Facebook vs news: Australia wants to level the playing field, Facebook politely disagrees
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The Australian government is setting out to develop a “bargaining code” to address power imbalances between news media publishers and digital platforms such as Facebook and Google. The creation of this code was recommended...
Tear gas and pepper spray are chemical weapons. So, why can police use them?
Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA
In the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd and the broader issue of racial injustice, we have been bombarded with images of demonstrators being hit with tear gas and pepper spray.
In...
Cutting the ABC cuts public trust, a cost no democracy can afford
Picture: Danny Casey/AAP
While Australians are singing the praises of the front-line workers during the COVID-19 crisis, there is a forgotten front line that has also made personal sacrifices to help us get through the...
Local news sources are closing across Australia. We are tracking the devastation (and some...
Image: Shuttlestock
The Yarram Standard and Great Southern Star, both of which have covered South Gippsland for well over a century, won’t be returning from their coronavirus-enforced suspensions.
The two papers are the latest in a growing number...
Jenny Hocking: why my battle for access to the ‘Palace letters’ should matter to...
Picture: Independent Australia
Professor Jenny Hocking recently won her longstanding campaign for the National Archives of Australia to release the so-called “Palace letters” about the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975. This is her account...
Sunday essay: the politics of dancing and thinking about cultural values beyond dollars
A ghost light shines at the Theatre Royal in Sydney.
AAP/Joel Carrett
What keeps democracies together? As America burns, Brazilians die and Europe braces for another wave of the coronavirus, the question assumes an alarming...
Government to give $25,000 grants to people building or renovating homes
Image: Shuttlestock
The Australian government will provide eligible owner-occupiers with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or extensively renovate an existing one.
The scheme – estimated to cost up to $688 million –...
As Minneapolis burns, Trump’s presidency is sinking deeper into crisis. And yet, he may...
Picture: Sipa USA Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS/Sip
Violence has erupted across several US cities after the death of a black man, George Floyd, who was shown on video gasping for breath as a white police officer, Derek Chauvin,...
Trump’s Twitter tantrum may wreck the internet
Image: Sipa USA
US President Donald Trump, who tweeted more than 11,000 times in the first two years of his presidency, is very upset with Twitter.
Last week Trump tweeted complaints about mail-in ballots, alleging voter fraud –...
High Court ruling on ‘Palace letters’ case paves way to learn more about The...
Image: National Archives of Australia
The High Court has ruled that Sir John Kerr’s correspondence with the queen comprises “Commonwealth records”. This means access to them is now in Australian hands and can no longer be vetoed...
