The government has failed in its attempt to ram unprecedented changes to the migration act through parliament. The laws, now being reviewed by a senate committee, could be disastrous.
The release of more than 140 ex-detainees from immigration detention has prompted a panicked government response. So, what does the legislation say, and what happens now?
This week, the High Court made an order which overturns the laws on which much of Australia’s immigration system is based. What happens to the law, and those most affected by it, now?
In 1974, Congress invented the reconciliation process to reduce deficits. More recently, reconciliation has been used in ways that increase the deficit. A public policy scholar explains the process.
Jeb Barnes, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The idea that Washington, DC is paralyzed by gridlock rests on half-truths about the legislative process and a basic misunderstanding of how contemporary policymaking works.
A survey of 800 foreign policy experts identified four international issues where Republicans and Democrats may actually cooperate to get something done – and one area of severe disagreement.
Daughters of Robert Menzies and Arthur Calwell say parliament wasn’t always a “fort”
The Conversation, CC BY79.2 MB(download)
Last week, Michelle Grattan moderated a very special discussion with the daughters of Menzies and Calwell at Parliament House. This podcast episode is a recording of that event.
While the US has the most powerful military machine in history, it is also incomparably the most expensive – and members of Congress work aggressively to maintain it.
Kelebogile Zvobgo, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The first truth commission to research lynchings has been established in Maryland. It has the potential to educate the public about and support racial reconciliation. But it also faces obstacles.
Research shows that women work more collaboratively than men in groups and create more inclusive solutions to thorny problems. More women in Washington could bridge America’s yawning partisan divide.
Andrew Giles on the growing issue of loneliness
CC BY30.6 MB(download)
Ahead of the release of the most comprehensive data on loneliness in Australia, by the Australian Psychologists Society, Labor frontbencher Andrew Giles speaks about this "contagious phenomenon".
The late Sen. John McCain was an early – and lonely – Republican supporter of action to fight climate change. His challenge was to regulate sources of energy that underlie much of our economy.
Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday, ended his career with growing repudiation by his party and the public for positions, from national defense to bipartisanship, that he had long embodied.
Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana has a moderate image in a state that doesn’t often elect Democrats. But as he faces reelection, his move to torpedo Trump’s VA nominee may threaten that image.