By Christian A. Nygaard, Professor of Housing Economics, UNSW
New mortgage loans dropped by a record 15% in the September quarter as the housing market downturn deepened, led by a 30.6% dive in lending to investors, official figures on Wednesday showed.
The Reserve Bank’s five interest rate hikes and stagnant real wages have hit housing demand from investors, first-home buyers and established home owners. Reforms to tax rules for investors have also contributed to sinking investor demand for existing…
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By Jason Bainbridge, Dean of Curriculum and Quality, University of Southern Queensland
Beaconsfield miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb became national heroes after spending 14 days stuck in a mine. Then the media turned their ordeal into a commodity.
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By Human Rights Watch
The girl in the picture looking straight into the camera with probing eyes is 15-year-old Rahile Omer. She was photographed in March 2018 among hundreds of other detainees at a political re-education camp in Konasheher county, Kashgar, Xinjiang. A 2022 BBC investigation identified her as the youngest among the hundreds whose headshots were leaked in the Xinjiang Police Files. Previous records show authorities detained her at age 14 shortly after her parents’ detention in mid-2017. Click to expand Image Then-15-year-old Rahile Omer photographed at a political re-education…
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By Liz Hicks, Lecturer in Law, The University of Melbourne
Lev Bromberg, Lecturer, La Trobe University
The High Court’s landmark decision will dictate when secretly recorded footage can be published, including by journalists, advocates and whistleblowers.
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By Shakiba Barghi, PhD Candidate in Publishing and Communications, The University of Melbourne
Rings of Power co-creator and showrunner Patrick McKay describes the third season, premiering this month, as a “turning [of] the page” for Prime Video’s high-budget Tolkien adaptation.
Season two ended with the Elven realm of Eregion in ruins and Sauron in possession of the Nine Rings intended for Men.
The new season picks up five years later, throwing viewers into a Middle-earth already at war, with Sauron working to forge the One Ring.
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By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia
The new series is a comedy with an irresponsible man-child at its centre. Truly, it is hard to care about any of it.
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By Jane Gilmore, PhD candidate, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Hub, Monash University
Russell Brand has been convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault and sentenced to ten and six months years in prison.
The Age, The Herald Sun, The Guardian, the ABC and The…
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By James Skinner, Dean Newcastle Business School/Professor of Sport Business, University of Newcastle
Eight years after sandpaper brought Australian cricket into disgrace, the latest integrity question concerns the investigation that followed.
The 2018 controversy was this…
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By Roger Dargaville, Assoc Prof. Renewable Energy, Monash University
A new report suggests the world is burning fewer fossil fuels, potentially due to international conflicts and surging energy prices.
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By Henry Fraser, Law Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has just announced six mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) safety guardrails.
The government will establish a new AI safety regulator to enforce the regulations, with the power to impose significant penalties.
According to the guardrails, frontier AI companies – the ones with the most powerful AI models at the cutting edge of AI development – will have to:
- implement security controls
- identify…
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