Flat White

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

Margaret Court and new lows for public discourse

5 June 2017 12:50 pm

There is nothing particularly remarkable or amazing about Margaret Court’s comments on same-sex attraction or whatever. She offers absolutely no…

You are not allowed to debate male privilege – full stop

5 June 2017 7:25 am

You are not allowed to debate the existence of male privilege. At least that’s according to Fairfax Daily Life columnist, Ruby Hamad.…

The health department head compounds his sins

4 June 2017 5:12 pm

Embattled Health Department head, Martin Bowles’s, Senate estimates performance last week is a gift that keeps on giving. As we…

Pipe down, Hollywood

2 June 2017 3:55 pm

2012: Famed self-deprecating, ‘red-neck’, Republican comedian Jeff Foxworthy tries to reignite his slowly waning career by posing for a photo-shoot,…

Taking temperatures

2 June 2017 1:03 pm

It started with a palm to the forehead. Then the glass thermometer, the one in the metal case with the…

Killing the university

2 June 2017 7:55 am

In March, the University of Melbourne Student Union ran an “intersectional and student-led workshop around the ways in which privilege and unconscious bias…

Terror targets? We have it in writing…

1 June 2017 5:26 pm

Are we in the West stupid, careless, uninformed or suicidal? It is now 10 years – that is a decade…

The Chloe Shorten family hour

1 June 2017 12:55 pm

On an icy Canberra evening, your correspondent makes her way through excited Chinese students to ANU’s Copland Theatre where Chloe Shorten…

The recognition racket

1 June 2017 7:13 am

Given the outcome of last week’s grand talk-fest at the lavish Sails in the Desert resort at Yulara, near Ayers…

Fiscal funny games and milking miners won’t win the West

31 May 2017 6:34 pm

One of the maxims of fiscal policy is that when a government is on the hunt for revenue, weird and unexpected things can happen. Everyone…

Keeping China in check

31 May 2017 12:03 pm

With the world’s attention currently focused on events in North Korea and the never-ending crisis of the Syrian civil war,…

The tired old gender agenda

31 May 2017 7:17 am

A gloating headline this week has spoken so many volumes about gender politics it’s not even comical. Treasury did not…

Bullying for rights ain’t right

30 May 2017 7:28 pm

A few days ago, council workers in New Orleans tied ropes to a 6-metre bronze statue of General Robert E Lee,…

The Health Department boss should pack his bags

30 May 2017 4:25 pm

If I was Health Department secretary, Martin Bowles, I’d be checking my superannuation paperwork is in order. Over three hours…

Canberra’s bolshy bishop wrong on Israel

30 May 2017 1:06 pm

A Measured Response By Denis MacEoin In his recent article, ‘Capitalism, Anti-Semitism & The Judaeo-Christian Ethic’ the former Anglican bishop…

Getting ready for that next Kirribilli iftar…

30 May 2017 6:45 am

“Malcolm, that woman in PMC’s Hospitality and Protocol has sent over a Note reminding your office Ramadan has begun. She…

Another domestic violence program fails? No!

29 May 2017 12:06 pm

How much longer do lazy politicians and greedy feminist lobby groups think they can keep the lid on the boiling…

Why the left were right about privilege

29 May 2017 7:29 am

Privilege is simply the idea that our experiences, upbringing, circumstances and sometimes, the gender or race we’re born with, mean…

ASIO’s insult to the intelligence of Muslims

28 May 2017 6:25 pm

It’s an insult to the intelligence of Muslims, frankly to all of us, to keep claiming that terrorism today is…

The Guardian meets the RNC

28 May 2017 1:12 pm

Following Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs’ altercation with Republican Gregory Gianforte, the awkward DC-based reporter has been flooded with invitations to…

Church and State, revisited

28 May 2017 7:46 am

When the battle between Church and State spills over into the tax domain things start to get interesting. Earlier this…

Time for reparations for the slave trade?

27 May 2017 1:49 pm

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and soul-searching lately. It has become a regular part of my procrastination between…

Be-Friending the ABC

27 May 2017 8:25 am

It comes as no surprise when you discover that ‘Friends of the ABC’ is not, like, say, the CWA or…

Angered by Manchester? That’s racist!

26 May 2017 8:59 pm

There isn’t much that is more frustrating than the desperate scrambling, post the latest Islamist terrorist attack, for commentators and…

The battle for Manchester

26 May 2017 12:37 pm

In times of great tragedy, when the minds of the masses unite in stunned grief, warped voices become incredibly clear.…