Editorial: The Nightly will fight for common sense, mainstream middle & working class economic conservatism

Australia is at a crossroads.

Common sense is unfortunately no longer very common.

On almost every issue, extremist fringes have hijacked respectful and meaningful debate.

We’re divided into camps — left versus right, generation against generation.

There are more voices than ever before clamouring for our attention and it’s overwhelming to even know where to begin.

The information — and disinformation — overload is real.

The cost-of-living crunch is real too.

Older Australians are going without.

Young people have given up on ever owning a house before they’ve even left school.

For many the Great Australian Dream has become the Great Australian Nightmare.

Our kids are falling behind their international peers in reading, writing and maths and there’s no plan to turn that around.

Far from closing, the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia has widened into a gulf.

No wonder trust in officials is at an all-time low.

Aussies want answers but don’t know where to look.

Quality journalism for smart Australians that’s FREE.

Meanwhile, business is continually being strangled by regulations, red tape and a bloated self-serving bureaucracy.

Ministers love to put on hi-vis and throw around the word “productivity”, all the while introducing layers of industrial relations laws that fly in the very face of economic ambition.

Australia should be competing on the world stage, but instead, industry is hobbled by over-zealous environmental bodies which have been overtaken by fanatics.

What was once a Bob Hawke-inspired environmental movement to protect national treasures such as the Franklin River and Kakadu has devolved into a small group of callow radicals not above hoodwinking Indigenous peoples to carry out their own cynical agendas.

Don’t. Try. Anything.

That seems to be the message. Aspiration is no longer something to be celebrated.

So much for the entrepreneurial spirit embodied by those tycoons of industry who put us on the map.

Seven West Media is launching a new national digital newspaper because we believe we can make a difference.

And we believe the country needs it.

The Nightly’s digital newspaper will be published every evening at 6pm AEST/AEDT.

The digital newspaper will offer people the news they need when they have the time to consider it.

Mornings have never been more chaotic.

Your “me time” is now on the couch at night.

That’s when The Nightly will help you get ahead of tomorrow.

There will also be a 24/7 website and app, including breaking news alerts and special subscriber emails.

The website has been designed with the help of Google to be user-first, digital-first and mobile-first.

It includes a landmark content-licensing deal with The New York Times, as well as The Economist.

The Nightly will fight for the mainstream middle.

It will fight for working-class economic conservatism while supporting socially progressive causes that make sense.

It will fight for those who don’t have a voice and need one.

Most importantly it will fight for common sense.

Quality journalism for smart Australians that’s FREE.

No clickbait. No paywall.

Sensible news, for mainstream Australia.

That’s the journalism The Nightly promises to deliver.

Responsibility for the Editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie.