The Policy Post

  Australia is now a one-party state. What price democracy? Governments need functioning oppositions to keep them in check. Australia no longer has one of those.

  Shocks and aftershocks 1: Five tipping points that made the modern world. Global change happens slowly, then all at once. And it’s driven by ordinary people shouting: “What about me?”

  Shocks and aftershocks 2: The undeliverable promise of liberalism. The difficulties besetting the world today can be traced back to their origins in the speculations of the 18 th century Enlightenment.

  Shocks and aftershocks 3: Freedom for the wolves. Between 1789 and 1860, Europe was transformed. Industrialisation and liberal economics fused into a kind of new feudalism.

  Shocks and aftershocks 4: And then the world ended. As the 19 th century progressed, reforms were minor and grudging, doing little for the great mass of the people. Finally, in 1914, the edifice collapsed.

  Shocks and aftershocks 5: After Armageddon, rebirth. Socialism turned out to be much worse than liberalism. Then a new way appeared … for a while.

  Shocks and aftershocks 6: Peace, love and company profits The upheavals of 1968 presaged the ultimate triumph of liberalism. Personal freedoms were finally realised – but neoliberal economics failed just as badly as ever.

  Shocks and aftershocks 7: The post-liberal malaise Liberalism has run its course. The US is no longer the ‘indispensable nation’. Other countries must find their own new way.

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

  The PBS is under fire from US drug giants. There’s not much they can do. The drug companies have bought both American political parties. They have not bought Australia.

  Labor’s health pitch (and why it won’t work). Undeliverable promises about bulk-billing ignore an entire health system in slow collapse. Labor has lost its capacity for transformative change and the Liberals are – well, the Liberals.

  Labor: the fightback begins The Albanese Labor Party’s fight to retain government is under way. Despite doomsayers, a swag of evidence points to a second win – and an increased majority.

  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 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.