Flat White

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

Death by blasphemy

2 December 2016 4:22 pm

My primary school teacher used to swear by Jove to emphasise how impressed he was when one of his pupils…

We are a low taxing country?

2 December 2016 12:49 pm

I’m sure you were all up late on Wednesday night eagerly awaiting the publication of the latest OECD Revenue Statistics.…

A spittoon’s worth of bigots

2 December 2016 7:16 am

We are all racists now. Noel Person tells us so. The “hard bigotry” of Quadrant conservatism has merged with the “soft bigotry” of the ABC. The two have met in “the common…

Derryn Hinch and the ABCC: Shame, shame, shame!

1 December 2016 5:20 pm

Malcolm Turnbull and Michaelia Cash have boasted that the long-awaited passage of the Government’s ABCC bills is a ‘fundamental economic…

It’s time for CANZUK

1 December 2016 1:18 pm

No countries have a closer relationship with Australia than New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. We have shared history…

Pauline and Julian: the (bloody) odd couple

30 November 2016 10:15 pm

As Australia’s political year fizzles to an ignominious end, the political oddity which is One Nation continues as the gift…

The neoliberals ate my maths homework

30 November 2016 9:57 pm

The latest international maths and science results suggest that Australia is a slow learner when it comes to improving school…

The Greens: drugs ok, e-cigarettes evil

30 November 2016 1:30 pm

The Greens have relaunched their drug policy, with party members approving Richard Di Natale’s proposed changes at their national conference in…

Should you tell ABC types the truth about Santa?

30 November 2016 7:25 am

The ABC asks all the important questions like “Should you tell your kids the ‘truth’ about Santa?” – and answers them: “Is…

My secret alt-right shame (as told to The Guardian)

29 November 2016 4:52 pm

I’ve been floating the idea of hoaxing The Guardian for years now. The plan was to pose as some emotionally…

The fat bogan tax

29 November 2016 12:16 pm

Last week the good people at Centre for Authoritarian Ideas – otherwise known as the Grattan Institute – released a…

Demockracy

29 November 2016 7:18 am

Australia is becoming a mock democracy; a demockracy. It is observable on a daily basis as some politicians, journalists and…

The latest from The Age…

28 November 2016 7:12 pm

Forget the tyranny of low expectations. The opposite happens at The Age. As its standards plummet, the paper soars to…

Parliament should stay sitting until its work is done

28 November 2016 4:10 pm

Where is Professor Triggs when you want her? How could the Turnbull government be so mean and petty and also,…

Labor must share blame for GP co-payment fallout

28 November 2016 10:43 am

Last Friday, Fairfax ran a report by Latika Bourke on my talk to the Centre for Independent Studies, as the so-called…

Military injustice

28 November 2016 7:21 am

Was it William Shakespeare who wrote, “Put a lawyer into uniform but it cannot a soldier make”? Perhaps not, but…

Castro a tyrant? Not according to the ABC

27 November 2016 1:22 pm

Unbelievable. Absolutely un-be-f*cking-lievable. Read the ABC’s obituary of Fidel Castro, the “romantic revolutionary”. Not one mention of human rights abuses.…

Protect our troops. Abolish the Office of Military Prosecutions

27 November 2016 9:47 am

‘Stop firing’ screamed the Afghan interpreter metres away from a suspected Taliban leader as he emptied his magazine towards a…

What was that Paul Keating was saying about the ABC?

26 November 2016 4:27 pm

What was that Paul Keating was saying about the ABC only yesterday? Something about the broadcaster “letting Australia down” in…

Twins, caesarians and Centrelink

26 November 2016 8:06 am

I had finished work the previous day in preparation for a fortnight of paternity leave.  My wife was on the…

Soft power, hard outcomes

25 November 2016 1:25 pm

Wednesday’s edition of  7:30 included a fascinating piece on the campaign of the Chinese government to make China the world…

Don’t tell the Greens, but I’ve been to Israel

25 November 2016 7:19 am

Don’t tell the Greens, but I’ve gone to Israel. After possibly the best midnight flight to Jerusalem since Mohammed’s horse…

Raising the flag (without getting arrested or killed)

24 November 2016 12:22 pm

On November 28, East Timorese celebrate the anniversary of the day in 1975 when their country was declared an independent nation and they raised…

The Donald, the media — and the misunderstandings

24 November 2016 7:27 am

You’ve really got to hand it to mainstream media commentators – often wrong but never in doubt. Their spectacularly inaccurate…

Why I joined — and quit — the Australian Republican Movement

23 November 2016 4:30 pm

As a long-time republican, I made the decision last year to join the Australian Republican Movement. Having spent the better…