By Nathan Fioritti, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social Sciences, Monash University
Narelle Miragliotta, Associate Professor in Politics, Murdoch University
Inspired by his UK counterpart, the new Greens leader will likely lean into left-wing populism over the pragmatism of his predecessor.
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By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University
Australia’s headline inflation rate climbed to an annual rate of 4% in August, up from 3.5%, giving the Reserve Bank some vindication for its decision to raise interest rates a day before the figures were released.
But beneath that headline, the case for another hike was less clear. Underlying inflation, which strips out volatile items, remained steady at 3.6% over the year.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics
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By Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin Business School, Curtin University
Australian households are taking on much bigger mortgages than they were 15 years ago. And our incomes haven’t kept up, either.
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By Human Rights Watch
Click to expand Image Samuel Peter Oyay © Private (Beirut) – A South Sudanese political commentator remains in prison in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without charge a year after his arrest, Human Rights Watch said today. Emirati authorities have not disclosed the legal basis for the arrest of the commentator, Samuel Peter Oyay, to his family.Oyay fled South Sudan in 2014, fearing for his safety. He moved to the UAE and had been running a private business there. While in the UAE, Oyay had written regularly for independent South Sudan-focused platforms, accusing its government…
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By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne
An unprecedented boom is underway in Australia’s electric vehicle market.
Almost 158,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in the first six months of 2026, according to the Electric Vehicle Council’s latest report, released today. This is more than in all of 2025.
EVs accounted for one in four new cars sold in the first half of 2026, with their market share more than doubling from 12.1% in the first half of 2025 to 25.8% over the same period this year.
This surge has come amid…
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By Greg Treadwell, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Auckland University of Technology
Calls for an overhaul of New Zealand’s freedom-of-information rules have gone largely unheeded for years. But momentum for reform seems to be building.
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By Simon Adams, Professor of Human Rights, Murdoch University
In his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, António Guterres reminisced about his time as secretary general.
In his words, it was a decade during which wars:
dragged on with despicable cruelty. Civilians were targeted. Human rights trampled. Hunger weaponised. Humanitarians killed. International law cast aside.
It’s true Guterres and the UN faced increasingly difficult challenges…
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By Marta Yebra, Director, Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence, Australian National University
Laura Alonso, Postdoctoral Fellow, The Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
As the weather starts to warm in Australia, people are beginning to look ahead to the bushfire season.
The national Seasonal Bushfire Outlook, released in August by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, identifies areas where fire risk is expected to be higher than normal this spring, based on factors including weather, climate and fuels.
The council also emphasises that bushfires can occur in regions with a normal seasonal outlook, and…
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By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne
An unprecedented boom is underway in Australia’s electric vehicle market.
Almost 158,000 electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in the first six months of 2026, according to the Electric Vehicle Council’s latest report, released today. This is more than in all of 2025.
EVs accounted for one in four new cars sold in the first half of 2026, with their market share more than doubling from 12.1% in the first half of 2025 to 25.8% over the same period this year.
This surge has come amid…
(Full Story)
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By Sven Bilén, Professor of Engineering Design, Electrical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, Penn State
Starship’s heat shield is made of up of an array of ceramic tiles. Each is a small component, but together they have large consequences.
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