Category: The Conversation

Uber Australia has struck a historic agreement with the Transport Workers’ Union – a statement of principles that re-regulate work in the Australian rideshare and food delivery industry. This is a major shift to industrial relations in the gig economy. Uber and its rival platforms have largely treated

E-cigarettes and vape products are illegally imported into Australia. Some claim not to contain nicotine, but do. Simon Collins/ShutterstockABC TV’s Four Corners this week reported how unlawful sale of e-cigarettes in Australia is out of control. The program highlighted the effects on young people, in particular, including how easy

As well as her interviews with politicians and experts, Politics with Michelle Grattan includes “Word from The Hill”, where she discusses the news with members of The Conversation politics team. Michelle and Peter Browne from the Politics + Society team discuss Anthony Albanese’s weighing a Ukraine visit and whether Australia

Shutterstock“Stagflation” is an ugly word for an ugly situation – the unpleasant combination of economic stagnation and inflation. The last time the world experienced it was the early 1970s, when oil-exporting countries in the Middle East cut supplies to the United States and other supporters of Israel.

ShutterstockToday marks 15 years since Apple released what’s arguably its flagship device: the iPhone. A decade and a half later, there are few products that have managed to reach a similar level of brand recognition. Announced to an eager audience in 2007, the iPhone has revolutionised how we

Just before the Western Australian state election in March 2021, the then leader of the Liberal Party did an unusual thing. He conceded defeat – but then asked voters to stop premier Mark McGowan’s Labor Party from achieving “total control” of the state. The appeal failed spectacularly. McGowan won

ShutterstockA friend introduces their partner as “my current husband”. Another jokes about marriage as a life sentence. Everyone laughs, no one is surprised. The sentiments at the heart of these asides are pervasive and familiar to many people in (or who have had) heterosexual relationships. There is

Image from big beautiful female theory by Eloise Grills (Affirm Press). Affirm PressSam Wallman and Eloise Grills are both well known and much loved in the Australian comics scene. Their respective new books, Our Members Be Unlimited (Scribe) and big beautiful female theory (Affirm Press) mark the first time with

Illustration by Peter Schouten, Author providedLong ago, almost up until the end of the last ice age, a peculiar giant kangaroo roamed the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea. Now, research published by myself and colleagues suggests this kangaroo was not closely related to modern Australian kangaroos. Rather, it

Renewal or decline? These are the competing narratives that now surround Daniel Andrews’ Victorian Labor government, with five senior ministers exiting cabinet as a preliminary to leaving parliament at November’s state election. The resignations of this quintet – deputy premier James Merlino, Lisa Neville, Martin Foley, Martin Pakula, and Richard

NetflixThe Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things is vividly soaked in 1980s nostalgia, famously catapulting Kate Bush’s 1985 song Running up that Hill to the top of the music charts in 2022. In season four, series creators the Duffer Brothers introduce viewers to Pennhurst Mental Hospital for the

Initial data from the 2021 census released this week shows Australia continues to become more culturally diverse. Almost half of us have at least one parent born overseas (48.2%), and almost a quarter of us (24.8%) speak a language other than English at home. Just over a quarter