In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Public administration in New South Wales and Victoria has failed us
Between them nearly three-quarters of a million people earn their living from the public purse in Australia’s two largest States.…
Will generation lockdown write good history?
Twenty-first century history is being made each day. The news is full of statue-toppling anarchists and clueless looters, politicians making…
What’s woke this week (or racist)?
Another week, more rounds of ‘Ring a ring a racist’. Pick a subject, any subject and it’s probably made an…
Daniel Andrews is openly using the corona crisis against non-unionised workers
You start to worry that democracy in Victoria is under threat. It’s one thing for government to impose curfews, massive…
The miracle of coronavirus: 350 flu deaths for July 2019, just one in July 2020
We have become trapped in a political and media fear narrative that exaggerates the risks of COVID and creates highly…
“My name is Karen, I’m from Queensland and I’m here to help…”
Former prime minister Karen Rudd will lead a new government agency to approve cartoons before they go to print. Mr…
Fact checking finds ABC’s Fact Check un-factual
As small businesses close their doors forever, right across the country, the(ir) ABC still continues with the chorus of “Brother,…
A reminder: government can’t save everyone and everything.
As a collective, Australians generally dislike the government involving itself unnecessarily in our daily lives and expanding the ever-growing influence…
Why stop at ending HECS-HELP for failing students? Give the universities some skin in the game
Some students have accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt without obtaining a qualification. In response, the government…
Hello. I’m a smiling bureaucrat. Would you like to be patronised? Let me patronise you…
Hello. Are you an idiot? Would you like me to treat you like an idiot? Are you under 10? Would…
Beneath the mask
With mask-wearing obligatory and restrictions in our movements, we sink further into ourselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing;…
Not so accidental guerillas: how to counter the modern rioter
“They sayin’ Black Lives Matter and all this stuff,” he said. “But man, you’re hurting the black community.” These are the…
In which the Mad F–king Witches jump the shark…
Up the sisterhood? Solidarity forever? Beyond question, at the appropriate juncture, in due course, in the fullness of time? Up…
Want to fix coronavirus unemployment? First, fix industrial relations regulation
Industrial relations regulation in Australia is too prescriptive and complex, and disempowers both employers and individual workers trying to strengthen…
Fair suck of the sauce bottle, Kev. That’s not racist
Is Kevin Rudd really stupid, as he expects us to believe? Or is he just a rank opportunist who manipulates…
Axe HECS-HELP for failing students? Why not? Universities are supposed to be about learning
Yesterday, Dan Tehan announced a Federal Government plan for first-year university students to lose government funding if they fail more…
Pirate Pete needs a tinfoil bandanna
Poor Pirate Pete. His progressive poll on who the populace think will be the next US President produced a perplexing…
Don’t trendy economic types believe catastrophe is good for the economy? Why are they silent now?
It is the Keynesians who believe that disasters are good for economic growth. They have suggested that events such as…
Finally, systemic racism in the maternity ward has been brought to public attention
Last Ship, Nightflyers and Queen & Slim star Jodie Turner-Smith gave birth at home rather than in a hospital because…
Why not let vets carry out euthanasia? Another day at the office and all that…
There were a lot of happy people mid-July when Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission announced another investigation into the actions…
A new pragmatism, not old dogma, is needed to tackle economic corona catastrophe
Startling figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics give us a taste of the poison that is COVID-19 on our…
We’ve only just begun…
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Fresh off the email from the Australian Bureau of Statistics: Labour Force, Australia, July 2020.…
Will Victoria’s quarantine disaster see ministers – or their bureaucrats – in the dock?
It’s hard for Victorians not to be angry over the Covid-19 crisis. You can almost feel the widespread fury directed…
Bleak thoughts from Bleak City
I was with the best minds of my generation – chartered accountants, real estate agents, Instagram influencers living off the…
How our aged care system robs the elderly
Is this on a scale of how low do you go? So there is a new virus doing the rounds.…
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Into the lion’s den
Justice Lee has just put an end to the old-fashioned date night
