In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Is it really all smiles for NSW?
Alarm bells should ring when treasurers resort to hyperbole to describe their budget achievements. With Paul Keating in the late…
Why the left fights the family
The Left needs to destroy the family unit to succeed in the long-term. Over the last few years, we have…
The ultimate sin
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, Communist in government, Buddhist in culture has somehow managed to retain layers of pre-Buddhist animism,…
Citizenship: our values are not up for sale
I’ve boycotted ABC’s Q&A program for a number of years, and tuning in at the end of last night’s episode…
What will they Finkel next?
The greatest contribution the Finkel Review makes to Australian public policy may, in fact, be a new verb. From June 2017, to ‘finkel’…
Who’s Little Collin?
Note it down. June 19, 2017. The day the Melbourne Age died of shame. Or should have, if it had…
Misery pundits: why I don’t get modern queer politics
When I was 19, I headed up my University’s ‘Queer Collective’. It was a regional campus and not exactly a…
What sells better? Empowerment or victimhood?
What sells better? Empowerment or victimhood? That garbage pail known as the Melbourne Age couldn’t make up its mind, so…
Black, white, yellow and Red
Uh-oh! Red Symons has really put his foot in it, hasn’t he? Or has he? Maybe his behaviour while speaking…
Woolly thinking won’t help with education
Some weeks more than others, the woolly thinking that leads to poor policy is blindingly obvious. Education policy development is…
For God or country?
A few months ago I mused on this page whether the UK had shifted to the point where a faithful Christian could…
We need more than concrete barriers to protect us from terrorism
The general atmosphere of Melbourne has changed. Innocence has been lost. Citizens feel insecure. A cloud of doom and trepidation…
The hangover after the ball
It was Paul Keating who said that if you needed a friend in Canberra you should get a dog. Malcolm…
High tax: the pillar of what civilisation?
“Progressive” think tank Per Capita recently released the results of their annual tax survey. It turns out that 51.5 per…
Safe school days
Once upon a time, schools were for teaching things like reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Today, schools teach reading, writing,…
Goodbye to all that
The Age made a song and dance today about the departure of their political editor Michael Gordon. And rightly, too.…
Elder abuse: it’s real
Today, June 15, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Timed to coincide with this international day, the Australian Law Reform…
Trumpism, post-Trump
BOSTON, UNITED STATES — Professor David Flint made a statement in the last print issue which I’d like to tease…
Manus: a ten point plan to recover our honour, our borders and our country
The Turnbull government has gone to water over the claim by about 1900 Manus Island detainees. It could have and…
No Hils, you’re no Wonder Woman
Hillary Clinton has learned nothing from losing the election. She’s still living life in one of two modes. She’s either…
Values matter in politics
One statistic is essential to understanding the shock British election result: the turnout by people aged 18 to 24. Since 1992 only…
Why just tinker with refugee rorts?
This week Canberra is buzzing. It’s the last sitting fortnight before the long winter break, the week when important bits…
St Pauls can do better…
I usually leave the sincere and polite explanations of why Daisy Cousens is confused to the wonderfully articulate Michael Davis.…
Somebody please show feminists the glass trapdoor
I’ve heard it all now. Literally, all. Moaning about the “glass ceiling” reached deafening dizzy heights after Clinton’s collapse. Today…
When racism’s not racism
Excuse me. I always though Wonder Woman came from the Amazon island of Themyscira. Apparently not. She’s Jewish. Israeli. And…