About 10 per cent of Australians live in a town with a smaller population than that of the ABC’s ­Ultimo studios in the centre of Sydney. About 1208 journalists (or “content makers” in the corporate jargon) are employed there. Why does the ABC employ 40 per cent of its journalists in Sydney when only 20 per cent of Australians live in Sydney? Read more

In 1589, Princess Anne of Denmark left to marry King James VI of Scotland. En route, her boat was struck by storms. Someone had to be blamed and, as was standard for the time, witches were the usual suspects. Read more

Last time a global climate change agreement was signed by Australia, we met our targets largely by imposing costs on the agricultural sector.  Read more

On these pages recently Judith Sloan attacked the Nationals for proposing “protectionist” policies such as a code of conduct for the sugar industry. The code has been proposed because cane growers often cannot supply anyone but the closest mill. The proposed code would provide for a mediation and arbitration process to resolve disputes between growers and millers. Read more

As far as parties go, it sounded like a big one. In July 2012 green activists organised a “Lizard’s Revenge protestacular” at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium mine site. Read more

The federal government will this week release its northern Australia white paper. It is the first time in decades that a government has focused on developing a new frontier of our nation. Read more

You learn early as a parent that young children have only a concept of themselves, every toy is “mine”.  Read more

Having not been that long since I was a kid, and now partly responsible for four children myself, I have learned that one key of effective parenting is: do as I say, not as I do.   Read more

We are continually told that more mothers must work. The intergenerational report states that "Australia's female participation rates remain lower than some other advanced economies such as Canada and New Zealand, and more can be done to encourage women to enter and stay in the workforce." Read more

The decision to grow sugar is a bit like the decision to get married and have kids. Both raise issues of bilateral dependency and asset specificity.  Once you marry someone, you are locked in, or at least it’s hard to redeploy -- likewise with growing sugar. Read more