While serious youth crime fuels genuine fear, evidence suggests harsher punishment is failing to address the small group of repeat offenders driving much of the harm.

Political corruption thrives not simply through individual wrongdoing, but through systems that reward secrecy, influence and unequal access to power.

Australia’s productivity debate overlooks a fundamental flaw: across much of the economy, productivity simply cannot be reliably measured.

As propaganda clouds the Ukraine war, inconvenient truths are being buried and voices opposing the conflict silenced.

AUKUS critics warn the $500 billion submarine deal is sacrificing Australian sovereignty and social priorities to deeper integration with the U.S. war machine.

Economic analysis in most of Australia’s media last week was more manipulation than information.

AI and war contributed to this week's interest rate rise. Everyone is sorry; no one is responsible & the bill is paid by everyday Australians.

Australia’s courts stand tall on antisemitism while our universities, health and arts institutions continue to be cowed into submission.

Angus Taylor harping on about wokeness and culture war politics could drive more voters to One Nation.

Striking Ore charts the rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara, revealing how worker solidarity won hard-fought gains and what was lost as organised labour declined.

Donald Trump’s headlong push for AI supremacy lies where artificial intelligence meets very real stupidity.

Australia’s elections give voters real choice, but democracy remains incomplete when political parties control who gets to appear on the ballot in the first place.

Around the world, there is growing consternation about the state of U.S. democracy. The angst is most intense in Washington, DC.

David Shoebridge’s rise to the Greens leadership offers a chance to challenge Labor from the Left and push for more radical action on inequality, climate change and AI.

Australia must confront falling fertility, an ageing population and growing skills shortages with a long-term strategy that looks beyond migration alone.

One Nation supporters consistently say Pauline Hanson is an “average” Australian who speaks her mind and “says what the average person is thinking all the time”.

One Nation supporters consistently say Pauline Hanson is an “average” Australian who speaks her mind and “says what the average person is thinking all the time”.

With warnings of an AI-fuelled apocalypse growing louder, Independent Australia went straight to the source and asked ChatGPT whether we should start panicking.

Despite calls for AI guardrails, sadly, the Albanese Government has been "toothless" and slow to act on the threat of AI.

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates to 4.6%, but higher rates cannot fix oil-driven inflation and risk deepening an economic downturn.

Today's boys are being fed entitlement and grievance — women are cast as the enemy who took something that was owed to them.

The global space economy is becoming another layer of the world's critical infrastructure — is Australia ready to meet the challenge?

With AUKUS costs soaring and scrutiny lacking, a public inquiry is asking the questions Parliament has failed to confront.

Australia’s bid for a UN Security Council seat exposes foreign policy contradictions that stand in sharp contrast to Finland’s diplomatic approach.

Healthcare, housing and energy will be major issues in the U.S. midterm elections. How Australia compares is worth examining.

Mainstream media has normalised Donald Trump’s lies, allowing deceit to become a powerful political weapon with little accountability.

AI is accelerating warfare and raising the risk of conflict spiralling beyond human control.

The Coalition’s opposition to tighter working holiday visa rules is at odds with its lower migration target, leaving few politically palatable options for achieving it.

China, India, the United States and Australia reveal why democracy must be judged not only by elections, but by who holds power, who benefits and who gets heard.

The mainstream media continue to deny the positives, amplify the negatives and fabricate falsehoods.

Bidding wars and nonsense targets are the focus of immigration policy in Canberra, with the Government's policy hoping to nullify One Nation's influence.

For 30 years, Pauline Hanson has asked Australia to listen — now it is Australia's turn to talk and Pauline's turn to listen.

Australia’s obsession with metrics, audits and managerial efficiency has created a culture of distrust that undermines professional integrity and the public good.

As Australia finally joins the voices calling for sanity on AI and the Ku Klux Klan say they find One Nation’s rise “heartening”, managing editor Michelle Pini examines what such developments...

A long-awaited report on Victoria’s koalas has exposed alarming health problems and raised serious questions over population estimates and monitoring methods.

Democracy demands more than elections, requiring both the power to challenge governments and the security and opportunity to share in national progress.

Global fuel disruptions are exposing Australia’s vulnerabilities and strengthening the case for greater economic self-reliance.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is just the symptom of a much larger malaise in the heart of civil administration.

A century-old science-fiction play foresaw the promise of AI becoming an existential threat to humankind.

Press freedom is under attack from algorithms and journalists trying to wound rather than inform.

Commonwealth considering establishing statutory authority to take responsibility for the Emergency Call Person function currently performed by Telstra.

As AI industry leaders warn of the dangers of rapidly advancing superintelligence, Donald Trump is doubling down on America’s race for technological dominance.

Amid Hanson’s vitriol, supporters are recasting aspiring LNP leader Andrew Hastie as a voice of integrity and reason, but his track record makes it a hard sell.

As Trump and Xi prepare to meet, the world’s mounting crises demand cooperation that neither leader seems willing or able to deliver.

The skyrocketing global oil price in recent weeks has reignited the debate on cost of living pressures in Australia.

Chris Hedges warns that Trump’s efforts to reshape the US electoral system threaten the midterms and could leave mass resistance as the final defence of American democracy.

David Higginbottom examines who really holds power in Australia and how democratic institutions can better serve the people they represent.

Commentators continue to vilify the Albanese Government with nonsensical claims about the economy.

Tony Burke's immigration policy changes are like a Curate's Egg - good in parts, but are they enough to lower NOM to the targets Burke has set for himself?