In the midst of the global energy crisis sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran, Australia and Japan’s recommitment to fossil fuels is feeling less like energy security and more like a desperate attempt to maintain a beleaguered and risky status quo that prioritises corporate profits over the welfare of both nations’ citizens.
Sir David Attenborough turns 100 this week. Very few people have the good fortune to live for a century. Fewer still achieve so much and touch so many lives. He gave the now legendary comedy troupe Monty Python their lucky break, greenlighting their Flying Circus. His keen eye and care for viewers is in part why tennis balls are yellow, not white – they’re much easier to see on screen. But Attenborough is, of course, most famous for his nature documentaries.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
The problem is, that the ABC article was not based on data from the Department of Social Services. Rather, it was based on research compiled for a life insurers lobby group, whose board are all CEOs of insurance companies.
The Australian Government is getting less money from our gas exports than Japan is. How can this be?
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If anything, the more generous a country is to foreigners, the more it usually provides for its own people.
Labor has announced a new gas reservation policy that will require energy giants to set aside 20 per cent of exports for the east-coast domestic market from July next year. With the announcement of this policy, the Albanese government has been accused of “caving” to the gas lobby and offering a “half-baked” solution to avoid mounting pressure for a 25 per cent export tax.
The current policy benefits insurers, not young people. But it hasn't always been this way.
Around 600,000 of Australia’s teenage gamblers are aged just 12-17 years old, which is enough to fill the MCG six times over.
Protesters highlighted the significant risks posed to Scott Reef and marine ecosystems, as Woodside comes under pressure over the Browse project’s emissions and costs, as well as its appearance at a Senate inquiry into gas taxation.
An inaugural member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s (NACC) leadership team has resigned. Deputy Commissioner Nicole Rose will finish her role at the NACC later this month, before taking a period of leave and relocating overseas.
There is a surprising similarity between Australia and the Academy Awards (hint: it isn’t Jacob Elordi). The Oscars uses preferential voting, or a ranked-choice ballot, to determine category winners – the same method Australia uses to decide elections.
It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
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Australia’s first climate case to reach the High Court will be heard next week, in a landmark legal battle that could reshape how fossil fuel projects are approved nationwide. MACH Energy is challenging last year’s NSW Court of Appeal ruling that sided with an Upper Hunter community group.
The $17 billion in revenue that Australia is foregoing each year by failing to properly tax gas exports is enough to fund many of the essential services Australians rely on. One example is the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which purchases approved medicines from pharmaceutical companies and subsidises their cost for Australian patients.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released its first annual “human rights health check” to track Australia’s progress in protecting human rights and highlight persistent gaps. The 2026 assessment cautioned that “global and local trends are eroding democracy” and said Australia lacks adequate safeguards to respond to the challenges.
The South Australian election earlier this year was the first test of the dramatic changes that the Malinauskas Labor Government made to democracy in the state. Under Labor’s electoral changes, to compensate for the ban on most private political donations, established political parties and sitting MPs receive generous taxpayer funding from South Australians (freeing those private donations to go to federal campaigns instead).
US allies are being forced to rethink their security and economic ties as Donald Trump lashes out at his geopolitical rivals and traditional partners. Speaking on the Australia Institute’s Follow The Money podcast, US political expert Dr Emma Shortis said global leaders are “absolutely appalled” by Trump’s warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet his deadline to strike a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
