Whether we need data-retention to combat terrorists is a matter on which reasonable people can disagree. What seems to occasion no discord in Australia's newsrooms, now to be exempt from having phone and email records picked over without a court order, is Australia's real enemy

Time was when Australia's inner cities were hives of industry, with factories and workshops around every second corner. These days, well the factories are hipster lofts and the sound of a shift-ending whistle is seldom heard. Yes, the demolition of tariff barriers has seen the arrival of lots of cheap consumer goods, but not everyone is celebrating

A government that can't sell its budget and disappoints its friends. An Opposition that has made a virtue of ignorance. And a country brimming with potential that is going nowhere. Welcome to Australia, 2015

Hangovers, the curse of the drinking class, generally last no more than a day or so. In Queensland, where Labor partied hard and hearty as the monumental swing against Campbell Newman & Co. was tallied, the headaches of the voters who fired up that celebration may well endure for years

Quadrant's Online cartoonist has become something of an election issue in Queensland, where the usual shriekers, howlers and scolds have taken offence at his depiction of Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk in her birthday suit.

Like all politicians, Bill Shorten’s talents for baby-kissing, hand-shaking, speech-giving […]

It's just so cool being in thick with the caring set -- and so easy too! Print out a 'je suis Charlie' sign, punch out a couple of tweets that are heavy on the hand-wringing and then luxuriate in that special, rosy glow of moral superiority. And after that? Why not decry moves to scrap Section 18C because everyone who is smart enough to have an Arts degree knows free speech can give offence and that's, like, heavily into being unacceptable, man.

Has the latest anti-Muslim backlash started yet? Well sit tight and the cookie-cutter keyboard ticklers at Australia's two most deplorable newspapers will tell us all about it. When all is not said and journalism left undone, regurgitating cliches is a lot easier than reporting on the real world

  “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language […]