In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Let the market unchain indigenous communities
The problem that has sparked the Royal Commission on juvenile detention is much broader than the way in which children…
Malcolm’s misfortune exposed
As Lady Bracknell may have said “To lose one vote may be regarded as misfortune”. And so it was at…
The Climate Change Authority: garbage in, garbage out (plus a little tampering)
There have been several hundred Australian analyses of climate change policy and its costs and benefits. Most have provided profundities…
Why aren’t there more women in politics? Simple!
As women, we are constantly being reminded that there are not enough of us in parliament. We are being looked down on and…
The poor unloved, ignored Grauniad Austria
The poor old Grauniad Austria — The Guardian Australia, to non-media types. Not only did its parent, the Guardian Media Group,…
The great 18c pigeonholing
There’s a caricature for opponents of section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. They’re supposed to be racists who are…
Show that you really do believe in free speech
Free speech is being destroyed in this country, thanks to the odious section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which…
Fracking usless policy in Victoria
The Andrews Government in Victoria has set in motion regulatory arrangements that will permanently prevent hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other…
ScoMo’s super self-imposed dilemma
The Prime Minister and the Treasurer must rue the day they allowed their public service advisers to talk them into…
Back to school with James McGrath
Daunted by wading through the acres of newsprint about today’s first sitting of parliament since the election? Afraid of eye…
Modest mantillas and bashful burqinis: same difference
New tripe on the burqini ban, this time from Jennifer Oriel: “When the Syrian city of Manbij was liberated from Islamic State, women burned…
O brave new political world…
So here we are again. Federal parliament finally is reconvening, a mere four months since it last met and eight…
Calling time on Turnbull
With our pollies going back to Canberra this week for the first time since the election Labor Senator Sam Dastyari…
Ah yes. About that plan, Prime Minister…
“Our plan is clear”, the Prime Minister Facebooked after his appearance on ABC Television’s Insiders yesterday ahead of the return…
Free speech is too important to be trusted to lawyers
On last week’s Q&A, comedian turned mature age law student Corinne Grant shed light on perhaps the most compelling reason…
Time for Barnett to stop being a prat on the plebiscite
The WA Premier, Colin Barnett, needs to smarten himself up. He has every right to remind PM Malcolm Turnbull that…
A bank inquiry: what happens if the parliament and executive clash?
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has received advice from the Clerk of the Senate, Rosemary Laing, that the Senate and House of Representatives…
Richer, safer, healthier, vacuous, lost and depraved
Sixteen years or so too late, but I’m presently inhaling Peter Hitchens’s The Abolition of Britain. Though a diehard Hitchensonian…
Free speech? Shut up and drink your hemlock!
When Socrates was tried and executed by his fellow Athenians, his speech was found to be outside the acceptable realm…
Safe Schools’ sleazy Trojan horse
The Australian’s latest major Safe Schools revelations have exposed the farce of Pamela Blackman’s new sexual health curriculum Transmission. It hijacks…
Shorten’s mandate theory falls short
One thing about close election results is that they give rise to a lot of waffle about mandates. The Labor…
What is behind the left’s sympathy for Islamist right?
In 2015 Nick Cohen announced his ‘resignation‘ from the left in protest at its open support for the Islamist extreme-right.…
What do we want? Less free speech!
For years comedians across America have been lamenting the suffocating political correctness sweeping their country. This growing aversion “offensive” views,…
Time for business to remember its values and cut the Kofi breaks
Back in the days when Kofi Anan possessed the biggest blue helmet of them all as UN Secretary General, a…
Good governance goes to the dogs with Baird’s barking mad policy
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird appears to be emulating characters from American history with his barking mad bill banning…