By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a fresh plea for Australia to be given relief from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs during a phone call between the two leaders overnight Thursday.
Trump agreed to “consider” the request.
Albanese described the wide-ranging conversation as productive, constructive and “very warm”.
He told a Friday news conference he asked Trump to “consider a full exemption” from the recently imposed 12.5% tariff, “or at the very least no increase” from the earlier 10% tariff. Australia makes repeated representations against Trump’s…
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By Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate Editor, The Conversation
Some ominous news out of Ukraine this week in the form of an air defence assessment from Ukrainian intelligence official, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky. Skibitsky reported that Russia is rejigging its defence industry to prioritise the production of ballistic missiles. This, he said, would mean a concerted campaign of strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of the coming winter.
Ukraine has already depleted its stocks of air defence systems. It was getting most of these systems from the US, initially directly in the form of military aid and more recently via its other…
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By David Nichols, Professor of Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne
Johnny Young has died at 79 from pancreatic cancer, and Australian pop music has lost another of its multifaceted creatives of the ‘60s and '70s.
While there may be different assessments of Young’s legacy, it’s undeniable he made a major impact on this country’s musical and television landscape.
John de Jong was Dutch-born and raised in Kalamanda, in the hills of Perth. As a pop singer he was an early beneficiary of the generosity of the first wave of Australia’s international pop sensations: the Easybeats’ George Young and Stevie Wright wrote him a hit single, Step Back.…
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By Robert Breunig, Professor of Economics and Director, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Productivity Commission has recommended undoing the controversial 2018 changes to the distribution of goods and services tax (GST) revenue between the states that has cost taxpayers A$23 billion.
It has proposed reinstating the system that existed before the Morrison government’s deal that gave billions of dollars in extra funds to Western Australia, at the expense of the other states.
The commission’s 124-page interim report finds the reforms were “a costly mistake” and “have not…
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By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland
Drinking a lot of cow’s milk can increase your child’s risk of low iron. Here’s what to look out for.
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By Iryna Skubii, Mykola Zerov Fellow in Ukrainian Studies, Senior Research Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Ukraine has proposed a deal to halt attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea – an effort to allow grain shipments to resume from both countries.
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By Wendy Hargreaves, Academic in the School of Education and Creative Arts, University of Southern Queensland
The Swedish pop song came out at a time when ABBA was trying to break into the American market. But it would go on to become a global anthem.
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By Roger S. Seymour, Professor Emeritus of Physiology, Adelaide University
New research suggests crocodiles used to have hot blood and fast metabolisms, but gave it all up to lurk underwater waiting for prey.
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By Michaela Spencer, Senior Research Fellow, the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University
Annunciata Nunuk Wilson, Indigenous community-based researcher, Indigenous Knowledge
Janine Cooper, Indigenous community-based researcher, Indigenous Knowledge
Latisha Marranytya, Indigenous community-based researcher, Indigenous Knowledge
Troy Mardigan, Indigenous community-based researcher, Indigenous Knowledge
Elders say there are many drivers of community violence and unrest that go unaddressed by typical law and order responses. Here’s what they’re doing instead.
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By Sharon McLennan, Senior Research and Teaching Fellow, School of Health, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
This week’s Pacific HIV Symposium in Fiji is a response to a highly complex regional crisis, not one that stops at the island nation’s border.
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