In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Fighting fading curtains in the Sunshine State
It’s a state divided, sibling against sibling, family against family, community against community, city against country. It’s not America under…
Meat & Livestock Australia deserve an Australia Day roasting
“Aren’t we all boat people?” is the question posed by Meat & Livestock Australia’s current pre-January 26th holiday marketing spiel.…
Time to invade Turkey again
The time has come to box Johnny Turk’s ears again. Turkey – the homeland of St Paul the Apostle and…
Donald Trump and a spooky coincidence
Now there’s a coincidence. An article by Michael Pascoe on Fairfax websites today declares: On April 6, 1917, the United…
Muslim misogyny and the West
If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and watch the France 24 clip on Muslim misogyny Rita Panahi posted on her Herald…
Trump’s evangelical supporters are on the wrong side of history
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from…
About that Australia Day billboard…
So. About this Australia Day-hijab-billboard thing. A billboard promoting Australia Day celebrations that featured two girls in hijabs has been…
Live outside Tram Zone 1? Piss off!
The Age has let us know what it thinks of people who live outside Melbourne (read inner-city Melbourne, as Age-types…
Where’s the bloody Human Rights Commission while Valhalla’s burning?
Although the Human Rights Commission spends a lot of its time digging up imaginary wrongs and encouraging people to get outraged and…
There’s still an elephant in the room, Prime Minister
So we have a new ministry. Or an amended ministry, anyway. But there’s still an elephant in the room. Or…
Julian Assange, Australian of the Year
Without question, the most internationally famous, influential and impactful Australian in 2016 is Julian Assange. Through Wikileaks, Assange had a…
And they tell us the science is settled?
Please find below three examples of wisdom from the groves of academe, courtesy of The Conversation. Read the three “You…
Fox politics in the Year of the Rooster
As we’re coming up to the Chinese New Year of the Rooster I’ve named my three new hens after former…
Free speech gets shredded
Last Thursday Dr Anne Aly, the Member for Cowan, shared a video of herself shredding the Institute of Public Affairs’ submission…
Nationalism or neo-liberalism, just sell your case better
Surely you’ve all seen Tony Abbott’s punchy op-ed in The Australian, and the wee tiff it’s sparked within the Liberal government. In case not, here’s…
Privatise the ABC
The Middle-Class Rip Off is an episode of the great British satire Yes Minister, where Humphrey Appleby excoriates his minister Jim Hacker, for suggesting that…
A grey beard isn’t everything in politics
Change is the only constant. Ultimately, that is the only truth there is, and anything else you hear is more…
How industrial awards hit people with disability
Australia has historically had poor rates of labour force participation for people with a disability, ranking well into the bottom…
Time for the RSL to get off its knees
If ever there was an act of national moral cowardice it has been the RSL’s nil response to plans to…
Farewell to the man who brought The Spectator to Australia. Sorta…
The idiot children at the media company that bears his family name still haven’t got the story up online, but…
Parliamentary perks: entitlement versus inconvenience
They say that if you want friends in politics you should get a dog, but if pollies want to find…
What went wrong with The Economist?
I first encountered The Economist magazine as an undergraduate at the London School of Economics in the early 1960s. Richard Lipsey…
South Australia: political geography and globalisation
In 1996 I published Globalising Australian Capitalism. The book generally gave a favourable account of the then bipartisan policy response…
Sussan Ley: every cloud has a silver lining
Notwithstanding investigations under way into stood-aside Health minister Sussan Ley’s touching fondness for the Gold Coast, it now appears she…
Legal euthanasia for Victoria? Beware
Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury and Finance, Daniel Mulino, has hit back at suggestions that assisted suicide and euthanasia can…