Flat White

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

Immigration? Once again, SHY hasn’t a clue

28 August 2017 2:20 pm

Remember when Sarah Hanson-Young was stripped of her immigration portfolio last August?   Here is the reason why.   SHY appears to believe…

The same-sex marriage brigade need to be humbled

28 August 2017 7:26 am

The LGBTI liberation movement needs to be humbled, and the best way to do it is to vote ‘No’ to…

What are doctors really saying about assisted suicide and euthanasia

27 August 2017 7:34 am

In the modern era, the role of the doctor has moved away from a paternalistic one and more towards an…

Getting Indigenous history right

26 August 2017 3:15 pm

Before we start tearing down statues of Captain Cook and Governor Macquarie in a misguided attempt to atone for Australia’s…

The strange death of Europe

25 August 2017 12:46 pm

There exists in German a wonderful word, both oddly haunting and untranslatable: Geschichtsmüde, which translates into something roughly akin to…

Euthanasia – or better palliative care?

25 August 2017 7:34 am

In a few weeks, the Victorian parliament will consider a law change to permit assisted suicide. Is such a dramatic…

So much for harem dreams

24 August 2017 4:29 pm

There are few pleasures greater than the freedom to wander amongst the historic cultures of yesteryear, marvelling at how the…

I’m a baby boomer, and I like a drink. So there

24 August 2017 11:42 am

Oh dear, nanny state researchers are out and about again, finding fresh angles to demonise those of us who enjoy…

Burkas and broken oaths: complete the constitution

24 August 2017 7:20 am

My blood ran cold. A woman – I assume she was a woman – came towards me in a burka…

After marriage equality, then what?

23 August 2017 12:46 pm

Much to my wife’s unease, I sat down with my four-year-old son the other day and watched The Wizard of Oz, which,…

Our taxes should not be used to subsidise unlawful protest groups

23 August 2017 7:10 am

Earlier this year, fifteen Greenpeace activists illegally accessed a ten-storey high coal stockpile at the Port of Newcastle. They put…

The Greens abolish private property

22 August 2017 5:16 pm

Ok, not quite — but the Queensland party has released a policy to “fix the rigged system that treats renters…

What is the point of Sarah Hanson-Young?

22 August 2017 11:52 am

There appears to be some confusion. Many people appear to believe that anyone who questioned Pauline Hanson’s bizarre actions in…

Big data finds the Medieval Warm Period – no denial here

22 August 2017 7:49 am

According to author Leo Tolstoy, born at the very end of the Little Ice Age, in quite a cold country:…

The Christian case for doing whatever the hell you want

21 August 2017 8:57 pm

I usually don’t bother reading articles with titles like ‘The (X) Case for (Y)’, where X = a right-wing ideology…

How to turn cheap power back on

21 August 2017 4:54 pm

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg claims that renewable energy is a disruptive force in the energy market in the same way as the…

Section 44 solved in six easy steps

21 August 2017 2:49 pm

Malcolm Turnbull has a heck of a political problem on his hands. For once, it’s not entirely of his own…

Does China have a claim on Penny Wong?

21 August 2017 12:36 pm

The dual citizenship issues that have now entangled so many of our Parliamentarians have thrown up many issues, and one…

You want marriage equality? Here’s the starting point

21 August 2017 7:42 am

I have a niece who is an out and proud lesbian, and I love her dearly, and I also love…

The Christian case for assisted dying

20 August 2017 6:50 pm

Before and after photos of Frenchwoman Chantal Sebire motivated me, in 2009, to become public in advocating, as a Christian,…

With Bannon gone, it’s civil war

20 August 2017 8:13 am

At its most coherent, Trumpism has always been a heretical offshoot of Bannonism: the same populist-nationalist spirit without its conservative,…

Rotten pollies, rotten media, the chicken and the egg

19 August 2017 9:06 pm

There’s general agreement nowadays. Our politics stinks. So does the media. What’s less clear, however, is if one begat the…

How to deal with Pauline Hanson’s political stunts

19 August 2017 6:55 pm

Before Trump or Farage, before Wilders or Marine Le Pen, there was Pauline. Pauline Hanson was the original rabble-rouser who…

The monarchists’ best friend

19 August 2017 12:44 pm

You’d quite rightly be suspicious if someone came knocking on your door every few months asking you to move to…

Water thieves steal from us all

18 August 2017 2:58 pm

Stealing in Australia is serious. The consequences are severe. That does not seem to be the case when the property…