The Policy Post

  The great mental health experiment … and why it went so wrong. Half a century ago, governments around the world ditched their old psychiatric hospitals for something they said would work better. It didn’t.

  The Public Service: back in from the cold The Albanese government has begun to rebuild Australia’s shattered Public Service. The government’s fate depends on it – but there’s much still to do.

  Labor: the fightback begins The Albanese Labor Party’s fight to retain government is under way. Despite doomsayers, a swag of evidence points to a second win – and an increased majority.

  Business-as-usual is killing our hospitals. The nation’s public hospital system is even sicker than it looks. There are practical, affordable ways to make it better – but not if governments go on doing the same things.

  The Peter Principle and the Dark Triad: why we have such lousy leaders. The machinations inherent in modern political parties keep many of the best people away from public life and promote some of the worst.

  Have the Greens already peaked? The Australian Greens are betting their future on a high-risk switch to hard-left opportunistic populism. It could backfire.

  Quietly, Albanese springs a $20 billion budget cut on the states. The federal government is slashing its funding for national roads and railways – and shifting the cost to the cash-strapped states.

Dutton’s Gaza adventure turns into electoral suicide. The Liberals are betting the election on yet another terrorism scare campaign – but they’re alienating the very people whose votes they must have.

  Can liberal democracy survive? Yes, actually. The fear and angst in western democracies is palpable. The threat from populists of the right is serious. But the reasons driving all this aren’t the ones you’ve been told.

  Assassination: the political strategy nobody admits to. Political assassination has always been an element of statecraft. But is it ever ethically justified? And does it work?