The Policy Post

  The Peter Principle and the Dark Triad: why we have such lousy leaders. The machinations inherent in modern political parties keep many of the best people away from public life and promote some of the worst.

  Have the Greens already peaked? The Australian Greens are betting their future on a high-risk switch to hard-left opportunistic populism. It could backfire.

  Quietly, Albanese springs a $20 billion budget cut on the states. The federal government is slashing its funding for national roads and railways – and shifting the cost to the cash-strapped states.

Dutton’s Gaza adventure turns into electoral suicide. The Liberals are betting the election on yet another terrorism scare campaign – but they’re alienating the very people whose votes they must have.

  Can liberal democracy survive? Yes, actually. The fear and angst in western democracies is palpable. The threat from populists of the right is serious. But the reasons driving all this aren’t the ones you’ve been told.

  Assassination: the political strategy nobody admits to. Political assassination has always been an element of statecraft. But is it ever ethically justified? And does it work?

  The meandering mess of Tasmania’s politics. Tasmania’s three Lambie-ist MPs, now propping up an unpopular and inept state government, are getting cold feet. When will the plug be finally pulled?

  The time-bomb under every state budget. Australia’s public hospitals cost too much and achieve too little. Soaring costs threaten to drown state finances while abandoning patients. But it doesn’t have to be like this.

  A bill of rights is now tantalisingly close. Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a mandated charter of human rights. It’s now closer than at any time in 40 years.

  The budget that forgot health. Every element of Australia’s health system is in trouble. But you’d never know it from looking at this year’s budget.