Solving the housing crisis

Saturday Jun 10

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There’s a long-standing preference for big backyards and multi-car garages in Australia. As the nation's housing crisis escalates, Benjamin Clark this week argued it was time to look up and consider apartment living, and Peter Mares wrote there was room for compromise between Labor and the Greens.

Elsewhere Bernard Keane and Maeve McGregor analysed RBA governor Philip Lowe's contradictory guiding ethos, John Buckley reported on how survivors feel about the media coverage of Brittany Higgins' sexual assault allegations, and Ben Eltham wrote that a recent audit of the $2 billion Morrison government health program shows an Australian public service with deep cultural problems.

Meanwhile Pragya Agarwal and Guy Rundle offered their opinions on the injustice of Kathleen Folbigg's case after she was released after 20 years in prison.

Plus what does Malcolm Turnbull think about the Ben Roberts-Smith case?

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend,

Gina Rushton,
Editor

Australia needs to drop its big block bias and embrace apartment living

BENJAMIN CLARK

There's a long-standing preference for big backyards and multi-car garages. But it's time to think outside the house block and look up.

Sirius apartment complex, Sydney (Image: Wikimedia)

On housing, isn’t something better than nothing?

PETER MARES

Both Labor and the Greens have a lot to lose in the high-stakes tussle over housing policy, but there’s room for compromise.

The Morrison government’s health funding program went way beyond pork-barrelling

BEN ELTHAM

A recent audit shows an Australian public service with deep cultural problems.

Scott Morrison (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Nine can ‘hardly complain’ that Ben Roberts-Smith sued: Turnbull

ANTON NILSSON

The former prime minister was speaking at a Crikey event in Sydney last night, which also canvassed media reform and freedom of speech.

(From left to right): Sophie Black, Bernard Keane, Sarah Hanson-Young, Malcolm Turnbull and Lesley Power (Image: Private Media)

‘A real shame’: child sexual assault survivor condemns Seven’s Lehrmann interview

JOHN BUCKLEY

One advocate said Bruce Lehrmann's TV interview could have deterred 'countless victims' from reporting crimes committed against them.

Brittany Higgins (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

‘Gratuitous snide gossip’: News Corp continues Bruce Lehrmann’s defence

CHARLIE LEWIS

Seven said Lehrmann had never told his side of the story before Sunday's interview. But News Corp had been telling it for him long before then.

Bruce Lehrmann (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

The cost of the Reserve Bank’s profit denialism will be counted in lives

BERNARD KEANE

The RBA insists there's no link between rising profits and inflation. Why do other central banks and the OECD disagree?

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

A very Philip Lowe guide to making a not-inevitable recession inevitable

MAEVE MCGREGOR

The Reserve Bank governor is making sense of a confused economy by stifling the emergence of a new one.

Class dismissed: abolishing HECS is overkill, but it needs serious reform

BENJAMIN CLARK

The government must recognise how far HECS has strayed from its original aims, imperilling equity and distorting student choices.

Minister for Education Jason Clare and Greens Leader Adam Bandt (Images: AAP)

Network Ten muzzles Peter van Onselen over criticism of his former employer

JOHN BUCKLEY

The colourful political commentator's case will be heard again in late June when he's expected to be on holiday in Italy.

Peter van Onselen (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Andrews axing print ads isn’t the main story — a centuries-old link has snapped

CHRISTOPHER WARREN

The Victorian government's decision makes it clear the traditional relationship between news media and advertising is dead.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

Mad, bad and wicked: Folbigg’s case shows how the law and society fail mothers

PRAGYA AGARWAL

Women are idealised as loving nurturers. So when a mother doesn't fit the profile, she becomes subject to bias and error.

Kathleen Folbigg, 2019 (Image: AAP/Peter Rae)

Kathleen Folbigg was thrown into the abyss by a medieval justice system

GUY RUNDLE

Verdicts are passed on people's souls, based on passing cultural obsessions, making rapid and thorough appeals near-impossible.

‘Unwarranted emphasis’: watchdog slams Daily Telegraph’s trans manslaughter victim coverage

JOHN BUCKLEY

The council said 'repeated references' to the victim's gender identity could have led readers to believe it was a factor in her death and 'could contribute to substantial prejudice against transgender people'.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

The Roys and the Murdochs: they’re different from you and me

CHRISTOPHER WARREN

Succession gave us insight into the uberwealthy, and what we hoped were clues as to how the next generation will manage our media.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Hoo boy, people really hate Hannah Gadsby’s art show

CHARLIE LEWIS

One of our most significant stand-up comedians has curated an art show about Pablo Piccaso. And dear Christ, people are not fans.

Hannah Gadsby (Image: Zennie/Private Media)

Conflict of interest should kill off the big four consulting industrial complex

BERNARD KEANE

It's in the very nature of large consulting firms to have conflicts of interest. It's how they work, and it won't stop.

(Image: Gorkie/Private Media)

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