Search for hope amid gloom
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPClimate change, the war in Ukraine, a global pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, tensions with China, the list of global crises goes on, all of it overwhelming.…
Editorial
Previous government stuck its head in the sand on vaping, but the Albanese Government will not
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPIn the film Thank You for Smoking, big tobacco spokesman Nick Naylor admits that his job requires “a certain moral flexibility” to earn a living…
Robodebt a ‘stain on Australia’s soul’
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPLike so many of you, I’ve watched the royal commission into robodebt with competing emotions of frustration, anger, sorrow and admiration (for the brave victims,…
Magic of an afternoon grand final is impossible to beat
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPIs it too soon to think back to being locked in our homes, safe from the scourge of COVID, with only a footy match for…
Working Together to Solve Australia’s Housing Challenges
Editorial by The Hon Julie Collins MPBuilding a home involves the work of a lot of different professions. Architects, drafts people, surveyors, carpenters, plumbers, sparkies and other tradies to name a…
Once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve housing in Australia
Editorial by The Hon Julie Collins MPRight now, the reality for Australians trying to find a place to call home is difficult. Too many Australians are facing or experiencing homelessness and…
Housing affordability brick by brick
Editorial by The Hon Julie Collins MPWhen people think of Canberra, the house that usually comes to mind is Parliament House. But having spent time travelling to the nation’s capital, I…
Ukraine, one year on, be assured your fight is our fight
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPLast Friday marked a sad day. Twelve months of the worst land war seen in Europe since 1945. On Friday night, I was privileged to…
Illegal Robodebt scheme has caused real pain and anxiety to almost 400,000 Australians
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPThe first sitting week of the 2023 Parliament is now under the belt and it’s good to be back. I’m raring to go. After spending…
myGov is critical national infrastructure and we want it to be a premier digital asset
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPNothing brings home the vastness of our continent more than remote communities being cut off by flooding. We have watched this reality with the recent…
Why we should declare all NDIS fraudsters un-Australian
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPSam Kekovich is a bit like the Santa of Australian culture. He only appears once a year, as our lamb ambassador. Some of his ads…
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission report shows need to do better on shared housing
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPMost of us list having a place to call home as essential to our quality of life. A home is about more than bricks and…
Biggest challenge lies in returning trust lost in Australia’s aged care system
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPWe approach every New Year with a sense of optimism, don’t we? In the early days of January, once the frenetic lead up to Christmas…
Grateful attitude in times of crisis is powerful coping mechanism, UCLA research finds
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPThere is a Greater Good Science Centre at UCLA, Berkley. Researchers there study the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of wellbeing. They found that having a…
The tears and triumphs of 2022
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPAt this time every year we ask ourselves how we possibly could have already completed another lap around the Sun. Surely time is going faster…
Why giving people, who may otherwise spend Christmas alone, a sense of belonging is so important
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPIt’s the 21st of December – gravy day. I’m a big Paul Kelly fan and I love his Christmas anthem How to Make Gravy. I’m…
Robodebt saga shows need for frank and fearless public service
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPLast night, the robodebt royal commission heard from a true Australian legend. Colleen Taylor was the Centrelink worker who in 2017 raised concerns within the…
New myGov app will be easier and more secure
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPEasier. Quicker. More accessible. What’s not to love about the new myGov app that launched this week? I mean, if Australians have to interact with…
The mega-rich one percenters need to butt out of wage debate
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPWe seem to be bombarded by news of billionaires behaving badly these days. Workers at the Jeff Bezos-founded Amazon have had a long-standing fight to…
Underdog Aussie Socceroos will do us proud at FIFA 2022 World Cup
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPOne of my favourite build-ups to any international sporting event is the singing of national anthems. Whether it’s our Advance Australia Fair, America’s Star Spangled…
Medibank, Optus data breaches show Australia’s online safeguards are outdated
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPBy the time you read this I should be waking up in Estonia, a small Baltic nation that shares a border with Russia and has…
True extent of Robodebt shame revealed
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPIn the 1993 Oscar nominated true-life drama In the Name of the Father starring Daniel Day-Lewis, a film about the Guildford Four, who were wrongly…
How we will stop criminals defrauding the NDIS
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPCould there be a lower act than organised criminals targeting the disability dollar? Probably not, but it’s happening. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission found that…
In times of disaster, Australians are at their best
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPLabor handed down its first Budget in a decade last night and front of mind for Treasurer Jim Chalmers were the Australians directly impacted by…
Bali bombings’ quiet heroes
Editorial by The Hon Bill Shorten MPAt about 11pm on October 12, 2002, the first of three explosions detonated in the Bali tourist district of Kuta. Travellers and locals alike were…