Flat White

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

The CCP: the most blood-soaked criminal organisation of the last century

4 July 2021 2:00 pm

Life expectancy in China is now close to 77 years so, at 100, the demise of the Chinese Communist Party…

How Berejiklian’s bureaucrats attempted to break their own Covid-19 regulations

4 July 2021 8:00 am

This weekend across New South Wales—in both city and regional areas—all churches are prohibited from livestreaming any singing during their…

The Peter Ridd case: am I missing something?

2 July 2021 1:02 pm

Yesterday’s piece by Graham Young on the Peter Ridd High Court case got me thinking.  Not about Young’s thesis that…

Do we have a constitutional right to free speech?

2 July 2021 4:00 am

“Freedom of speech may not be protected by Australia’s constitution, high court judge says,” screamed a recent headline in The…

Find the CO2

1 July 2021 7:16 pm

Man-made carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is responsible for catastrophic climate change, according to climate alarmists. We must stop…

They don’t have safe spaces in North Korea

1 July 2021 5:15 pm

If you still have a copy of the important 1976 volume by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, A Warning to the West, it will be worth…

Don’t moralise about sex work

1 July 2021 3:01 pm

There are a lot of myths surrounding prostitution. Chief among them is the claim that sex workers are virtual slaves,…

What do the ABC and the Chinese Communist Party have in common?

1 July 2021 12:49 pm

With all the attention being paid to the Chinese Communist Party’s birthday, we thought it only fair that our beloved…

The Peter Ridd case is too important to be left to the courts

1 July 2021 4:00 am

A lot rides on the case of Ridd v JCU, which was heard last Wednesday, June 23, 2021, in the High…

The woke patriarchy

30 June 2021 7:02 pm

The hyperbole of progressive feminism has provided a lot of fodder for conservative commentators.  Just the mention of the “patriarchy”…

Laurel Hubbard is just a symptom of new chilling attacks on free speech in New Zealand

30 June 2021 5:11 pm

Individuals seem born with a basic sense of fair play, and perceiving hard-working, well-deserving or brave individuals treated unjustly inevitably rankles.  So condemnation of the New Zealand Olympic…

A turning point on cancel culture?

30 June 2021 3:10 pm

“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no…

Forget the virus. We should be panicked by lost productivity

30 June 2021 1:27 pm

The very definition of harmful advice is found in the Treasury’s five yearly Intergenerational Report, the latest edition of which…

What did a poobah of public health just say?

30 June 2021 11:57 am

Excuse me? Excuse me? What did Queensland’s poobah of public health (and governor to be) Jeannette Young say today? Really…

Is WorkSafe Victoria grossly incompetent – or is something else going on?

30 June 2021 4:00 am

We need to ask:  Is WorkSafe Victoria grossly incompetent or is something else going on?  Yesterday, June 29, 2021 was…

Vaccine segregation is an affront to liberty

29 June 2021 6:00 pm

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, supported by state premiers and territory chief ministers, is set to make the coronavirus vaccination mandatory…

Good Jon bad

29 June 2021 3:10 pm

Here’s an old writers trick that doesn’t involve moving to Tunisia and becoming a dope fiend. If you don’t want to say…

Tough love: NSW Lockdown 2.0 is very wrong

29 June 2021 1:01 pm

A regular series of rules for life by Pete Shmigel, a former senior state and federal political advisor and CEO…

Six steps ScoMo must make to take control of the Covid agenda

29 June 2021 11:15 am

Australia’s current WuFlu situation is not dire in world terms, yet from the reactions of federal, state and territory governments,…

Like the mighty Murray, Covid public policy insanity never runs dry 

29 June 2021 4:00 am

Here we go again. Let us sip once again, dear fellow citizens, from the bottomless well of public policy insanity…

Digital darkness: the third apocalypse

28 June 2021 7:19 pm

Humanity is only ever one blackout away from the caves. The more advanced and complicated a civilisation, the easier it…

Covid cavaliers forget the elderly

28 June 2021 4:55 pm

#GladysClusterFukup was trending on Twitter yesterday. That was no surprise. Like most of Twitter, it was driven by malice. But…

REVEALED: Inside the Dark Emu Wiki Wars

28 June 2021 3:00 pm

Readers may remember my abortive undercover mission in the People’s Republic of Wikipedia, specifically in the Protectorate of Dark Emu. …

The procrastination pandemic

28 June 2021 1:01 pm

It’s a dreary day again for Sydneysiders, who face a fortnight of lockdown, maybe more.   That’s despite the best efforts…

Blade Runner 2021?

28 June 2021 11:37 am

After all the lurid lies and speculation about Daniel Andrews’ stumble down those stairs, have we been missing the truly…