The Policy Post

For China, is this as good as it gets? The ‘middle-income trap’ that ended the rise of so many former tiger economies now ensnares China. The prognosis isn’t good.

  How the west mishandles terrorism (and makes it worse) In the rich world, terrorism is one of the least significant of all threats to life and security. But our panicked over-reaction and rushed, repressive laws do what the terrorists could not achieve by themselves.

  Does Trump really matter? He thought the world was simple and that he had the formula for changing everything. But the world is more complicated than he ever imagined. His impact will vanish with him.

  We’re desperate for a new, better world. Who can deliver it? Parties of the progressive Left are the last, best hope to rebuild democratic societies and avoid domination by the populist far right. But are they up to the job?

  Anatomy of a blame game. As public hospitals sink further into disarray, federal and state governments go to war over money. And nobody wants to take responsibility for fixing the system.

  The resistible rise of the modern fascist. Western liberal democracy is under more stress than at any time in eight decades. But today’s wannabe fascists are more mortal than most of us realise.

  Climate change, security … and Indonesia. Australia can, with difficulty, handle most of what climate change throws at us. Our biggest, nearest neighbour cannot.

  Democracy’s crisis of confidence. Autocracies are winning the trust of their people. Democracies are losing it.

  One state has the worst hospital system – and the most expensive. Inefficient, neglected hospitals cost lives and waste dollars. You don’t always get what you pay for.

  Does Albanese lead a reformist government? Or not? He can leave taxes alone, or he can change Australia. Not both.

  Private hospitals: will they be there for you – or not? The system is broken. Hospitals are closing, patients turned away. It doesn’t have to be this way.

  The Public Service: back in from the cold The Albanese government has begun to rebuild Australia’s shattered Public Service. The government’s fate depends on it – but there’s much still to do.

  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.