The Bearing (Page 7)

The Bearing

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Artist's hand holding paintbrush with bristles dissolving into pixelated binary code and data streams.

Government's AI copyright pledges show a lack of AI understanding

Australia's AI copyright pledge sounds strong — but can you actually police what data a model was trained on, across servers in Virginia, years after the fact?

Pharmacist handing over medication bag while receiving Australian cash from customer at counter

The Pharmacy business: Owners, Customers, the Government, and the Rules

Australia's pharmacy rules were written by the people they benefit — so why do governments keep agreeing to them, and what would it take to change that?

Figure trying to build a fence around a dispersing cloud containing Australian cultural elements escaping through gaps in the

Australia's push to block AI training data may backfire—and won't work anyway

Australia wants to protect creators from AI companies mining their work — but the policy may burden local developers far more than offshore giants.

Treasury official with small watering can attempts to revive heavily pruned tree with cut branches on ground.

Treasury tells the watchdog to grow faster

Australia's financial regulators have been told for years to stop things going wrong. Treasury now wants them to help things go right — but can a letter change what a crisis cannot?

A government official holding a beer can with Australian dollar notes dripping from the bottom.

Government Spending

Tasmania government organises a brewery

Tasmania wants to buy a 145-year-old brewery site — but announced the deal before completing any analysis of what it would cost to clean up or develop.

Two men working together on a remote-controlled balsa wood model airplane at a table

Hobby clubs ’fix’ loneliness better than any government program.

One in seven young Australians is persistently lonely — and the clubs quietly fixing it cost almost nothing to run.

Three Australians—a farmer, construction worker, and businesswoman—examine an orange flag while holding navy, red, and green

Upside-down parties and forgotten politics

Wayne Swan says Labor's historic majority is 'wide but shallow' — and the voters missing from it are the ones the party was built to represent.

Humanoid robot sitting on prison cell bed with toilet visible in corner

Government sets AI rules before the window closes—but offers few details on what they'll actually do

Labor says AI data centres will pay their own energy and water costs — but the rules aren't written yet, and the investment decisions won't wait.

Education Featured

Super Learner Vs Super Lazy. University’s AI Dilemma

More than half of Australian university assignments now contain AI — but the real crisis isn't cheating, it's what happens when a generation stops struggling to think.

Frozen rental house trapped inside a giant ice cube, symbolizing housing restrictions and frozen rental market.

Rent caps save renters money if you ignore all flow-on effects

A single $15,590 figure is carrying the entire weight of Victoria's rent-cap debate — but what does the modelling actually measure?

Developer's hard hat on a stack of Australian cash with apartment buildings in the background.

How subsidies meant to fix housing affordability are enriching developers instead

Australia's affordable housing schemes promise supply — but the numbers behind one Sydney development reveal who is really collecting the windfall.

Oversized fuel pump tower looming above a car driver unable to reach the nozzle at the bowser station.

Setting fuel price in a crisis is risky business

Brisbane's petrol price cycle is back — and the debate over capping daily price rises just got a lot more complicated.

Small picturesque house enclosed by tall barbed wire fence

Unaffordable, affordable, price-capped public housing

Canberra's 'affordable housing' already costs a median earner a third of their income. The Greens want something better — but haven't said what it would cost or how it would work.

Aerial view of single house for sale surrounded by large crowd of prospective buyers and families waiting in line.

Why rent assistance expands the poverty trap it claims to solve

Rent assistance is meant to help retirees escape poverty — but in a market that keeps absorbing every demand-side subsidy, who actually benefits?

Australian Prime Minister walking away from camera with small nuclear weapon in back pocket

Nuclear Never? An armed Australia is technically not out of the question.

Australia promised to sign the global nuclear weapons ban. Four years later it hasn't — and the reason tells you everything about where its defence strategy is heading.

Empty university lecture theatre with lone lecturer at podium, overhead view

Why Australia's universities are trapped in a wage-cutting spiral

Australian universities say the funding crisis came from outside. The structural choices that made it inevitable came from within.

Elderly hand reaching toward a partially open door, symbolizing access and care barriers

Who bears the load when the federal aged care system is broken?

When an elderly patient is stuck in a hospital bed waiting for an aged care place, who pays — and who is responsible for fixing it?

Worker in hazmat suit holding Australian $50 note with tongs, representing Australia's nuclear profit paradox.

Australia's nuclear hypocrisy: we ban it at home but profit from selling it abroad

Australia holds 28 per cent of the world's uranium and sells it to countries generating clean electricity — so why does the law forbid us from doing the same?

Builders with tools resting on an empty construction site, waiting to begin work.

Housing approvals slide as construction pipeline weakens

Australia's apartment approvals just fell more than 10 per cent — and the consequences won't arrive until the exact years the housing accord is meant to deliver.

Australian police officer with eyes closed, standing outdoors in uniform.

Government Spending

News Flash: The Government Cant Protect You From Being Scammed.

Australia has a $2 billion scam problem and a framework designed to fix it — but the auditors just found a critical flaw in how it's being built.

Robot sitting at desk stamping documents with pile of stamped files in out tray

Intellectual property is safe: The robots will make sure of it.

A federal audit cleared IP Australia's AI patent tools — but the governance gaps it found raise a harder question about the decisions already made.