Australia has been remarkably lucky, says new Treasury Secretary John Fraser (left), who notes that the nation's ever-growing debts are being financed at blessedly low interest rates. When they rise, unless the will is found to crimp government spending, the crunch will hit hard, deep and long

Good reporting hangs upon the obligation to lay out the facts without fear, favour or bias. At the national broadcaster a rather different approach prevails, as coverage of the Triggs hearing demonstrates: begin with an inaccurate summation, omit relevant background, and highlight only the most dubious and partisan accusations

A friend and brave colleague awaits trial in an Azerbaijani prison, the charges against her so patently ridiculous they would be laughable if a courageous reporter did not face the prospect of an extended stint behind bars. Her real crime? Daring to shine a light on the business dealings of her country's President and its First Family

A President who refuses to acknowledge that Islamist terror has anything to do with Islam is a poor prospect to resist Russian ambitions in the Baltic, should Moscow next target those nations in its campaign to re-claim the former Soviet empire. As Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia understand, they are on their own

More than two centuries in his grave, the philosopher's warning that politics should and must be more than "an auction of popularity" has never lost its relevance, not least as radicalism and ballot-box venality continue to undermine both moral government and the polities of the West

Is anyone even a little surprised that the Labor-appointed Human Rights Commissioner has put her reputation, not to mention an exquisite sense of timing, into a report intended to alert her oblivious countrymen to the alleged inhumanity of the current government?

Actually, only five have complained so far, but why not apply warmist statistical methods to allegations of roving hands, lurid texts and an obsession with 'voluptuous breasts' that have seen the world's premier alarmist resign? One possible defence: climate change makes bureaucrats hot to trot

They all seemed like good ideas at the time, especially the bit about making Bill Shorten look good in order to secure a firm hold on his party's leadership. Unfortunately the other part of this strategy hasn't quite clicked: presenting Abbott & Co., as paragons of unity, competence and fairness

Putin is not alone in using ethnic-TV broadcasts to sow dissension, discord and resentment in emigre communities around the globe, but the sheer size, slickness and penetration of his propaganda enterprise eclipses even the considerable efforts of Islamist incendiarists

Twenty-one Copts are beheaded on a Libyan beach, their butchers' mockery filmed in graphic detail for the amusement and edification of the legions who take seriously the Prophet's unambiguous call to strike at the necks of unbelievers. There is blood on more hands than those which wielded the knives

First, quit singing Kumbaya and accept that some people just need killing. As to the ones who don't, which is to say the very many Muslims who sympathise with those who do, curtailing Muslim immigration while simultaneously reforming the welfare system would be two more very useful measures

We wait in vain for a leader who acknowledges that Islam, a creed devoted to conquest, remains true to its 1300-year tradition of violence, oppression and treachery. What we get instead are lickspittle political opportunists prepared to betray Western civilisation

But then most of us aren't "climate scientists", who have once again granted themselves permission to assemble a cavalcade of conjecture and omission and parade it as "evidence", courtesy of the Australian Academy of Science. They do, however, care deeply about puppies and kittens

Be it on TV or radio, every minute of every broadcasting day is the same: Tony Abbott is evil, the Coalition is worse and only Malcolm Turnbull is fit to lead -- until the next election, that is, when the Labor/Greens auxiliary that controls the national broadcaster can campaign for their luvvie soulmates

So some senior Liberals don't like Tony Abbott and aim to do him in with a campaign of leaks, lies and ludicrous pseudo-scoops of the kind that suckered The Australian only last weekend. Perhaps they haven't heard what treachery brought the Tories after Margaret Thatcher's ouster

A legal technicality has wiped the jumbuk jihadist's terrorism conviction, but the man who revelled in the company of Osama bin Laden was never an innocent abroad. He knew full well what he was doing -- and so do his apologists on the left

They were there at the start, when the study of climate was in its infancy, but today the names of meterologists such as Hubert Lamb are seldom mentioned by those colleagues and their heirs who very quickly grasped that sound science doesn't pay half as well as a good scare story

While they wait (and wait) for the dams to empty and never fill again, Tim Flannery and his pals at the Climate Council keep gabbling of imminent global disaster. Give 'em credit for tenacity, but what they really deserve is a good spanking for taking indecent liberties with science

All smart tourists know to guard wallets and money belts from the infamous pickpockets of Paris. Let us hope Tony Abbott is similarly aware of the kleptocrats and con artists who will be eager to relieve Australia of both wealth and security at the upcoming climate conference