Flat White

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

A Wolf in wolf’s clothing

4 May 2018 8:28 am

I was sitting at my desk, ruminating on what to make of the whole Michelle Wolf fiasco, when my 14-year-old…

Political life is horrible

3 May 2018 8:11 pm

Tim Hammond’s decision to quit the Australian parliament has been hailed an honourable and courageous one. With two young children,…

Why the voters gave Hillary poor Marx

3 May 2018 2:53 pm

What would Karl Marx (unhappy 200th birthday for next Saturday by the way, Beardo) think of a political party that…

Beware of overusing Indigenous business targets

3 May 2018 12:55 pm

The Indigenous business sector is booming. But recent calls for more targets to boost Aboriginal companies must be treated with…

Can war be just?

2 May 2018 6:30 pm

The recent furore over the use of “death iconography” by the current Chief of Army raises important questions as to…

Is ignorance spurring a slide to socialism?

2 May 2018 5:34 pm

The global Ipsos poll released today and published by Fairfax Media, entitled Attitudes towards Socialist Ideals in the 21st Century, shows…

Support for Lifeline waning over “toxic” Clementine Ford

2 May 2018 8:15 am

A petition to have extremist feminist activist Clementine Ford removed as a speaker at a Lifeline hosted event is gathering…

A sugar tax is another attack on freedom and personal responsibility

1 May 2018 4:29 pm

Won’t somebody please think of the adults? If there’s one thing we know well in our great southern continent, it’s…

Are we really only kept afloat by immigration, mate?

1 May 2018 1:48 pm

It just seems like a year ago that Scott Morrison handed down the Commonwealth budget and brought joy and early…

The rise and rise of intolerance

1 May 2018 8:01 am

How can anyone watch the debate on anti-Semitism in the House of Commons and not wonder at the madness that…

No, Four Corners, Brown Brothers is not moving to Tasmania

30 April 2018 4:03 pm

When the ABC ran its Four Corners program on climate change some weeks back, it had as its theme farmers,…

Cut the losses on Gonski 2.0 review and quietly back away

30 April 2018 11:05 am

You have to feel just a little bit sorry for Simon Birmingham. The federal education minister was effectively shoe-horned into…

Mental health: the Gillard effect

30 April 2018 7:53 am

When Julia Gillard beamed as she took over Beyond Blue, collective Aussie jaws hit the floor. Could lefty elites really…

A Corbyn in the capital’s ALP?

29 April 2018 5:32 pm

Last week in affluent, well-educated, politely spoken, avowedly Labor and impeccably PC Canberra, someone wrote something in a small throwaway…

God and man (and emotional support animals) at Yale

29 April 2018 12:45 pm

The Yale News reports (yes, Yale, not kale): If you walked into the Grace Hopper College courtyard last year, you…

Never mind the bollards

29 April 2018 7:48 am

I am from Melbourne and I am a bollard lover following the 12 Steps Program to recovery. Since last year’s…

Cook’s contribution to civilisation

28 April 2018 4:28 pm

In a decision that will send many of the Left fleeing to the nearest safe place—i.e. Twitter—to find solace against…

What happens when the government decides you should die?

27 April 2018 1:49 pm

There is currently no greater example of a government that has become too big for its people, than the case…

Their ABC: what a joke

27 April 2018 7:34 am

You know that things over at the ABC are getting really desperate when they give people like Tom Ballard—Australia’s most…

NDIS: When will the other shoe drop?

26 April 2018 5:46 pm

In announcing today that — way hey! — the Turnbull government now has a revenue windfall to fully fund the…

Incel and the perilous politics of terrorism

26 April 2018 3:03 pm

Incel: if you hadn’t heard of this alarming group before the horrendous Toronto attack, you will surely have heard about…

The tax cuts menu

26 April 2018 1:13 pm

With the Turnbull government raising expectations of personal income tax cuts in the forthcoming budget, the question is whether it…

Unions, change yourself first

26 April 2018 8:00 am

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has launched the national unions’ pre-election Change the Rules campaign with the ambition to be the…

Will whinging identity politics kill the Greens?

25 April 2018 5:43 pm

Identity politics is a corrosive ideology that will create division and hostility if it’s allowed to take hold – as…

Never forget: we fought for freedom

25 April 2018 2:33 pm

The thousands of Australians who enlisted to fight in the First World War did so because they believed that their…