Terry Barnes

Victorian Liberal MPs: you blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things

16 March 2021 1:14 pm

Earlier today, a motion to spill the Victorian opposition leadership of Michael O’Brien failed to get the numbers after challenger…

Mathias Cormann owes his big break to Tony Abbott

13 March 2021 4:19 pm

I’ve known Mathias Cormann the better part of twenty years.  When I was a senior adviser to Tony Abbott as…

Justice in the internet age

3 March 2021 10:40 am

After days of speculation, and mounting media and political pressure on the Prime Minister and his government to act on…

What’s the solution to aged care squalor? Us

2 March 2021 11:49 am

The Royal Commission on Aged Care finally reported yesterday.  The two commissioners, Tony Pagone and Lynelle Briggs, between them made…

In defence of Linda Reynolds

25 February 2021 12:01 pm

Defence minister Linda Reynolds is a decent person. She is honourable and compassionate, as well as someone whose talents and…

The Battle of the Bergs boosts Josh’s leadership ambitions

24 February 2021 12:02 pm

In the words of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Facebook has re-friended Australia. Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg agreed to Facebook once again enabling…

Can Parliament House become a less ugly workplace?

17 February 2021 4:44 pm

Federal parliament this week has been rocked by revelations by a former adviser to the now Defence minister, Linda Reynolds,…

Daniel Andrews, the Premier who massacred Valentine’s Day

15 February 2021 11:07 am

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  It was supposed to be a celebration of love. It should also have been the biggest…

Vic Libs in a right muddle over Daniel Andrews’s conversion bill

3 February 2021 1:30 pm

It seems the Victorian Liberal-National Opposition is taking strategic advice from the same people who are advising embattled Collingwood Football…

Australian border closures would work for Britain. Here’s why

30 January 2021 9:00 am

Closing the borders worked Down Under. Could it work here?

Australian style quarantine for visitors to the UK? Terry Barnes speaks to Spectator TV

29 January 2021 11:48 am

Boris Johnson has adopted a form of Australia’s coronavirus quarantine for Britain. Will it work? The Spectator Australia’s Morning Double…

Doug Anthony: the original All Star goes out

21 December 2020 1:48 pm

The death over the weekend of former Country/National Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Doug Anthony, breaks the last link but…

There was nothing like this Dame

20 November 2020 2:45 pm

It’s barely raised a ripple in the media, but senior Fraser government minister Dame Margaret Guilfoyle died on Remembrance Day,…

If that’s how you clean up your messes, Mr Premier, we pity your poor family

6 September 2020 3:44 pm

Today was supposed to be the day that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was going to shine a light on how…

Appointing Tony Abbott to the Board of Trade is an inspired move by Boris

28 August 2020 3:51 pm

Whatever one thinks of the reported appointment by Boris Johnson of Tony Abbott as a Co-President of the Board of…

Barra Mundi is toxic for the Coalition

6 July 2020 1:17 pm

If the counting trend continues, Labor’s Kristy McBain will win the Eden-Monaro by-election by a mere handful of votes. Just…

Eden-Monaro: why so little focus on a seat so significant for both leaders?

1 July 2020 11:40 am

For all its reputation as a “bellwether seat” usually going with the government of the day, Eden-Monaro has not been…

Liberals must be careful wading into Somyurek’s derin bok

18 June 2020 2:13 pm

As the lurid text messages of the Adem Somyurek sting federal MP, Anthony Byrne, dominate today’s news cycle, it’s clear…

St Jacinda walks among us – virtually. So what?

5 May 2020 1:05 pm

Social media, The Grauniad and the ABC’s fanbois and girls have worked themselves to a state of near orgasm knowing…

Annaliese Van Diemen shows covidiocy is contagious

1 May 2020 4:00 pm

If you saw my reflection yesterday on the “shame industry’s” degrading of the James Cook 250th anniversary from a celebration…

Cook 250 has been destroyed by the shame industry – and that’s something we should be ashamed of

30 April 2020 5:00 am

The 250th anniversary of the landing of James Cook on the rocky shore of Kurnell 250 years ago yesterday passed…

Miserable ghost Malcolm Turnbull’s ill-timed bigger picture

21 April 2020 11:00 am

Australia is well ahead of most of the West in suppressing coronavirus. Out of a population of 25 million Australia…

Tim Brooke-Taylor: not just a Goodie

13 April 2020 1:30 pm

When I heard this morning that Tim-Brooke Taylor had been taken by the despicable coronavirus, I could have been knocked…

George Pell remains a guilty man

7 April 2020 2:42 pm

Today, legal justice has been thankfully, belatedly, served. Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on all counts was quashed unanimously by the…

Dodgy Dan’s short sainthoood

3 April 2020 2:34 pm

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has been getting a lot of brownie points, first for his role in coordinating responses to…