The passing of the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three-Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 marks a major shift in Australia’s early childhood education and care system. For the first time, tens of thousands of children who were previously excluded from early learning will have access to at least three days of subsidised care each week (72 Continue reading »
Economy
Australia’s shift to wind, solar and battery storage has shielded households and businesses from much higher power bills than they would otherwise be paying, a new report has found, debunking Peter Dutton’s constantly repeated claim that renewables are to blame for rising electricity prices. The report, released by the Clean Energy Investor Group on Wednesday, Continue reading »
A giant eight-hour battery project in New South Wales has changed hands in a deal that also confirms that battery storage costs — a critical part of the green energy transition — are still falling significantly. The California-based Energy Vault announced on 18 March that it had agreed to buy the 125 MW, 1000 MWh Continue reading »
The big news on house insurance this week was the response of the insurance industry’s peak body to a parliamentary committee’s extensive criticisms of its treatment of people claiming on their policies after the massive floods of 2022. The Insurance Council of Australia accepted some of the committee’s recommendations, announced an “industry action plan” and Continue reading »
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and governor of Western Australia and now chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial. In the ABC’s recent 4 Corners program, he was cornered on the AWM’s acceptance of funding Continue reading »
Why does Australia continue to have a rampant cost of living crisis? That’s the $300 billion question. The hard men of Australia’s economic press claim it’s because of inflated wages and low productivity. Yet evidence suggests it’s mainly because of our big four banks. We have a stubborn “cost of living crisis” as mainstream media Continue reading »
Amazing? PM Albanese is the first Australian prime minister since John Curtin to push back publicly on our security against a global leader since John Curtin recognised the danger of an exploitative Britain eight decades ago. Curtin acted. Could it be that Albanese just might act too? Last week Anthony Albanese responded to a view Continue reading »
How should Australia respond when the US, our closest ally, is engaged in a very public and petulant global meltdown? Labor and the Coalition are desperately trying not to mention it while fearfully offering tribute to Donald Trump in the hope we will somehow be spared. This will not work. Bullies can smell weakness and Continue reading »
There’s a simple solution to the problem of Chinese warships sailing around Australia: a reciprocal agreement – you don’t sail off our coast and we won’t sail off yours. I have no doubt China would accept and adhere to such a reciprocal agreement. The obstacle is not them. It’s us, Australia, or more precisely the Continue reading »
The results of the Western Australian election on Saturday give credence to the latest opinion polling showing a trend back towards Labor in the past few weeks. Until mid-February the polls were suggesting the Coalition would have sufficient support to form (at least) a minority government. Making generalisations about national trends based on the WA Continue reading »