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Last weekend, neo-Nazis gathered outside NSW parliament. Organisers had registered the protest with police – and nothing was done to stop it going ahead. When two female politicians spoke out against the fascists who gathered, they were targeted with threats of violence and death. The premier has said there will be an investigation into how this was allowed to happen. But this protest is not...

This week, the Liberal party officially scrapped net zero –  a move widely expected, but out of line with public opinion and science. It also raised questions about Sussan Ley’s handling of the policy debate, and ultimately about her leadership. As the right faction of the Liberal party celebrates its victory, speculation continues about when Sussan Ley will keep her job. There&rs...

A year ago, the High Court handed down a decision that was a blow to survivors of child sexual abuse everywhere. In a case brought by a man who was abused as a little boy, the Catholic Church’s Diocese of Ballarat argued that they couldn’t be sued for the actions of one of their priests, because priests are employed by God – not by the Church. The ruling in the Church’s fav...

A letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reopened the fight over gambling reform.  Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is calling for a free vote in parliament on a ban on gambling advertising, saying it has significant support across the chamber. Inside Labor, many MPs say they want change – but are too afraid to speak publicly.  It follows a Four Corners investigation that showed...

As the year winds to an end, kids with autism and developmental delay face an uncertain future. Back in August, the government revealed plans to kick them off the NDIS – announcing a new scheme called Thriving Kids , set to kick off next year. The health minister, Mark Butler, said it would give kids better support – and go some way towards curbing the billions being spent on the NDIS....

The world’s richest man just got the world’s biggest pay rise, with Tesla shareholders approving a $1 trillion package for Elon Musk over the next decade. As he accepted the deal, Musk danced on stage with Tesla’s humanoid robots – and thanked his supporters – saying he “super appreciated it”. But as the company’s stock is known to plummet when Musk...

Tomorrow marks fifty years since the infamous moment when a clearly nervous spokesperson for the Governor General stood on the steps of Parliament House and announced that Gough Whitlam had been dismissed. But what happened on Remembrance Day in 1975 wasn’t just an unprecedented political crisis — it was a warning. One that exposed the fragility of our constitution and the lingering po...

This week, more than a dozen people were arrested while protesting at a defence conference in Sydney. The demonstrators from Palestine Action Group were protesting the presence of Israeli defence contractors, who were exhibiting at the event. The riot squad, along with dogs and mounted police officers clashed with protesters and used pepper spray several times on the crowd. Clashes like this one h...

Back in 2021, the Coalition was united in their support for net zero, with then-prime minister Scott Morrison describing the plan as “100 per cent supported by the government”. Now, just four years later, the Nationals have walked away from it – and the Liberal Party is set to follow. Despite personally supporting net zero, Sussan Ley will scrap it in an attempt to hold on to the...

The killing in the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region is so brutal and widespread that bloodstains on the ground can be seen from space. For a year and a half, a militia group called the RSF has been attacking the city – and last, week it fell, resulting in the mass slaughter of civilians. In the past two years, 12 million people in Sudan have fled their homes – and more...

Last week, Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” resume US nuclear weapons testing. The order breaks with more than three decades of protocol for the United States – justified, according to the president, by the actions of China and Russia. And as these nuclear-armed powers expand and modernise their arsenals, countries closer to Australia are openly debating whet...

Recently, the creators of ChatGPT have made a surprising announcement: erotica is coming to the world’s most popular AI platform.  It’s the latest step in a transformation of the internet —  where artificial intelligence is shaping not just what we read or search, but how we think, feel and even form relationships. Today, associate editor for  Crikey Cam Wilson, on...

Last week, trans teenagers in Queensland and their families had a short moment of joy: the supreme court overturned the state government’s ban on gender affirming care. The judge found the decision to stop children from accessing puberty blockers was done without proper consultation. He found that the ban had been rushed through without giving medical professionals warning – or a chanc...

Some childcare centres in Australia are so understaffed that children are left alone for hours. Other centres spend less than a dollar a day on feeding them. Yet the industry receives billions in public subsidies and dodgy centres are allowed to keep operating even after serious breaches.  What’s emerging is a picture of a broken childcare system – one where regulators aren’...

Back in 2023, Australia’s top court made a landmark ruling: it was against the law for the Australian government to indefinitely hold people in immigration detention. That ruling had massive implications for our country’s border policies. It overturned 20 years of precedent – and it led to the release of people into the community who had been held in immigration detention after h...

Murray Watt has talked a big game about fixing our environment laws by the end of the year. But this week, the government’s attempt to do that fell apart – with the crossbench and Coalition senators refusing to back the changes. At the same time, Labor faced a dramatic revolt in the Senate over its refusal to release a secret report meant to fix the culture of cronyism – and jobs...

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have met face-to-face for the first time in six years.  The meeting, on the sidelines of the APEC summit, comes at a time of deep tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Tariffs are soaring, critical minerals are being weaponised and the battle over tech dominance is reshaping global supply chains.  Trump likes quick wins, while Xi likes play...

Anthony Albanese’s $13 billion critical minerals deal with Donald Trump has been touted as a huge win – one that strengthens our relationship with our most powerful ally – and delivers massive US investment in our national interest. But while Australia and the US talk it up as a blow to China’s stranglehold on these important commodities, questions remain about the cost: to...

Tech giants have invested billions into AI – and are looking for ways to get a return.  So when Microsoft offered its customers its new AI function “co-pilot” recently, it told them they’d need to pay a higher price for their subscription – or cancel. AI was now part of the deal, whether they wanted it or not. Except it wasn't. Now, the ACCC is suing Microsoft &n...

When Joshua Brown was arrested for allegedly abusing children at childcare centers across Melbourne, it exposed a horrifying reality: patchwork regulation and an understaffed, profit-driven industry is failing children. Months on, as state and federal governments try to deal with the fallout – and as the Albanese government pumps record investment into the early childhood sector – expe...

The National Anti-Corruption Commission has over 200 employees, an annual budget of $60 million, and has received more than 5,000 referrals. It also hasn’t made a single major corruption finding in the two years it’s been operating. And adding to questions around performance and credibility, it was recently revealed that the NACC’s Chief Commissioner, Paul Brereton, has been cons...

When Anthony Albanese met with Donald Trump, the two leaders cut a deal on critical minerals worth $13 billion. And as we settle into a new phase of the relationship with our most important ally – this is Australia’s crucial bargaining chip, as the US tries to break China’s grip on the supply chain of critical minerals. China’s global domination has been in the works for de...

Barnaby Joyce has announced he would not recontest his seat of New England, saying his “relationship with the leadership of the Nationals in Canberra has unfortunately, like a sadness in some marriages, irreparably broken down”. People are now guessing whether his flirtation with One Nation will turn into marriage. So does the former Nationals leader belong in Pauline Hanson’s pa...

“We are in this together… we’ll play some more soon.” That’s what Prince Andrew wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 – the day after a photo of Andrew with accuser Virginia Giuffre hit the papers. The email undercuts the prince’s claim that the two had cut ties in 2010, and is part of a new stream of documents surfacing as US Congress releases tens of thousan...

When Professor Christian Downie appeared before a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation, he warned that Australia is facing coordinated campaigns designed not to debate climate solutions, but to stall them. Professor Downie has spent years inside boardrooms and the lobbying world studying how these campaigns are built – tracing the billions spent on messaging by lobby groups,...