Flat White

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

Ten religious reasons why Barnaby Joyce should resign

19 February 2018 8:36 am

I like Barnaby Joyce. And I honestly pray for him, his estranged wife Natalie, their children, and his new partner…

“Wetness in the third engine”

18 February 2018 6:03 pm

It is not widely known, but the Therapeutic Drugs Administration has approved the release to the general public of a…

Morality drones

18 February 2018 11:11 am

The young receptionist in her Minister’s office was momentarily taken aback. The PM’s office? God, it’s heavy. And something rattles.…

Yassmin’s Islamic amnesia

16 February 2018 11:03 am

Like so many Australians, I have come to the conclusion that Yassmin Abdel-Magied is maybe not quite in touch with…

Against ethical veganism

16 February 2018 7:48 am

Ethical veganism, which is commonly motivated by the minimisation of animal suffering or injury (an ideology which is often linked…

The sorry sorry business

15 February 2018 7:37 am

In December 1970 the then Chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt, while on a visit to Poland went down on…

Conservatively speaking: an exclusive interview with Cory Bernardi

14 February 2018 1:00 pm

Reminding Canberrans and visitors alike that Parliament House is not actually part of Australia but a strange sort of parallel…

Barnaby must go

14 February 2018 8:48 am

Like a lot of other observers of politics, I am convinced that Barnaby Joyce, the Deputy Prime Minister, should go.…

Magda’s “mandroid” madness

14 February 2018 7:29 am

Remember when they said last year that if we re-defined marriage then nothing was going to change? Well, from one…

Shock, horror: there’s humping on the Hill

13 February 2018 8:46 pm

Sometimes you need to take a step back from the rapid, racing political commentary and chuckle at the bogus make-believe…

Conservatives as conservationists

13 February 2018 2:00 pm

There appears to be a general consensus among self-described conservatives that environmental protection should be placed way down any list…

Tanya, what “sexist double standards”?

13 February 2018 7:46 am

All over the world, every minute of every day, men have affairs. Women, strangely enough, also have affairs. And so…

Whether it’s Barney or Barbara, we’re the bad guys again

12 February 2018 8:07 pm

How did news of Barnaby Joyce’s shambolic personal life, dodgy boss behaviour, and the Canberra media contingent’s ongoing collective sidestep…

Trumping Obama

12 February 2018 4:29 pm

From Fox News: Campus Reform’s Cabot Phillips talked to students at New York City’s John Jay College, reading them quotes…

Even a magic nanny would struggle with childcare policy

12 February 2018 1:00 pm

The threat by childcare union, United Voice, to strike next month over low wages reflects a bizarre belief that government…

What would happen if church schools closed?

12 February 2018 8:02 am

I’m told, on good authority, that bed-time stories in the house of some school principals include a retelling, in hushed…

Baby blues

11 February 2018 7:52 pm

This is a story about a senior media figure and a younger woman who discovered, perhaps to her dismay, that…

Pardoning the Breaker is unpardonable

11 February 2018 3:55 pm

There is an awful lot of ignorance about the English-born mercenary Henry Harbord Morant. Morant was executed for murder in…

Richard Di Natale turns pestersome popinjay

11 February 2018 7:54 am

The Greek historian, Thucydides, who lived through the Peloponnesian wars, wrote that: “The bravest are surely those who have the…

Screwing the crew

10 February 2018 4:26 pm

If politics is, as some maintain, Hollywood for ugly people, then lots of ugly people are having lots and lots…

The Green-left’s war against Jim Molan

9 February 2018 7:53 pm

The Greens are a party without principle or common sense. They’ve proved their lack of seriousness by their attack this…

Barnaby Joyce and the return of the scarlet letter

9 February 2018 5:00 pm

With all the grubby reporting of a private matter between two consenting adults, the media pack, led by the Daily…

Ten non-religious reasons against euthanasia

9 February 2018 7:59 am

I have, in awe, seen a husband caring for his young wife—and their four children—in the last months of her…

Tanks on the streets

8 February 2018 8:09 pm

Trump sure as hell knows how to stir up the left: President Trump has asked the Pentagon to explore holding “a celebration”…

The rule of law also applies to law processes

8 February 2018 2:30 pm

George Brandis’s parting shot in his valedictory speech to the parliament over his concern that ‘attacks upon the institutions of…