Flat White

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

How dare he!

12 October 2019 3:47 pm

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has stolen even more of Greta Thunberg’s childhood by winning this year’s Nobel Peace…

The science is settled? I’m an engineer, and I’m not

11 October 2019 5:17 pm

Climate change, it seems, is a pill that has to be swallowed whole or not at all. Swallowing this pill…

Extinction Rebellion: an army of Unabombers

11 October 2019 5:00 am

Most Australians are pretty sympathetic to the whole protesting thing. After all, we’re a functioning democracy with largely robust protections…

All about consent, without consent

10 October 2019 5:37 pm

While officials in Indonesia have been busy channelling their inner Turnbull in prosecuting sexual infidelity, The University of Technology Sydney…

What’s woke this week

10 October 2019 2:27 pm

There’s more from the world of woke celebrities this week, plus some judicial bible bashing. And from the art world,…

The alternative to Extinction Rebellion

10 October 2019 11:46 am

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The…

Great books, liberal arts, the Ramsay Centre and why they matter

10 October 2019 5:00 am

The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is partnering with universities to offer what is often referred to as “Great Books”…

Australia, please help Zimbabwe rejoin the Commonwealth

9 October 2019 7:16 pm

In recent weeks Zimbabwe has taken a crucial step forward towards rejoining the Commonwealth, the 53-country group of nations we…

Why do we love our great big, bloated Aussie oligopolies?

9 October 2019 5:01 pm

There should be a special prize for journos who take up the pen against our corporate monsters – beasts that…

Implementing Greta

9 October 2019 5:00 am

I have written before about the actual policy proposals supported by Greta Thunberg and the Global Climate Strike initiative, which they see…

Finally, some movement on the foreign student standards scandal

8 October 2019 5:00 am

Some of Australia’s most prestigious universities are starting to make sensible changes when it comes to international student recruitment. In…

John Howard’s one big blunder: persuading Malcolm Turnbull to stay

7 October 2019 4:16 pm

John Howard is a great Australian and a great Liberal.  Over the 75 years if its existence, only two figures…

White Ribbon: the gravy train that jumped the tracks

7 October 2019 5:00 am

When White Ribbon Australia announced last week it was closing its doors, there was a round of applause around the…

Weekend viewing: How the enlightenment came to Australia

6 October 2019 11:21 am

In nineteenth-century Australia, the early colonists had to decide what sort of institutions they were going to choose, if they…

Climate change; the facts — and how you can help to spread them

5 October 2019 12:21 pm

As the editor of the last book   — and the next — in the Institute of Public Affairs’ Climate Change:…

China: almost 70 million dead to show for 70 years

4 October 2019 6:11 pm

The People’s Republic of China this week has celebrated 70 years of existence. At the start of October 1949, Mao…

Alexander Downer and his friends in high places

4 October 2019 4:03 pm

It’s always nice to know one has friends in high places. Speaking for the Australian government, our Ambassador to the…

What’s woke this week

4 October 2019 12:54 pm

What do Barbie dolls, meat myths and Maths have in common? They’ve all been very woke this week, as you’ll…

Don’t kill free speech to kill hate speech

4 October 2019 5:00 am

Flawed ‘hate speech’ laws are a threat to free speech. The best way to protect minorities – while also properly…

Braving two terrifying tribes: academics and racism warriors

3 October 2019 1:34 pm

Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, who died this week aged 81, was in the last generation of that profession who could claim…

Alexander Downer and Russiagate: be it sleaze or a smear, we need the facts

3 October 2019 5:00 am

The hills are alive with the sound of shrieking from the Democrats and their PR wing in the mainstream media…

Why celebrate a tyranny?

2 October 2019 5:58 pm

Seventy years ago, the authoritarian dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party was established. The “Great Leap Forward” which followed in…

Jim Molan heads back to the preselection trenches

2 October 2019 12:54 pm

Jim Molan’s military contemporaries regard him as one of the most skilled tacticians of his generation. More, he thinks strategically…

ScoMo’s religious freedom plans may be worse than doing nothing

2 October 2019 5:00 am

When a devout Christian teacher takes legal action against a private Christian school claiming unlawful discrimination, what does protection of…

Mueller, Pelosi, impeachment and Trump — and a real Downer

1 October 2019 4:57 pm

There was an article in the American press a few days ago in which the author explained that unity is…