Columnists Australia

Brown study

18 July 2026 9:00 am

It is curious that Anthony Albanese’s bizarre contribution to the podcast Bush Deep has been allowed to fade away from…

Brown study

11 July 2026 9:00 am

Here at the Political Research Centre, we have just finished a major project involving no less an undertaking than setting…

Brown study

4 July 2026 9:00 am

One of the more endearing features of life in Melbourne is the coverage given in the Age to the arts…

Brown study

27 June 2026 9:00 am

Recently, an issue arose that was a milestone in public affairs. It surfaced in a speech by Justice Ian Jackman,…

Australian notes

20 June 2026 9:00 am

Are we witnessing a historic moment in the cultural life of our nation? Are we seeing the first tentative stirrings…

Brown study

13 June 2026 9:00 am

Melbourne is presently engaged in one of those uniquely Melburnian controversies where everyone has an opinion on some allegedly moral…

Brown Study

6 June 2026 9:00 am

I don’t normally do obituaries except, as the politicians and lawyers say,  ‘in exceptional circumstances’. And there could be no…

Australian notes

30 May 2026 9:00 am

If you thought we’d finally left clown world, think again. For months, the legal machinery of New South Wales geared…

Brown study

23 May 2026 9:00 am

Here at the Free Enterprise Centre for Law Reform, we have been slaving away on some long-overdue improvements to the…

Brown study

9 May 2026 9:00 am

When politicians talk about ‘reform’, I am instantly suspicious. If  the good Dr Samuel Johnson was right in defining patriotism…

Australian notes

9 May 2026 9:00 am

Even without the rise of One Nation’s vote, Labor has been moving inexorably to a position as the natural party…

Brown study

2 May 2026 9:00 am

Until recently, I thought that Australia was free from the scourge of activist judges. But in view of events of…

Brown study

25 April 2026 9:00 am

We keep being told that the coming budget will be the most significant for many a year. That may be…

Australian notes

25 April 2026 9:00 am

In the book of great evasions of responsibility through history, a new chapter to be added concerns the prowess of…

Brown study

18 April 2026 9:00 am

The Albanese government seems to have abandoned its plan to increase the size of the parliament and give us the…

Brown study

4 April 2026 9:00 am

I watched on Tuesday the appearance at the National Press Club of the Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Dr Hillel Neuman.…

Brown study

28 March 2026 9:00 am

It may seem strange to see me praising the Age. But Melburnians owe it an enormous debt for exposing major…

Brown study

21 March 2026 9:00 am

Of all the weasel words used by politicians to conceal what they are really up to, ‘reform’ must be the…

Brown study

14 March 2026 9:00 am

The war in Iran has produced a classic example of the practice of politicians twisting the meaning of words which…

Brown study

7 March 2026 9:00 am

Over the balmy summer months, while we were all concentrating on the tennis, a significant event occurred in Melbourne. It…

Australian Notes

13 December 2025 9:00 am

I only had one wish to Santa this Christmas. All I wanted was a Cop. I wanted Adelaide to win…

Australian notes

6 December 2025 9:00 am

I have written before about my love for rebels and outlaws. As a general rule, I have no time for…

Australian notes

26 July 2025 9:00 am

Has Labor finally become the natural party of government? This would once have seemed an absurd question to someone of…

Brown study

19 July 2025 9:00 am

I am thrilled about the government’s plan for an economic roundtable to be held in Canberra from 19 to 21…

Brown study

21 June 2025 9:00 am

I have been reminded that there was at least one word I omitted from my glossary of words and phrases…