technology Greens plant their flag on AI policy, but the portfolio is unrealistic The Greens are right that Australia's AI governance is broken — but their solution reveals a misunderstanding of what it actually takes to build a frontier AI model.
Education Free qualifications for existing tradies makes nothing new Australia needs tens of thousands more tradespeople. So why is the government's $78 million scheme targeting workers who are already on the tools?
Regulation Algorithm opt-out laws sound good until you ask who determines what’s in and what’s out Australia wants to let you opt out of social media algorithms — but the real question is who gets to decide what a safe feed looks like.
Taxation Copycat cigarette policy would reshape the illegal trade Cutting tobacco excise sounds like surrender — but the economics of Australia's black market make the case more complicated than that.
Housing Waterfront CBD blocks are not the places to build affordable homes Brisbane just approved 2,200 riverfront homes with zero affordable units — but is the loudest criticism actually targeting the wrong problem?
Law & Order There’s good money in drugs. $600 million. Australia is spending $600 million to stop cocaine crossing the Pacific — but the question no one in government is answering is why it keeps coming.
Energy Government gets out of the way to let the builders build. A $3 billion gas pipeline just got a regulatory fast-track in Queensland — but the harder questions about supply, jobs, and delivery haven't been answered yet.
Housing The banks’ role in housing and affordability Banks made $30 billion last year while renters struggle — but is the Senate inquiry targeting the right villain?
Taxation Trust tax tightens: the restructuring question Treasury can't quite settle Treasury's minimum trust tax has a coherent fairness argument — but the escape routes it offers small business may not survive contact with real-world income volatility.
Fiscal Policy Economy's hot streak poses more questions than answers Australia's GDP looks strong — but nearly half the spending jump came from one category. What that says about the rate rise coming in September.
Health Policy 1,400 patients trapped in hospitals as aged care crisis deepens 1,437 Queenslanders are clinically ready to leave hospital but can't — and the fight over who's to blame may be obscuring what it would actually take to fix it.
Housing Victoria Fast-Tracks Housing Approvals — But Only If You Build the Approved Way Victoria's new four-home fast-track sounds like planning reform — but the ten-day promise disappears the moment a project steps outside the code.
Regulation Coal mine for sale, only $2 Queensland is reviewing the rules that make miners pay for cleanup — and the industry practice that makes loosening those rules so dangerous.
Law & Order Victoria's road gangs: Good for roads, bad for business Victoria wants prisoners mowing verges so skilled crews can fix potholes. The budget logic works — but what happens to the contractors who do that work for a living?
Labour Market $5.3m in wage theft across aged care — and that's probably just the start Thirteen of 22 investigated aged care providers broke workplace laws — and the FWO was only looking at a fraction of the sector.
Housing Queensland rewrites planning rules to unlock housing - Is that ok? Queensland's planning rules haven't been seriously updated since 2017 — now the government wants to rewrite them. What's actually in the proposal, and what would it take to work?
party-policy Algorithm opt-in is really a platform opt-out Australia's Greens want to make social media algorithms opt-in. But what happens when the algorithm is the whole point of the app?
technology Help us AI, you’re our only hope. Treasury has set a stark productivity range for Australia's AI future — and the gap between the low end and the high end depends almost entirely on what businesses do next.
Government Spending Pokie money can’t buy the love Queensland hands out $60 million a year in pokies-funded grants — and calls it giving back. The incentives tell a different story.
Government Spending Closing the gap takes more than money Australia has commissioned another Closing the Gap review — but the terms of reference may be asking the wrong question entirely.
party-policy Portable bonds seems good on paper, but… Portable rental bonds fix the cash-flow crunch of moving house — but what happens to the landlord's side of the equation when the guarantee goes murky?
Energy Texas style deregulation for coal and uranium for NSW NSW wants Texas-style energy deregulation — but the one thing that makes Texas work is the one thing Australia has never allowed.
party-policy The Protest Vote in Perth. Victoria is the real test. One Nation just won a safe Labor seat in Perth with 39% of the primary vote. The question is whether that's a structural shift or the loudest byelection flare in years.
party-policy Albanese faces challenge from the Left, while the Right closes in A 28-year-old media founder is challenging Anthony Albanese in his own seat — and the crowds turning up suggest Labor's progressive base isn't as loyal as it looks.
Government Spending Victoria to pull it’s own statues down Victoria's new Premier has abolished a 25-year-old statue policy and called it fiscal responsibility — the numbers tell a different story.
