The federal government’s taxing and spending powers have far-reaching consequences for the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people. An essential requirement of a well-functioning democracy is that these powers be subject to the rule of law.

In a surprising and badly judged move, the NSW Coalition has supported a legislative ban on the publication of school league tables.

The Catholic Church has long put the obstacle of the advocatus diaboli in the path of sainthood – someone who argues the devil’s case against the canonisation of a prospective saint. What the Catholic Church had not yet introduced, though, was an advocatus Australiae, an Australian gate opener to heaven. It needed the Prime Minister to take this new initiative to the Vatican.