The extraordinary growth of the mobile internet carries the promise of a more inclusive digital economy, accessible to everyone with a cheap smartphone. A low-cost, mobile internet could reconfigure the provision of health and education, open new economic opportunities, and expand cultural, civic and political engagement. But as we know, this is not yet the...

If you’re in a gloomy mood, the Bureau of Statistics won’t be helping to pull you out of it. First it told us that wages across Australia grew at their lowest level on record, just 1.9 per cent, in the year to September. Now it tells us that, despite that unprecedented restraint, a net 70,000...

George Brandis’s backdown is only the first step in clarifying and protecting the role of this key legal officer LATE last week, six months after George Brandis quietly issued his Legal Services Direction tightening control over the work of the Commonwealth solicitor-general, the attorney-general abandoned the plan. He and the government no doubt hope that...

Towards the end of ABC TV’s special “Sovereign Borders“ edition of Q&A came an intriguing but frustrating back-and-forth about the number of migrants Australia welcomes each year. The key protagonists were Shen Narayanasamy, GetUp!’s human rights campaign director, and retired general Jim Molan, co-author of the Coalition’s refugee and asylum policy and Tony Abbott’s former...

The concept has spread like wildfire but the results, here and overseas, are mixed, reports Mike Steketee NSW PREMIER Mike Baird says they have the “potential to change the world.” When he was still social services minister, Scott Morrison said he was “very keen” to explore them further. According to an OECD study, “few social...