By Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College
Pyrrhus was said to have remarked that one more victory would leave his kingdom ‘utterly ruined.’ Some see echoes in US interventions in the Middle East.
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By Perin Gürel, Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN in January 2026 that “we live in a world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power” – what he called the “iron laws of the world.”
This “might-makes-right” mindset, which seems to permeate the Trump administration, sees the world through a singular prism and leaves little room for understanding others or their perspectives. Although President Donald Trump
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Jozef Síkela (left), EU commissioner for international partnerships, meets with Ethiopia’s minister of foreign affairs, Gedion Timothewos, in Addis Ababa, April 20, 2026. © 2026 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia European Union Partnership Commissioner Jozef Sikela announced on April 21 the resumption of EU’s direct budget support to the Ethiopian government: the final step towards normalizing relations with the country.The move comes as Ethiopia’s dire human rights situation has deteriorated ahead of June 1 national elections.The EU initially suspended…
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By Helen Dickinson, Professor, Public Service Research, UNSW Sydney
Ebe Ganon-Davey, PhD Candidate, School of Business, Canberra, UNSW Sydney
In sweeping reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) announced today, the government will cut 160,000 participants from the scheme over the next four years and reduce funding for the average plan by A$5,000 in the next two years.
Speaking at the National Press Club today, NDIS Minister Mark Butler argued…
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By Laura
In a world where criticism is seldom allowed, and journalists and essayists face significant risks in addressing the inner workings of power, fiction offers an alternative solution.
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By Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Critical Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, Macquarie University
Tamika Worrell, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Critical Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University
New research positions AI not as a standalone tool, but as part of a wider system that shapes relationships between people, institutions, data and Country.
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By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
The government will slash spending in real terms on the National Disability Insurance Scheme over four years, as it undertakes a massive “reset” of the program.
People with lower support needs will be moved off the scheme and over the next two years the average spending on plans will reduce to about A$26,000 – back to where it was in 2023 – down from the current $31,000.
Spending on third parties who manage most NDIS plans and claims will be cut by 30%, and more providers will need to be registered, particularly those giving personal care.
Announcing the crackdown,…
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By Samantha Hepburn, Professor of Law, Deakin University
Politicians and environmental groups are renewing calls for a 25% tax on Australia’s gas exports. An energy law expert explains how it would work.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Smoke billows over the Mississippi River in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. October 15, 2023. © 2023 Eli Reed for Human Rights Watch This Earth Day arrives at a sobering moment as the EPA continues to erase the safeguards it was created to uphold.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970, following the first Earth Day, expressly to protect human health and the environment. But, since President Donald Trump’s second term began, rapid-fire policy shifts have pivoted the agency away from public health.Since January of 2025, the…
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Internally displaced people carry food parcels during a distribution at Seba Care displaced persons camp in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia, July 19, 2024. © 2024 MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested Western Tigray Zone are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Tigrayans and severely restricting their movements, employment, and access to services.The Ethiopian government and their international partners seem determined to ignore the treatment of Tigrayans as effectively second-class citizens.The Ethiopian government…
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