The Bearing (Page 6)

The Bearing

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Silhouetted figure holding clipboard examining stacked unmarked boxes with puzzled expression

Audit on defence munitions shows there's nothing to see here

A $1.9 billion contract to keep Australia's only domestic munitions factories running has left $42.5 million unaccounted for — and the audit findings go deeper than bad paperwork.

Person using a petrol pump with a severed hose, unaware fuel cannot flow through the disconnected nozzle.

Australia might invest in a new oil refinery! Nah - here's a few bucks off your fuel bill instead!

Australia has spent $3 billion on fuel excise relief that built nothing. Now it's spending $4 million to study whether to fix the actual problem.

Frodo from Lord of the Rings approaching a glowing poker machine instead of the ring

Government's punt on punting is a winning bet. But if gambling is a problem please call...

Australia's states collect $8 billion a year from gambling — and the way federation is funded means they have a structural reason never to stop.

Empty auditorium seats facing a podium with a single microphone, symbolizing silence and lack of engagement in political disc

Labor's disciplined silence masks a deeper problem: a party with nothing to say

Labor's national conference ended with no major decisions and no real debates. Whether that reflects strength or something more worrying depends on what the silence is hiding.

Overhead view of a dinner table with piles of Australian currency placed on each plate

Politicians need to raise money for the party. It's a thing.

A $10,000-a-head dinner at a Point Piper mansion is generating outrage — but is the scandal the dinner, or the system that makes it routine?

Abandoned oil platform silhouette standing isolated on a vast, empty ocean horizon.

The best way to avoid decommissioning costs is to have viable energy projects

Two companies worth $9 million just left a $200 million cleanup bill in the Indian Ocean. The question isn't who pays — it's why the rules let this happen at all.

Hot air balloon labeled 'gas tax' floating above Australian Parliament House

Gas tax is all hot air

Labor says no to a gas export tax — but is the policy the Greens want actually capable of doing what they claim?

Offshore gas rig topped with an oversized barrister's wig against a blue sky and sea

New heritage for old gas site

A Federal Court challenge to Woodside's 2070 gas approval raises hard questions about ministerial independence — and arrives at the worst possible moment for Australia's energy supply.

Drone view of an industrial Australian suburb with outlined building footprint on ground.

Greens moratorium on AI data centres is short sighted

Victoria wants to freeze data centre construction until standards catch up — but the cost of that pause may be far larger than the problem it's trying to solve.

Anthony Albanese looking confused while holding an empty fuel pump nozzle with no fuel coming out

Fuel Crisis the Sequel: This time, it’s the same

Australia's fuel discount is about to be extended again — and the five months since the last crisis were spent doing nothing to prevent the next one.

Industrial smelter with smoke stacks releasing Australian money notes instead of smoke, representing financial waste.

Government Spending

Government’s dodgy loan to a dodgy manganese smelter.

Administrators say Liberty Bell Bay was insolvent three months before Tasmania handed it $20 million. How did the government miss it — and does it matter?

Small business owner plumber standing with two employees holding tools next to a new utility vehicle

Coalition launches tax change for small business.

Both major parties have promised small business tax relief for a decade. A 25-year-old Estonian model suggests they've been solving the wrong problem.

Figure feeding coins into a KPMG-branded vending machine with Australian money spilling out the bottom.

Government Spending

Government keeps feeding KPMG millions despite ethics scandals

Australia's ethics rules for government suppliers exist on paper — but $51 million in active KPMG contracts raises the question of whether anyone is enforcing them.

Humanoid robots working in a TV newsroom, including camera operator, producer, and two news anchors at desk

The Bearing isn’t the only place experimenting with AI news.

The ABC is bringing AI into its newsrooms — but the editorial standards governing it haven't been made public. For a public broadcaster, that gap is the story.

Family completing census form at kitchen table with shadowy figure visible through window

Government Spending

National Audit Office worried about Census Cyber Security

Australia's biggest data collection is 11 weeks away — and the national auditor has just found its cyber defences weren't built right.

Politician taking a selfie with phone while embarrassed bystander walks past

When politicians chase the clicks. Please don’t.

Australian politicians are racing onto podcasts and TikTok to reach voters — and discovering the format doesn't hide what they have to say.

Central figure connected by radiating lines representing centralized control across multiple policy areas

Centralisation of AI oversight as government restructures tech governance

Australia's new AI office sits in the most powerful department in Canberra — but proximity to the PM could make it slower, not faster.

Humanoid robot with broken heart sitting on couch surrounded by ice cream, wine glass, and tissues

China cracks down on AI companions. What’s next?

China just banned AI companionship to push young people back into the marriage market. The logic that allowed it doesn't stop at the border.

Modern electric vehicle at finish line while gasoline car abandoned and dusty on racetrack behind it.

Twenty years of Chinese state planning have upended the global car industry

China decided two decades ago it couldn't win the old car race — so it changed the game entirely. Now the West is scrambling to respond.

Teacher with students and individual support workers in a classroom setting.

145,000 autistic people may lose NDIS support under Labor cuts

Australia's autism diagnosis rate has risen tenfold in two decades — and the NDIS may have had something to do with it.

Guitarist performing on small stage in coffee shop while retro 1980s style computers watch as audience members.

Musician uses computer to make a viral cover song. Industry shocked.

A chart-topping cover made with AI vocals has the music industry in uproar — but is the outrage aimed at the right target?

Hand signing a rental lease document with redacted sections and illegible key terms

Defining a problem is a good first step if you want to address the problem

Victoria's 'affordable housing' label is legally meaningless — and the government has sat on a fix for two years.

Office workers at computer terminals in open plan workspace with AI text overlaid on desks, chairs, and people

Australia’s productivity will be boosted by AI, somehow…

The Treasurer says AI will fix Australia's productivity problem. But from the boardroom to the budget, nobody can yet say exactly how.

House-shaped piggy bank splitting in half with coins pouring out from the crack.

What Australians really think about falling house prices

Australians are split on falling house prices — but the two sides of that debate are not carrying equal political weight.

Robot wearing headphones, relaxing and enjoying music

Spotify lets 1000 flowers bloom, but tells you which ones are plastic.

Spotify's new AI labelling rules sound modest — but the numbers behind the AI music panic may surprise you.