Last Updated: 7/01/2008 12:23:49 PM
7 January 2008, 11:00
Joanna Mendelssohn
With the work of some artists generating massive profits on the auction room floor, Joanna Mendelssohn argues it is time for new legislation that sees artists getting a cut.
"Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri's painting Warlugulong was bought for $1200 and sold by a private dealer in July 2007 for $2.4 million. The artist had died in 2002. Neither the Papunya community where he lived, nor his family were entitled to receive any benefit. The other profit taker was the auctioneer Sotheby's, which did exceedingly well from both the sellers' commission and the buyer's premium." More...
4 January 2008, 15:00
Lucy Saunders
Lucy Saunders says Kevin Rudd must stick to his election promise to abandon full-fee paying places at Australian universities.
"There?s no real argument for full-fee degrees. All they do ? and what they are designed to do ? is let dumb rich kids into uni, while the rest of us have to compete on boring old merit. Our cash-strapped universities have understandably leapt on DUFF places like starving dogs, making vague efforts to justify this compromising of academic integrity." More...
4 January 2008, 10:00
Trevor Cook
The Liberal party need to woo back the battlers, writes Trevor Cook.
"These Labor habits of moderation and pragmatism now see the Liberals out of office in every state and territory and federally. Without a doubt it is the lowest point ever in the Liberal Party?s history. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to overstate the extent and possible duration of Labor?s dominance. The right Liberal leader, an economic downturn some mistakes by the Rudd Government and political sentiment can shift quite quickly. More...
3 January 2008, 12:00
Professor Simon Jackman and Janet Gibson
Professor Simon Jackman and Janet Gibson unravel the complexities of the US presidential election, which kicks off today with the caucuses in the midwestern state of Iowa.
"It is a process that seems odd to non-American eyes, in which contenders from the same party openly criticize each other and their policies for months at a time; contrast politics in parliamentary systems, where party disunity is typically tantamount to electoral suicide." More...
3 January 2008, 10:00
Irfan Yusuf
Irfan Yusuf laments the oppression of writers, poets and artists in parts of the Islamic world.
"But some countries' citizens don't enjoy such free political and cultural discussion. Instead, they are spoon-fed politics, culture and even religion by officials from the "Ministry of Information", which determines what they see, hear and read on all available media. Forget about poking fun at the leader; if you don't show sufficient reverence to your President or General or Ayatollah or Chairman, you can be imprisoned or "disappear"." More...
2 January 2008, 12:00
Steve Keen
Economist Steve Keen says while the Australian addiction to credit cards might be fading, there are real concerns about general personal debt.
"Unlike businesses, households can't simply cease existing, sack the kids, or really cut back on consumption except at the profligate margin. Getting household balance sheets back in order in 2008 is likely to be a more difficult, and protracted process than revising corporate balance sheets was in the 1990s." More...
2 January 2008, 10:00
Bob Ellis
Bob Ellis believes David Hicks was treated badly because of his association with Islam.
"Why is he so different? Why do we think so badly of him? He?s inadvertently become, I think, the focus of the new anti-Semitism, as the Howardite Australians practise it. By the same thought-process Hitler used to make marriage to a Jew a gaolable offence, the Howardite Australians (not you or I, comrade) have made conversion to Islam an unspeakable iniquity. But they?ve hidden the word ?Islam? beneath another word, a word without meaning, ?terrorism?. More...
1 January 2008, 10:00
Mark Pesce
Mark Pesce says the new year will be about synthetic organisms, solar panels powering under Australian blue skies and the internet transforming US politics.
"Somewhere in the first half of the year, someone will unveil the world's first synthetic organism. This bacteria won't have naturally evolved over billions of years; instead, biologists will paste together a minimal series of genes, producing an organism from scratch." More...
31 December 2007, 09:00
Mark Thomson
Mark Thomson wonders if Kevin Rudd can implement his grand foreign policy plans for Australia in 2008.
"Arguably, Rudd's most ambitious foreign policy goal is for Australia to mediate between the United States and China. This is a laudable aspiration; Australia's economic and strategic security is acutely vulnerable to disruptions in great power relations to our north." More...
28 December 2007, 18:00
Bronwyn Curran
Benazir Bhutto embodied the contradictions of Pakistan and her assassination has left Pakistan bereft, writes Bronwyn Curran. "Benazir spoke out boldly and confrontingly against extremists, helping to tell the world that Pakistan is not a land of bearded fundamentalists, but a land of refined, gracious, tolerant and eloquent people. As Benazir follows her legendary father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and her brothers to their premature family grave, trains, cars, banks, factories are on fire across Pakistan." More...
28 December 2007, 10:00
Philip Benwell
Philip Benwell says the Queen, at 81, is not only the oldest living monarch to occupy the throne but a representative of the success of the constitutional monarchy.
"Even if the Queen did decide to reduce her activities, it would not affect us in Australia one iota as it is our system which is supreme and which will continue to protect the interests of the people regardless of who the monarch is or what the monarch does." More...
27 December 2007, 10:00
Rosey Golds
Rosey Golds says Australians are living in "gated communities" of ideas, where debates occur between people - but only if they agree with each other.
"For some time, now, I?ve been aware of how difficult it is to discuss a range topics with peers simply because they?re not interested in considering other perspectives. These people would consider themselves smart and informed yet, as far as I can see, they abandoned any genuine search for truth long ago." More...
26 December 2007, 10:00
Lex Marinos
As the Boxing Day Cricket Test begins Lex Marinos is full of anticipation and recalls the drama of 1981.
"Australia batted first on a wicket of dangerously variable bounce, and when Greg Chappell was out for his fourth consecutive duck, the home side was reeling at 3 down with a mere 8 runs on the board. In strode Kim Hughes who proceeded to counter attack, wielding his bat like a lightning bolt." More...
Older Stories...
