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.
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.
Regulation Queensland rushes critical minerals laws through parliament Queensland just made it faster to approve critical minerals projects. The question is whether slow approvals were ever the real problem.
Regulation Cash is king. Except the e-prince makes the rules. When a government orders private firms to keep running a service the market is abandoning, who actually ends up paying — and does cash survive?
Regulation Woolworths tries the jingle cure for Darwin loitering, and annoys everyone else A Darwin Woolworths is looping its own jingle outdoors to drive away loiterers — but who leaves first, the troublemakers or the paying customers?
Regulation ESG red tape to be examined. Why not try something radical instead? Australia is reviewing its ESG rules — but what if the whole disclosure-first model is the problem, not just the paperwork?
Regulation The real winner from gambling reform Australia's new gambling bill has real measures — but it stops exactly where the tax revenue starts to get uncomfortable.
Regulation Terrorists don’t respect gun laws The Bondi buyback targets licensed gun owners who follow the law. The question no one in government is answering is how the attackers got their weapons.
Regulation The great packaging war. Who cleans up? Australia's new packaging bill would make producers pay for the waste they create — but Europe's experience suggests the levy and the outcome aren't the same thing.
Regulation Credit card surcharge ban closes an escape hatch for renters—and reshuffles who pays Australia's surcharge ban promises cheaper payments — but for renters who rely on credit cards to bridge the gap to payday, it may mean no payment option at all.
Regulation More rural rules doesn’t necessarily lead to more bars on your phone Seven million regional Australians have patchy coverage and months-long waits for technicians — but the proposed fix may be making the economics of rural investment worse.
Regulation WA corruption watchdog wants more power. When is it too much? WA's corruption watchdog wants power over private contractors — and the case for it is real. But so is the risk of building an institution no one can check.
Regulation The realities of a mega-telco for the bush Forcing telcos to share towers in the bush sounds like an obvious fix — but the last time the ACCC looked at it, the answer was more complicated than that.
Regulation Everything in aviation has a price. Now we know how much. Jetstar says unbundling overhead locker fees is transparency. Critics say it's a trap. The real question is who bears the cost either way.
Regulation Facebook’s creator funding raises eyebrows at the extreme Facebook is paying creators who post white nationalist content — but is the real problem Meta's politics, or its broken enforcement model?
Regulation Is it better to take your company public? ASIC wants more companies on the ASX — but does a public listing actually make a business succeed, or does it just take credit for success that was already coming?
Regulation Tech giants hold upper hand in media negotiations Australia raised the penalty rate on tech giants that won't pay local news outlets — but quietly changed the calculation in ways that may cost the platforms less than before.
Regulation Why AI regulation is already obsolete before it's written Every parliament on earth is racing to regulate AI. The problem isn't the urgency — it's that legislation is the wrong instrument entirely.
Regulation Senate to think about how to take tax from modern punters Australia collects $10 billion a year from gambling taxes — so when the Senate debates protecting punters, whose interests is it really serving?
Regulation Could the Government sue Telstra for what is said on the phone? Australia's eSafety Commissioner is taking Telegram to court — but the legal theory being tested could reach well beyond one messaging app.
Regulation 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?
Regulation 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?
Regulation 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.
Regulation 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.
Regulation Treasury moves to regulate cash distribution as digital payments advance Australia is turning its cash distribution network into a regulated utility — but the government's stated reason for doing so isn't the only one worth examining.
