May 9 is the date the first Australian parliament met, and when the first parliament in Canberra and the first on Capital Hill opened. It means far more than the King’s birthday, or January 26.
Canberra and Beijing’s assessments of their interests remain far from aligned. But as Albanese himself said, simply ‘having the meeting is a successful outcome’.
View from inside the Great Southern Land gallery at the National Museum of Australia.
Supplied NMA.
This year, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set to celebrate its 50th year of continuous occupation. Its presence is an ongoing call for land rights, sovereignty and self-determination.
New research sheds light on why sexual misconduct and bullying is so common in political offices and why political staffers have few options to hold those in power to account.
The rise of global cities, metropolises that dominate their states, is exposing Australia’s lack of metropolitan governments. It’s time to restart the evolution of our states after a century on hold.
Donald Trump and Scott Morrison at the opening of billionaire Anthony Pratt’s paper factory Ohio, which looked like a rally for Trump.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan discuss the big stories in politics this week.
The benefits of ‘superblocks’ for Barcelona include better health, access to green space and other public space, and more transport-related physical activity.
Orbon Alija/iStock
The Spanish city is remaking urban neighbourhoods by limiting through traffic in superblocks that give priority to pedestrians and street activities, not cars.
Melbourne has a rich legacy of urban parks thanks to planning decisions made when the city was first established.
Shutterstock
Canberra is growing as fast as anywhere in Australia. It’s driven by a knowledge economy that is transforming the city centre but is also displacing poorer residents.
Whistling tree frogs, Litoria verreauxii, are one of the species monitored around Canberra for their response to climate change.
Catching the eye/flickr
Climate change can seem far removed from our everyday lives, which is why a citizen science program measuring how frogs are dealing with a warming world is so important.
Parliament House is a citadel — the practices and representations of democracy have been segregated from the community.
Kim Dovey
Researchers are installing sensors to collect data about the use of public spaces. This can improve the management and public amenity of these places, but will users see the technology as intrusive?
Canberra’s attitude to nuclear weapons has always been riddled with contradictions. Homegrown nuclear campaigners winning the Nobel prize have put the cat among the pigeons.
RMIT University transformed the look and function of its city campus as part of its New Academic Street project.
Tess Kelly
European ideas of the campus as a place apart shaped Australia’s “sandstone” universities. Now universities are adopting urban regeneration strategies, bringing the city to the campus and vice versa.
The region with the most unequal incomes in Australia is Melbourne City, where the top 20% have an income that is 8.3 times as high as those in the bottom 20%.
Dan Peled/AAP
The gambling lobby’s failure to seriously influence the 2016 ACT election should embolden governments around Australia that have a mind to deal with gambling reform.