During the nine years of the previous Coalition government, the ABC came under relentless attack. As Denis Muller writes, this included “accusations of left-wing bias, a succession of pointless and enervating inquiries, punitive funding cuts, and the use of the ABC for target practice in the Coalition’s interminable climate and culture wars”.

On top of all this, the government joined forces with News Corp in a pincer attack on the national broadcaster, and then – worst of all – stacked the board. In May this year, the board announced it was appointing an ombudsman to oversee the complaints system. That ombudsman reports directly back to the board, a move Muller argues is an “outright betrayal of editorial independence”.

So what now under the Albanese Labor government? A reset is necessary, but it won’t happen quickly. And a major test for the ABC will be whether its board can genuinely defend the broadcaster’s independence and – importantly – send the message to its journalists, who are often doing difficult and fraught work, that it has their backs.

Amanda Dunn

Section Editor: Politics + Society

Battered by 9 years of Coalition government, the ABC now has a hard road of repair ahead

Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne

One of the national broadcaster’s most urgent challenges will be ensuing its journalists feel management has their backs.

Has COVID affected your sleep? Here’s how viruses can change our sleeping patterns

Gemma Paech, University of Newcastle

Some people report insomnia symptoms, where they struggle to fall or stay asleep. Others report feeling constantly fatigued, and seemingly can’t get enough sleep. So what’s going on?

Ethereal, evocative, and inventive: why the music of Kate Bush spans generations

Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Auckland University of Technology

Kate Bush has been ‘discovered’ by a younger generation of fans, proving that her music has a timeless appeal.

‘We want to be part of that movement’: residents embrace renewable energy but worry how their towns will change

Rebecca Pearse, Australian National University; Daniel J Cass, University of Sydney; Linda Connor, University of Sydney; Riikka Heikkinen, University of Technology Sydney

In the first major study of its kind, the authors travelled to where renewable energy is expanding in NSW to ask communities how they feel about the changes.

A dying earth and a lament for lost fathers: Sheila Heti strips back the novel and makes it new

Jane Gleeson-White, UNSW Sydney

Pure Colour confirms Sheila Heti as one of the most inventive, searching, scintillating and mind-bending writers working today.

Australia already has a UK-style windfall profits tax on gas – but we’ll give away tens of billions of dollars unless we fix it soon

Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Australia already imposes a super-profits tax of 40% on gas producers, but very little is paid. Yet we know how to simplify the system, so we’re not gifting billions to multinational companies.

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