Terry Barnes

Your handy guide to unreliable activist journalists – published by them

27 November 2023 3:30 pm

We owe a debt of thanks to hundreds of journalists, and the media union house committees in the ABC and…

The crushing defeat of Australia’s divisive Voice referendum

15 October 2023 1:37 am

Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, urged his fellow Australians to take ‘the opportunity to make history’ today. And they did,…

Australia’s Voice referendum is tearing the country apart

14 October 2023 5:45 pm

Almost 250 years after European settlement, many of Australia’s Aborigines still face appalling socio-economic disadvantages compared to fellow Australians: lower…

Winston Peters is no Kiwi Messiah 

30 August 2023 5:00 am

Our New Zealand regular contributor, Amy Brooke, usually talks sense, and her article in this week’s magazine, about identity and…

Sydney’s cocaine wars are spiralling out of control

1 August 2023 11:12 pm

The illicit moment of surreal euphoria from snorting a line of cocaine comes at a heavy price of misery and…

John Howard is right about British colonialism in Australia

27 July 2023 9:23 pm

Almost sixteen years after he lost office and his own parliamentary seat, former Australian Liberal prime minister John Howard is…

Daniel Andrews and ‘trust’ live on different planets

19 July 2023 4:00 am

I don’t give the proverbial rat’s arse about the Commonwealth Games. It is a second-rate sportsfest, whose only value is…

Australia’s Commonwealth games disgrace

18 July 2023 9:22 pm

In world sport, the Commonwealth games are a bit of a sideshow. In swimming and athletics, at least, they are…

Prime Ministers queer the pitch with politics

7 July 2023 6:00 am

It may not have been the best play but it wasn't Bodyline

Ben Roberts-Smith and the murky debate over accountability in war

2 June 2023 1:15 am

Today in Sydney, Australia’s most decorated soldier, former Special Air Services corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC, was found by a civil…

Trudeau’s ‘coronation gift’ is just lip service to the monarchy

13 May 2023 4:30 pm

Cynically dressed up as a coronation-related gift to the Canadian nation, just days after the coronation, the country’s leader Justin Trudeau has…

Vaping: the public health pooh-bahs have won, for now

5 May 2023 4:30 am

In his draconian crackdown on vaping, announced on Tuesday, Labor Health Minister Mark Butler characterised his new policy as addressing…

RIP Barry Humphries

23 April 2023 2:15 am

It was not just Barry Humphries who died on Saturday. It was that towering skewerer of pomposity and humbug, and gate-crasher of Royal boxes,…

Dear Peter … now that you’ve found your Voice

7 April 2023 4:00 am

Peter Dutton and I were good friends once, and worked together closely in the Howard and Rudd years. Sorry to…

Could Donald Trump tank Aukus?

14 March 2023 6:20 pm

There are few surprises in the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine programmed announced by Rishi Sunak, his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, and…

Is Australia up to the Aukus challenge?

13 March 2023 6:29 pm

One hundred miles or so south of Sydney, lies tranquil Jervis Bay. On its shores, largely reclaimed by the bush,…

Do Fifa really want Saudi Arabia to sponsor the women’s world cup?

12 March 2023 7:00 pm

In July and August, Australia and New Zealand are hosts of the 2023 Fifa Women’s world cup. It could not…

Oh dear! Vic Libs disenfranchise their own members

22 February 2023 10:51 am

The Victorian division of the Liberal Party has done it again. Instead of going into the April 1, Aston by-election…

Vaping: public health’s unhealthy obsession

6 February 2023 4:00 am

The Australian public health industry is overpopulated with intellectual egotists – activists, academics, and bureaucrats who insist they know best…

Why is Australia’s bank snubbing King Charles?

3 February 2023 2:16 am

Traditionally, the reigning monarch has appeared on the lowest denomination of Australia’s banknotes. It is a practice that harks back…

Who killed Australia Day?

26 January 2023 6:11 pm

Australia Day was once a big deal Down Under, but in recent years the annual celebration has been somewhat muted.…

Daniel Andrews: double standards that undermine innocence?

13 January 2023 5:30 am

Let me start by making something clear. I am no unqualified admirer of the late Cardinal George Pell. On the…

You don’t decide your pronouns – we do

31 December 2022 10:00 am

How often do you get emails from someone who signs off with their pronouns? How often are you confronted in…

Liberal review heads in the Right direction

23 December 2022 4:00 am

After considerable media teasing, the-anticipated report into the Liberal Party’s electoral failure last May has finally been released. Conducted by…

Ruddy hell – Kevin’s our Man in Washington

20 December 2022 2:09 pm

In the dead of the silly season, when thoughts are turned to last-minute presents and dreading the obnoxious uncle turning…