Global Issues
As Facebook caves to Singapore censorship, the writing is on the wall
Observers have been waiting to see how Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (known more commonly as POFMA) would be applied since it was passed in…
Hollowed out, but not unhinged
Sam Roggeveen has written a lively essay on the current state of Australian federal politics, centred on the hypothetical scenario that one of the two major parties takes an anti…
The new development banks: Paradigm shift or poor imitation?
2014 marked the 70th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference, and it was a turning point for the global financial architecture. In July that year, the BRICS countries – Brazil…
Behrouz Boochani: Still in limbo
Although Behrouz Boochani has never set foot on the Australian mainland, his is a familiar name in the country, a link to the men on Manus Island subject to Australia’s offshore…
The Nazi in your feed: Regulating social media and hate speech
In a widely praised and generally excellent speech last week, Sacha Baron Cohen, AKA Borat, AKA Ali G, launched a scathing attack on what he named as the “Silicon six” – six…
Shock therapy: why Australia needs a political jolt
In recent years, the world has witnessed a number of “black swan” events – surprises with massive implications for the particular countries involved and also the international…
Chart of the week: The climate cost
Two years ago, Scott Morrison walked into the Australian parliament brandishing a lump of coal. “Don’t be afraid. Don't be scared. It won’t hurt you. It’s coal,” Morrison said,…
Book review: The chance to actually change the climate
Book Review: Ross Garnaut, Superpower: Australia’s Low-Carbon Opportunity, La Trobe University Press, 2019)
If anyone in Australia deserves the somewhat overused epithets of …
Australia and immigration: Lessons from Reagan’s 1986 US amnesty law
Last week, as the world’s attention fixed on the United States Capitol and the presidential impeachment inquiry, across the road in the US Supreme Court, another hugely…
In conversation: Weak parties, hollow politics, and democratic danger
This is an edited and abridged transcript of the launch of Sam Roggeveen’s new Lowy Institute Paper Our Very Own Brexit, held last week at the National Gallery of Victoria in…