Politics
Self-interest at heart of super industry gripe
ROSS GITTINS Opinion Politicians must steel themselves to fix a mess that will keep growing.
Sunshine House becomes lost in the sleazy shadows
PETER COSTELLO Opinion A minority government protects conduct that should not be tolerated.
The fair go has fairly gone
Chris Middendorp Opinion We are a scandalously divided nation, and a little class warfare is very welcome.
Bitter tears hide super self interest
ROSS GITTINS Opinion Have you noticed? Our guardians in the superannuation industry have come out swinging to defend us against the changes to superannuation announced in the budget. Mark Payne, a partner in the legal firm Hall & Wilcox, says ''anyone that has turned 50 can feel dudded''.
Origin of the species: what a state we're in
Debra Jopson Opinion It's a clunky name, but the people of NSW should be grateful that the very colonial moniker given their state makes it almost impossible to herd them into one descriptor, such as ''Territorians'' or ''Queenslanders''.
Why changing drug laws is a political problem, not a scientific one
Don Weatherburn Opinion The overarching goal of Australian drug policy is harm minimisation. One obvious way to minimise drug related harm is to prohibit its use.
This inquiry is a nonsense
Michelle Grattan Opinion In political terms, Labor is sensible to agree without a fight to the privileges committee looking at whether Craig Thomson has told the truth - but the inquiry itself is surely a bit of a nonsense.
China throws book, but Carr parries with chapter and verse
PETER HARTCHER Opinion China's leaders are notorious for giving foreign visitors lectures in history to explain current realities. Last week Bob Carr turned the tables on them.
Time to put to rest claims of Abbott's DLP tendencies
GERARD HENDERSON Opinion In politics it does not take long for throwaway lines to become established mythology and later perceived truth. The possibility that Tony Abbott might become prime minister is focusing attention on his political background and how this might influence his current attitudes.
Indonesia's radical shift
Michael Bachelard Opinion Extremists have swapped bombs for martial arts in a brand of arrogant Islam that is asserting itself - not even Lady Gaga is safe.
Literary classics are not a trash and treasure mix
Peter Craven Opinion Text Publishing may just cheapen the brand with its definition of a masterpiece.
The world holds its breath as Europe struggles in the quicksand
TIM COLEBATCH Opinion The consequences of the EU's austerity drive look increasingly dangerous.
Thomson: A tale full of sound and fury
DANIEL FLITTON Opinion At least this nasty mess has exposed the strengths and weaknesses of our system.
An extraordinary spectacle
MICHELLE GRATTAN Opinion Well, what happens now? Craig Thomson has done the thing everyone demanded.
MP ticked the right boxes
PETER HARTCHER Opinion IT LOOKS like the government has got away with it. That's what the Craig Thomson excitement was all about yesterday - can the Gillard government, with its wafer-thin advantage, survive his statement to Parliament?
Hardly Atticus Finch, but demanded attention
JACQUELINE MALEY Opinion ''YOU have unleashed the lynch mob,'' the member for Dobell told the Coalition.
Thomson believed what he was saying: body language expert
Glenda Kwek Opinion Federal MP Craig Thomson was nervous and appeared uncomfortable during his parliamentary address - but he believed what he was saying, body language experts say.
Craig's list: the greatest conspiracy of them all
TONY WRIGHT Opinion If you were to believe him, Craig Thomson is the victim of the greatest conspiracy in modern Australian public life. Enemies within the Health Services Union, an incompetent and possibly malicious Fair Work Australia, large sections of the media, a federal Opposition unfit to govern...all have conspired to ruin his life and his mental health.
Believe him or not, Thomson rises to occasion
JACQUELINE MALEY Opinion It’s not often you can sit in Parliament for an hour, listening, and be totally captivated.
Mud, splat and tears on 'judgment day'
LENORE TAYLOR Opinion It was supposed to be Craig Thomson's ''judgment day''. Instead he told the parliament and the media they had no right to pass final judgment on anyone. And the parliament? It just continued to throw mud.
Thomson's feisty pitch stretches belief
MICHELLE GRATTAN Opinion Craig Thomson did not give an inch in his parliamentary statement replying to Fair Work Australia's forensic indictment of him.
Judgment day here for Labor's life of shame
PAUL SHEEHAN Opinion In the months leading up to the 2007 federal election that ended the Howard era, the NSW central coast was alive with a political blitzkrieg.
Alert, but not alarmed: enemy not at the gates
David Day Opinion Australia needs to reassess its old fears of invasion and defend accordingly.
Katherine Murphy
Team Abbott embraces Asia
KATHARINE MURPHY Opinion There's more to the political debate than white noise about Thomson and Slipper.
Thomson has no words to lance boil that will ache until election day
PHILLIP COOREY Opinion The question that will be left hanging after Craig Thomson makes his statement to Parliament today is how did the whole saga get this far?
Strange bedfellows in the quest for a head on White House pillows
Peter Baker Opinion It's not undemocratic but it is un-Democratic, and the Republicans are at it too.
Should the government decriminalise drugs?
Opinion We have joined the WikiCurve debating forum with the question: should the government decriminalise drugs?
US exit creates army ripe for recruitment
Paul McGeough Opinion Numbers coming out of Afghanistan often are scary but try wrapping your head around this one - 123,500.
Bush or bust
FARRAH TOMAZIN Opinion The coalition government should be wary of neglecting country Victoria.
It's not just Big Brother: even his toys are watching
Guy Rundle Opinion Total surveillance is just another nail in the coffin of civil society.
