So What?: Deconstructing the common rhetoric and shame surrounding casual harassment

I was five years old when a boy took hold of my shoulders behind the water fountain without warning and pressed his lips against mine. The common rhetoric I often encounter as an indirect response is that of “so what?”; essentially, how can such a trivial act lead to tangible detriment to the woman? I…

ByEllie Craven18 hours ago

Opinion

Fascism’s Insidious New Mutation: How gym bro influencers, the alt-right pipeline and Netflix’s viral show ‘Adolescence’ are connected

After watching Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, the politically astute and the ignorant alike sat up in their seats – it was a final, overwhelming announcement that fascism is back in. The EIU's 2024 Democracy Index resoundingly supported this proposed democratic backsliding, reporting a historical low with 130 of 167 states registering stagnation or decline…

ByAtlanta Gervasoni22 May 2025

Opinion

Straight to the Courtroom: Castle Law in Australia

It’s the vibe of it. It’s the constitution. It’s Mabo. It’s Justice .... Darryl Kerrigan, The Castle Growing up, your parent or guardian might have kept a baseball bat, a knife, or some sort of object hidden in the house that they could use as a weapon in the case of a home invasion. The…

ByJasper Derwent14 May 2025

Opinion

The Case for a Fairer University Admissions Process

A popular topic for discussion in Year 11 and 12 is the choice of university and degree. After all, students have just completed 13 years of schooling, and now, they face a new challenge: pursuing education in a new environment and adjusting to a different lifestyle. Gone are the regimented high school timetables; in with…

ByCathy Wang17 April 2025

Opinion

Why We Write

To write, to put one's thoughts on paper and place them before an audience, is, in my opinion, a small act of courage. While spoken words can be swallowed and eaten up, eclipsed by a quick clarification or a huffed laugh, there is a permanency to the written word; a solidity that invites scrutiny. Just…

ByEditorial Team19 March 2025

Opinion

Shades of Red: The fractured identity of an ascendant right

With more than eighty countries having held elections, 2024 was the “Year of Democracy”, confronting pluralist politics with its “biggest test” as its already battered ideals were tried over and over. While clear trends emerged – global sentiments of anti-incumbency, the emboldening of election challengers – perhaps the most salient of these was a broad…

ByMia Seisun5 March 2025

Opinion

Who Gets to be Smart?

Over a year ago, my mum was accepted into Oxford for her Master’s in Global Health Leadership. While this achievement may be a significant personal milestone to some, for our family, it was a generational milestone. My mother was raised in apartheid South Africa by a single mother who could no more imagine studying at…

ByArya Moodley30 January 2025

Opinion

Is the Political Centre Truly Dead?

Discovering your ‘political self’ is yet another challenge of emerging adulthood for university students. Differentiating through generational bias, parental influence & programmed thinking, to find at one’s core what they hold as ‘just’. Yet, in the chaotic realm of social media and growing partisanship, how are the political views and behaviours of Gen Z influencing…

ByAnnabelle King23 January 2025

Opinion

The Economics of Naming Rights: Are We Living in a Corporate Naming Dystopia?

My first encounter with the bizarre world of corporate sponsorships and naming rights was at the age of 11, during the construction of a new ice hockey arena in Detroit, Michigan. This coincided with the death of professional ice hockey player Gordie Howe. The timing seemed perfect for a posthumous tribute to a beloved Michigan…

ByEvelyn Doan8 January 2025

Opinion World

The Erasure of Women: Afghanistan’s Silent Crisis

There is approximately 11,500 km of distance between Sydney, Australia, and Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. That’s a completely useless fact that will mean almost nothing to you – if you are a man, it means even less. But if you are a woman, that distance is a blessing. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion…

ByLucy Millar23 December 2024