Sean Jacobs

What to do about crime? Papua New Guinea at 48

11 September 2023 4:30 am

September 16, 2023, will mark 48 years of independence for Australia’s nearest neighbour – Papua New Guinea (PNG). And, by…

Staying the Liberal course: with wall-to-wall red, blue politics is on the ropes

12 April 2023 4:00 am

It’s not difficult to determine that the Liberal Party appears in trouble. With wall-to-wall red states minus Tasmania, a popular…

American Diary: love of the game

21 January 2023 6:00 am

Cramming recently into a freezing New York Jets game, I was surprised to learn that, despite the National Football League…

Australia and a Pacific ‘shape up’ in 2023 

28 December 2022 4:00 am

This year, the Pacific Islands clearly featured much more vividly in Australian politics. Near-state collapse in the Solomon Islands, matched…

The future of Australia’s monarchy

16 September 2022 4:00 am

Sombre recent events have driven pause and reflection, not only upon a life of great service, but on Australia’s connection…

Duty, service, and change: vale Queen Elizabeth II

9 September 2022 7:07 am

Prince Philip, it was said, had one duty above all others – to never let the Queen down. Her Majesty,…

Celebrating Australia’s National Flag

3 September 2022 3:09 pm

One of the truly unique stories of Australia’s National Flag is that it was designed by public competition.  In 1901,…

What just happened in PNG?!

26 August 2022 10:15 am

A troubling election in difficult times as Beijing creeps closer to the Pacific

Re-vamping the Pacific: will Australia ‘step up’ or ‘step out’?

29 April 2022 9:00 am

In 2014, I wrote a short piece on the Pacific Islands that found its way, surprisingly, across the globe and into the Bangladeshi…

Australia stubbornly refuses to become a republic – with good reason

19 January 2022 4:00 am

Back in high school days, a group of fellow students at a model United Nations conference rankled the organisers by…

A farewell to the Duke of Edinburgh

9 April 2021 9:46 pm

Prince Philip once said that his job – first, second and last – was ‘to never let the Queen down’.…

Aussie winds, republican kite-flying

6 November 2020 4:28 pm

Today, November 6, marks the twenty-first anniversary of the 1999 republic referendum. Two decades on, republican lobbyists are on the…

Sco Mo, Josh: this is what we need to hear tomorrow

5 October 2020 5:00 am

Many Australians rightly look back on the Hawke-Keating-Howard-Costello era of the 1980s and 1990s as Australia’s golden era of reform. From the…

Not so accidental guerillas: how to counter the modern rioter

15 August 2020 5:23 pm

“They sayin’ Black Lives Matter and all this stuff,” he said. “But man, you’re hurting the black community.” These are the…

Republicans: time to accept the truth of the matter

15 July 2020 12:05 pm

With all the focus republican lobbyists have placed on the Palace Letters – a move that has backfired considerably –…

The ‘Palace letters’ should remind republicans: be careful what you wish for

30 May 2020 12:40 pm

Australian Republicans are excited by the High Court’s ruling to release the so-called ‘Palace letters’. The 200 or so letters, which contain…

A corona communique to Pirate Pete and pals: how about we fix federation before trying a republic?

14 April 2020 10:59 am

It was former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating who supposedly said ‘Never get between a Premier and a bag of…

Corona crisis cancelled my wedding, but may it never harm our long-term liberty

26 March 2020 11:01 am

I was due to be married in Australia on May 9. But, even six weeks away, it is not to…

Built to last in the internet age

24 February 2020 6:53 pm

Peter Kirstein – a creator of the internet and the man who helped Queen Elizabeth hit ‘send’ on her first…

What would Winston do?

30 January 2020 5:00 am

The end of the month marks 55 years since Winston Churchill’s death. With an estimated 10,000 books on the great man, one…

Ten reasons to stand tall on Australia Day – 10 reasons and one extra

22 January 2020 5:00 am

As another Australia Day approaches and the inevitable wagons of shame begin to circle, it’s worth touching on the things…

Only our silliest republicans are excited by Megxit. Are the others wising up?

13 January 2020 2:26 pm

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s announcement to step back as “senior royals” has predictably drawn fierce speculation – former palace press secretary Dickie…

As Ronald Reagan said, it’s a time for choosing

27 October 2019 5:00 am

“I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn’t something on which we can base our hopes for the future,”…

Asylum – or arrogant entitlement?

20 September 2019 5:00 am

The high-profile story of the deportation of the Sri Lankan Murugappan family has reminded us of the perennial tension between…

National Flag Day: a time to celebrate continuity, tradition and unity

3 September 2019 11:39 am

Each year, Australia’s National Flag Day is celebrated on September 3. The date commemorates when the flag was first flown…