to do it sketch.
The Age
Sometimes saying sorry just isn't enough
The Prime Minister has admitted his government's failures. What matters is whether he's really willing to fix them.
SMH
Inertia keeps coal king
Gradually the consequences of the revolt against Morris Iemma and his attempted privatisation of the power industry in 2007 are being worked out in government decisions on investment in the power industry.
