The Policy Post

  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.

  Want to save public hospitals? First, stop being stupid. Under-funding is not the main reason for the crisis in Australia’s public hospitals. A far bigger problem is systemic stupidity.

  Australia as an industrial superpower? Well, yes … The Albanese government’s Future Made in Australia project is one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented policies of recent times. It may also be the most important.

  Jacqui Lambie’s imperial ambitions take a tumble. She tried to turn her idiosyncratic brand into a sort-of party. But, as with so many of those arrangements before, it’s quickly falling apart.

  In their last redoubt, the Liberals lurch further to the right – and oblivion. The Tasmanian election was a disaster for both major parties, but only Labor has a path back.

  The campaign to destroy the GST. Australia’s GST system – despite some serious mutilation by WA – remains one of the most effective and fairest in the world. That’s why the NSW government wants to blow it up.

  How not to run a government. There’s a reason Tasmania’s hospitals and essential services are the nation’s worst. It’s because the state government underspends its own infrastructure budget by 27%.

Medicare is bleeding to death. Will Labor ever do anything about it? GP visits are down 37% since the government took office. But all we get is spin.

We need to talk about Gina and Andrew. Natural resources are owned by the people of Australia, but mining companies don’t like paying us for the resources they take out of the ground. And when they look like having to pay more, their response is swift and brutal .

  The huge cost of inequality. The two richest people have as much wealth as the bottom 5.5 million. The tax system is one of the world’s least progressive. Essential services are failing. This is Australia.

  Defusing the population bomb. Can global economies just keep growing forever? Or will we finally reach the ultimate limits of growth – with disastrous consequences for humanity?