Apart from the rotten government - or more likely because of the rotten government - the root of our troubles is what we are told is the two-speed economy. Australians west of Alice Springs and north of Toowoomba are whooping it up in their McMansions and their Ferraris while the rest of us are battling to pay off the eight-year-old Camry. The latest slug, sky-rocketing gas and electricity prices, will have us huddled for warmth around the light of a guttering candle.

Five weeks ago Grace Yeats was a normal, happy child.

A flyer sent out by Tony Abbott has potentially exposed small businesses to fines of up to $1 million each.

The following letter has been circulated mostly in the United States by Just Foreign Policy. It was hand-delivered to the Embassy of Ecuador in London by Just Foreign Policy Policy Director Robert Naiman on Monday, June 25. 

Read the press release.

Today, Andrew Bolt descended into a new abyss... He quoted Barnaby Joyce questioning of what Julia knew of her former partner's "fraud" 17 years ago... and Bolt promised to dig more dirt on this "affair"...

These days, IA is – according to online resource Alexa – probably the third most popular independent news and opinion website in Australia in terms of traffic (behind Crikey and On Line Opinion).