In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Margaret Court and new lows for public discourse
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
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
Embattled Health Department head, Martin Bowles’s, Senate estimates performance last week is a gift that keeps on giving. As we…
Pipe down, Hollywood
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
It started with a palm to the forehead. Then the glass thermometer, the one in the metal case with the…
Killing the university
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…
Are we in the West stupid, careless, uninformed or suicidal? It is now 10 years – that is a decade…
The Chloe Shorten family hour
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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…
“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!
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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!
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
In times of great tragedy, when the minds of the masses unite in stunned grief, warped voices become incredibly clear.…