The ABC’s international broadcasting to the Pacific islands is being devastated by the latest round of staffing cuts We’re sitting on the grass in the village of Matangi on the island of Futuna. This is one of the more isolated communities in Vanuatu, a small group of houses on a small island at the southeastern...

The Australian waded into the tobacco packaging debate with a series of blunt assertions, then responded to the counter-evidence by digging in. On 6 June this year, the front page of Murdoch’s local flagship, the Australian, was dominated by an “exclusive” report headlined, “Evidence ‘World’s Toughest Anti-Smoking Laws’ Not Working: Labor’s Plain Packaging Fails As...

Tennant Creek has developed innovative ways of dealing with social media. But the initiatives are languishing, partly for lack of funding. Aboriginal elders and parents in Tennant Creek became disturbed during 2012 by reports that kids had been involved in cyberbullying, something they knew little about. Local authorities told them their children had been texting...

By the time the first edition of the Australian hit the streets almost fifty years ago, a vital part of Rupert Murdoch’s strategy had already run into trouble. David Bowman’s first inkling of the tidal wave about to strike Canberra was a chance encounter at Parliament House in late February 1964. Bowman, editor of the...

Babies born in detention are taking the federal government to court. Meanwhile, being locked up is making their parents dangerously ill. When Sister Brigid Arthur first encountered “Ana” she was “sparky,” despite being in detention. She appeared physically and mentally well, and was as excited as “the brightest young mother-to-be” about the imminent birth of...