This was published 12 months ago
A week of big ideas that will change our nation
By Liam Phelan
This has been a week of big ideas. Groundbreaking national policies concerning population, health, medicine – and a seismic shift in our military budget and priorities – have jostled for attention.
Following today’s national cabinet meeting, held in Brisbane and attended by new NSW Premier Chris Minns for the first time, the government announced a $2.2 billion overhaul of Medicare while also promising to limit the ballooning costs in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. They say this will save $57 billion over a decade.
At the start of the week, the government announced a historic $19 billion funding boost designed to prepare the Defence Force for a possible conflict between China and the United States.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a historic review of Australia’s defence capability.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
And somewhere in the middle of the week, we had the bizarre scene of the president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Trent Twomey, fighting back tears at the news the government plans to double the amount of medicine a person can collect with each script.
When it comes to covering major national stories, the Herald draws on the significant strength and depth of our Canberra bureau, with specialist correspondents in defence, health and economics.
We cover these events in a few different ways. Firstly, we quickly put each breaking news take in our daily live news blog, ensuring readers get the headline news in as close to real time as possible. Our blog posts are followed by standalone stories, usually written by one of our specialised correspondents, giving readers a more detailed examination of what has just been announced, with some reaction from interested parties. Finally, we have expert analysis and commentary, both from our own staff and a carefully selected field of external experts.
Often we are on top of major policy changes before they are officially announced. So it was when foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott got wind of the defence review in advance, publishing a preview story online last Friday and in print on Saturday predicting the gist of the significant changes announced on Monday.
Knott also led our news coverage on the day the review was released, after he and political editor Peter Hartcher were given a detailed briefing in Canberra before the official public announcement.
Hartcher’s excellent comment piece started with the following chilling opening: “In the past year or so, Australia has produced two major defence plans. In the same time, China has produced two submarines. While Australia plans, China deploys.”
We know from looking at our online traffic that subscribers value fast and accurate coverage of the news. But it is also gratifying for us to see your enthusiasm for our commentary and analysis.
When such big policy shifts are made, and when billions of your taxpayer dollars are being bandied around, it is invaluable to understand the implications of what has been announced, and how it will affect you. This level of understanding comes from writers such as Knott, Hartcher, chief political correspondent David Crowe and economics writers Shane Wright and Rachel Clun.
All are seasoned journalists who can draw on years of experience and wisdom to cut through the political hyperbole and home in on the essential truths. They have all produced crucial analysis and commentary on the big events of the week that are vital reading.
Perhaps one of my favourite pieces of the week was from a reporter who is at the start of her career. Millie Muroi wrote a very entertaining and digestible opinion piece about student loans, pointing out that despite paying off $3000 of her student loan, she has still ended up with a bigger debt. This is because of indexation and Muroi used her personal knowledge to highlight the injustices of the system via her story online, in print and on social platforms TikTok and YouTube.
For all our important coverage of the biggest national and international issues, we still find time to focus on our home city. So, it’s possibly no surprise that the most popular story with subscribers this week was Nigel Gladstone’s data-driven look at Sydney’s richest and poorest postcodes. His impressive ability to drill through complex data revealed that Erskineville is the unlikely winner of Australia’s top-ranked postcode. Go Erko.
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