Flat White

In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.

Liberty is a mental illness?

27 October 2021 4:00 am

Academics are always lauding their moral superiority over us, but how often do we inspect what they think?  They are the…

Blah, blah, blah – and then you’re broke

26 October 2021 6:44 pm

Your correspondent is now a climate commentator. Self-identifying is accepted methodology.  If you were even half sensible you would stop reading now to go and read Numbers Don’t Lie:…

Dateline Glasgow: how did we get here?

26 October 2021 5:08 pm

Sitting in an international meeting, one soon become aware that buzzwords and phrases are thrown around in an attempt to convince others…

Is high inflation back?

26 October 2021 4:25 pm

Inflation is clearly on the rise worldwide, running at over 5 per cent in the United States and over 3…

Governments and gambling: heads I win, tails you lose

26 October 2021 2:43 pm

Gambling and games of chance are a curse, even if to some small degree they are necessary. Gambling impoverishes families;…

The Coalition’s climate stand: just like pissing in a wetsuit

26 October 2021 12:43 pm

Let’s just keep things nice and simple. Now we have the (lack of) details we can safely declare that the…

We’ll only be free when we’re back to the Old Normal

26 October 2021 4:00 am

There’s been a lot of talk of “Freedom Days” lately, with New South Wales and Victoria emerging from their prolonged,…

The illusion of choice

25 October 2021 6:04 pm

For much of the last year, there has been a notion of ‘choice’ spread throughout society when discussing the COVID-19 vaccine. The…

Road to damnation 2050 

25 October 2021 2:03 pm

I know how Net Zero 2050 ends. I’ve read the book. In Chris Brook’s excellent if devastating Road to Damnation*,…

Daniel Andrews is sinking in a swamp of sleaze

25 October 2021 12:00 pm

Victorians are contemptuous of the Daniel Andrews-led government which has done so much harm to so many over an extended…

ScoMo, net-zero, that deal – and the death of the Nationals?

25 October 2021 4:00 am

Like MPs from other political parties, the Nationals are motivated by self-interest with rare infusions of the public interest represented…

How many other doctors believe vaccine recalcitrants should be barred from the public health?

24 October 2021 4:30 pm

Should we really be surprised when a leading doctor suggests unvaccinated people with Covid-19 should not receive medical treatment?  The…

If we’re at 70 per cent can we now end the pandemic of premiers’ press conferences?

24 October 2021 12:00 pm

We have endured countless days and weeks of lockdowns, lockups, mask mandates, border closures and border openings. We have weathered…

What do Mercedes’ moves mean for the future of motoring

22 October 2021 12:30 pm

Why would the giant German auto manufacturer Daimler Benz purposefully set out to trash its own brand? There must be something startling happening…

Hydrogen: hype or net-zero hero?

22 October 2021 4:00 am

In the climate wars, hyperbole is weaponised and groupthink rewarded. We are standing witness as hydrogen becomes the latest trend…

What must Daniel Andrews’ Department of Fairness make of Daniel Andrews’ Victoria?

21 October 2021 5:24 pm

The Victorian Department of Fairness must be tut-tutting like a metronome in overdrive.  Its job is to work ‘hard to…

A Statement of Public Interest should accompany all government bills. Here’s why

21 October 2021 5:12 pm

Research by both right and left think tanks the Insitute of Public Affairs and Per Capita show that for all…

Pru Goward and the road to Wigan Pier

21 October 2021 2:00 pm

Has there ever been a more pathetic display of bile-reeking, attention-seeking, virtue-signalling conspicuous compassion from the woke and the wonderful…

Vaping: one policy the Kiwis have got right

21 October 2021 12:01 pm

The Asia Pacific region has been split in two as to how to best deal with vaping. No bigger is…

First lockdown, now segregation

21 October 2021 4:00 am

As New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet leads the way out of lockdowns and restrictions in Australia, a job Scott…

No choice on net-zero? Really, Prime Minister?

20 October 2021 6:11 pm

Believing we always have a choice is key to living in a free, liberal, democratic society like Australia. That’s why…

The WHO fails again – on smoking

20 October 2021 4:00 pm

Whatever reputation for competence and honesty the World Health Organisation might once have had has been destroyed by its response…

Adam Bandt is being ignored so has had to say something stupid

20 October 2021 2:01 pm

While the Liberals are flirting with net zero, the Greens are demanding peak stupid and proving themselves to be even…

Their ABC: no so trusted anymore

20 October 2021 12:10 pm

The ABC is in the headlines on almost a weekly basis for issues of its own making. The crises keep…

COP this, climate sumiteers

20 October 2021 11:23 am

Man does not live by bread alone, an early revolutionary once advised his followers.  As Glasgow’s COP26 closes in on a discombobulated world, the…