For all the chaos he’s causing in the Persian Gulf and the global economy, one consolation is that despite all his attempts to contravene the US Constitution, Donald Trump is limited by the 22nd Amendment to two fixed four-year terms in office.
‘Be cheaper to fill up with cocaine’. That’s what a bloke says to me while I pump petrol. I laugh. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s also my joke being repeated back to me which makes it funnier. Or maybe it’s not my joke. Maybe it’s something people say, and I just said it, so I think I made it up.
As Australia acquiesces in the United States' latest disastrous, illegal war, the Greens last week introduced a bill which would require both houses of parliament to vote before our troops can be sent overseas to engage in conflict. After one hour's debate, this was squashed by the Labor and Liberal parties, despite polls showing 90 per cent of Australians support war powers reform.
As the Middle East tragedy unfolded, I asked several friends how this was impacting them emotionally. Each one was seriously affected, with a range of emotions from rage to despair, sadness, grief, and helplessness.
While Trump may deny climate change and be pushing for greater fossil fuel extraction, the result of his actions of attacking Iran with Israel, without consulting the UN or any other countries he has since called on for help, is that he is creating the conditions for Australia to take decisive action on electrification, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and the call for greater tax on gas corporations.
Today I write to honour Rhoda Roberts. Widjabul Wieybal woman of the Bundjalung nation, cultural powerhouse, storyteller, knowledge holder, activist, arts executive, performer, advocate, and SBS Elder in Residence.
At the time of publication, the final numbers from South Australia's state election aren't yet finalised, which hasn't stopped various people from claiming they've made history, and making sweeping predictions for the political future of the nation.
Last Tuesday, AusPoll released their survey of Farrer voters showing voter intention: One Nation (28.7 per cent); Independent (23.3 per cent); Libs (19.1 per cent); ALP (9 per cent); Undecided (8.6 per cent); Nationals (5.2 per cent); Greens (3.9 per cent); Other (2.2 per cent).
And the grief is big. Anger. Sadness. Blame. Finger-pointing.
Before you start pointing the finger at Bluesfest maybe it’s time to point the finger at...
In line with their dysfunctional Coalition partner, The Nationals have just lurched even further to the right, elevating Queensland senator Matt Canavan to party leader following the sudden departure of David Littleproud.
It seems ironic, that in a life where so many of us have strived to be remembered, the real challenge, the greater subversion, is in fact the opposite: the right to be forgotten. And here in Australia, we don’t have the statutory right to erasure like they do in the EU, which means it’s pretty standard for private information about you to be easily found by third parties through search engines.
As the USA-Israel war machine kills and injures more people in Iran and beyond, driving the world towards recession, or more likely depression, Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago mate Pauline Hanson has been doing what she does best, fear-mongering and lying to the Australian public.
Who knows how many terrific ideas have wafted and dissolved after long literary lunches? This one didn’t – a shared idea took root, and after a lot of hard work the Northern Rivers Writers Centre, based in Lismore, was born and its first Byron Writers Festival took place in 1997.
The NSW government keeps harping on about the length development applications (DAs) take to be processed by councils, and recently it announced it is removing the DA approval process from councils’ hands
Desperate to distract attention from the Epstein files, and retain his faltering grip on domestic power, US 'Peace President' Donald Trump has attacked another sovereign country, and murdered its leader, along with numerous others, and Australia's prime minister is apparently fine with that.
Whether you agree with the community members who are listened to or not, it’s a powerful vote of confidence in democracy when community voices are heard, and policy is changed, even at the local government level.
Let's not pretend. Australia is experiencing a significant crisis of identity and culture. The multicultural mantra – 'many in one' – is being sorely tested by events like the politically motivated attacks in Bondi and Perth.
It is hard to imagine that a shortage of the world’s most widely used herbicide, glyphosate aka Roundup, could be a national defence emergency, but here we are with Trump’s Executive Order (18 February, 2026): ‘Promoting the National Defence by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorous and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides’.
I loved Wuthering Heights. The book, and Fennell & Robbie’s film. I don’t write film reviews, in fact, never, but after observing some of the negativity slamming this contemporary reimagining of the Emily Bronte classic, I wanted to share my view, as someone who watched it with the fresh eyes of my 16-year-old daughter.
The Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy saw some remarkable public exchanges last week, with the propagators of planet-threatening fossil fuel misinformation confronting scientists in Canberra.
The lack of a place to live because of the pressure on land, droughts, fires, and floods, are all increasing as a result of the impacts of climate change and continue to affect lives, and the future, yet the NSW state government still refuses to take decisive action.
The boys are back in charge. Sussan Ley was handed a poisoned chalice after the worst election defeat ever, and given the impossible task of rebuilding the Liberal party.
It is one thing not to be believed. It is quite another to be believed but not get justice. That is another form of abuse. A brutal public shaming, where your pain is used as clickbait for media platforms. Headlines about torture. About trafficking. About stolen girlhood. About women who were treated as sexual commodities, and traded like cattle for the slaughter.
The unceremonious dumping of Sussan Ley as leader of the Liberal Party is about to lead to an interesting by-election in her old seat of Farrer. As Sussan leaves politics to enjoy her parliamentary pension, what happens in this traditionally stodgy seat is likely to provide some real-time pointers on where conservative Australia is heading.
A few weeks ago a trans woman told me she was a big Pauline Hanson supporter.
WTF. How can a trans woman feel she is anyway represented, or safe, with One Nation? The same woman who teamed up with Holly Valance to release a parody version of Valances’ previous ‘hit’ (can we even call it that?) that mocks poor people, LGBTQ+ youth, women and the trans community.
Australia is drifting into a political age where culture wars no longer appear as noise at the edges of public life, but as a key organising principle of politics itself.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is due to arrive in Australia today, invited by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to meet bereaved members of Sydney's Jewish community, despite being the official representative of a genocidal state.
The community is becoming frustrated as Byron Shire councillors call repeatedly for affordable housing while they allow the old Mullumbimby Hospital site to languish with no tangible public, social, or affordable housing plan or development of the site.
I have always found Valentine’s Day weirdly performative. The idea that a prescribed day could be dedicated to expressing your love. With flowers. Or chocolate. Or champagne. Or diamonds. Yuck.
As the Liberal and National parties slide deeper into irrelevance, and further from power, leadership challenges continue to occupy the minds of members, rather than policy, or the needs of their constituents.
It is time for the Australian government to take a clear and firm stand for justice, equality and moral independence from the current US administration, as the US spirals further into chaos both internally and on the world stage.
Short story by Edie Foxglove.
Lu hates parties. Well, she hated that party, anyway. She dreams of attending big-city parties, far away from these people, this town...
Short story by Pearl Bannister. I read a book once; it was a book about a man, he was lonesome and lost. I read half the book before turning the light off at a quarter to one...
A ‘one-of-a-kind observatory that frames spectacular views of the constellations by night and the rolling green hills and mountain ranges of the Northern Rivers by day has opened to the public’ in Mallanganee, near Casino.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation has directly intervened against Aker BioMarine's krill supertrawlers in Antarctica.
Bob The Brown Foundation said in a statement it...
For all the chaos he’s causing in the Persian Gulf and the global economy, one consolation is that despite all his attempts to contravene the US Constitution, Donald Trump is limited by the 22nd Amendment to two fixed four-year terms in office.
Mullumbimby’s much-loved bowling club is poised for a major transformation, with the historic site set to become home to a 24-hour gym in a shift that will permanently change how the community uses the venue.
