Flat White

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

South Australia: two turning points for the economy

4 January 2017 9:50 am

The Mike Rann Labor government was formed in South Australia in 2002 and thereafter enjoyed a decent decade. It then…

Nanny won’t trust us with cold and flu tablets?

3 January 2017 9:19 am

The announcement by the Therapeutic Goods Administration that pharmaceutical products that contain codeine will no longer be available over the…

The success of soft multiculturalism

2 January 2017 9:58 am

Australian politicians feel it necessary to keep reminding the public that their country is the most successful multicultural society in…

Israel is Jewish

1 January 2017 11:11 am

At a time when Australian Christians have been celebrating Christmas and the New Year and Australian Jews marking the Festival…

2016 an annus horribilis? Grow up

31 December 2016 10:12 am

We close 2016 with the knowledge that it will be remembered as one of the most momentous years in modern…

Is the defender of the faith quailing?

30 December 2016 5:48 pm

Firstly, let me say in response to that headline, I doubt it. The Queen has spoken frankly throughout her life…

Obama’s destruction of Israel

30 December 2016 9:47 am

I remember a few months back Benjamin Netanyahu gave a striking order to his cabinet ministers: ‘First of all, the…

The you-beaut NDIS

29 December 2016 9:33 am

Let me start this by saying that I have a disability parking sticker from the government in recognition of my…

The ADF’s drug trial outrage

28 December 2016 9:20 am

The anti-malarial drug trial scandal that has embroiled the Australian Defence Force for the last two years simply won’t go…

Anti hate laws: an attack on free speech

27 December 2016 9:21 am

Anti-hate laws across the world and in Australia are being used to restrict free speech. In Australia, LibertyWorks recently reported…

South Australia: why it’s in this state

26 December 2016 3:20 pm

The SA economy is stagnating or even declining. The Labor government has been in power since 2002, now led by…

Politics 2016: everything’s changed but Australia

26 December 2016 9:22 am

BOSTON, UNITED STATES — Back in 2015, shortly after the coup that brought Malcolm Turnbull to power, I contributed to…

Nothing to do with Islam? Not again, Dopey Dan?

23 December 2016 2:44 pm

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews thinks that a man can say he’s a woman, and that makes it so. Recently, his…

Christmas in Assyria

23 December 2016 7:23 am

Once Assyria stretched from Cyprus to Iran and from the Caucasus to Egypt. Successive invasions and massacres have diminished both…

Leadership crisis dogs RSL

22 December 2016 3:40 pm

We are the dead . . .  Take up our quarrel with the foe  To you from failing hands we…

Bernardi must s— or get off the pot

22 December 2016 10:46 am

Last weekend I encountered Cory Bernardi at the Bolt Report Christmas party.  He’s a nice bloke: affable, serious, patriotic: a…

The alt-right rumble: round three

22 December 2016 9:47 am

In an article published here some weeks back, I criticised those self-described conservatives who drone on endlessly about the diabolical…

MYEFO: revenue raisers v expenditure cutters

21 December 2016 4:51 pm

The Commonwealth government’s mid-year budget update shows the deficit/debt problem is no closer to being resolved. In 2007-08 (the last…

Trump the revolutionary

21 December 2016 7:16 am

Donald J. Trump is a revolutionary no less than the late Fidel Castro. Why should military fatigues be de rigueur? It’s only a…

Je Suis Andrey

20 December 2016 10:09 am

This should be a time for mourning, not only for Berlin’s dead but also for Russia’s. Whatever our disagreements with…

Assad’s Aussie cheerleader

20 December 2016 8:20 am

On more than one occasion, I have put forward the thesis that some of the most deeply stupid and sinister…

You keep talking about that “Alt-Right”. I do not think it means what you think it means

19 December 2016 7:20 am

If the manifold half-truths strewn throughout Michael Davis’ apologium for the alt-right constitute an offense against objectivity, surely the derivative…

Malcolm Turnbull contradicts himself over a republic

18 December 2016 5:14 pm

Malcolm Turnbull can advance only one extremely weak reason to justify the expense, division and enormous cost of both a…

Xenophon: the stuntman turns saboteur

18 December 2016 8:51 am

Submariners fear nothing more than an unexpected explosion when submerged, particularly when it is an own goal. Such was the…

The battle for the White House is like a Hollywood thriller – and it’s not over yet

17 December 2016 8:21 am

I’m sure you’ve heard this line about politics: “It’s showbiz for ugly people.” I think that applies to all democracies,…