Flat White

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

We are all socialists now, but weren’t we always?

1 February 2022 4:00 am

Before the 2007 federal election I posited that ‘Australians are all conservatives now’ (The Australian, 20 April). It argued that thanks…

The way democracy should be

31 January 2022 2:00 pm

In the last two years the people of Australia, like most citizens of free and open democracies, have seen their…

The naughty underground non-compliers

31 January 2022 12:00 pm

You wouldn’t know it but there are thousands of naughty non-complying Victorians enjoying access to their taxpayer-funded amenities and venues.…

Small businesses languish while the government grows fat

31 January 2022 9:00 am

One of the many negative corollaries of the various draconian governmental measures is the damage to small businesses. One would…

Scandalous deceit of parliament and the public

31 January 2022 4:00 am

Last year the New South Wales Parliament was hoodwinked into passing draconian legislation as a result of false statistics about…

Diversity or uniformity? Muslim footballer Haneen Zreika to miss ‘Pride’ match

30 January 2022 12:00 pm

Haneen Zreika was the first Muslim to play in the AFLW. Debuting in 2019, the Greater Western Sydney Giant has…

A billion dollar barrier against the UN

30 January 2022 4:00 am

At a time when Australian businesses and families are Covid-broke, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has casually dropped a billion dollars…

My questions for the Royal Commission into Covid...

29 January 2022 6:06 pm

Senator Pauline Hanson has been pushing for a Royal Commission into the government’s handling of Covid, and demand for one…

Women’s fashion – I mean – football…?

29 January 2022 12:00 pm

Every sensitive new age man knows that when working with women you may comment on their professional performance, but never…

Campbell Newman is asking tougher questions than the corporate media

29 January 2022 4:00 am

The last two years have seen unprecedented use of the word ‘unprecedented’ by Australian journalists. Conflating the limits of their…

Victoria's pandemic of political failure

28 January 2022 2:00 pm

The government’s handling of the Covid pandemic in Victoria has been deplorable. But while the temptation is to blame Daniel…

Feminism’s embarrassing fall from ‘Grace’

28 January 2022 12:00 pm

If the past couple of years has taught us anything, it is that the current wave of feminism has become…

Summer's worst political commentators...

28 January 2022 9:00 am

So how is your summer going? Trousers off, melting ice cream on the car seat, screaming children in the back,…

Serbia’s revenge: Rio Tinto pays for Morrison’s hubris

28 January 2022 4:00 am

There may be no ‘official’ connection, but it’s impossible not to side-eye the sudden decision by the Serbian government to…

Triple J's Hottest 100 – there's an elephant in the room

27 January 2022 3:00 pm

As most people know by now, a few days ago The Wiggles became the first ever debutant band to win…

Where is Tennis Australia’s credibility?

27 January 2022 12:00 pm

Tennis is a pretty simple game. Two people take turns to hit a fuzzy ball over a net. That’s it.…

ScoMo in SloMo slide toward fatal collision at next election

27 January 2022 9:00 am

The next federal election will be held no later than May 21, 2022. It looks like a re-run of 2007…

Is constitutional recognition a good idea for democracy?

27 January 2022 4:00 am

Janet Albrechtsen has a piece in Wednesday’s Australian concerning the proposed Voice to Parliament and constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.…

We should chat about WeChat…

26 January 2022 2:00 pm

‘Rules are rules!!!’ Scott Morrison insisted, during the Djokovic saga. Well, ‘rules are rules’ unless you’re Scott Morrison trying to…

The re-enthronement of capitalism: are ‘woke’ investment funds falling behind?

26 January 2022 12:00 pm

Over many years now, superannuation funds have been orientating their investments towards options that avoid unapproved Environmental and Social goods…

Always was, always will be a smokescreen

26 January 2022 9:00 am

As Roger Scruton wrote: ‘The fictions were far more persuasive than the facts, and more persuasive than both was the…

A truckie’s view – my view

26 January 2022 4:00 am

It will come as a huge surprise that everything in your house, on your street, in your supermarket, in fact…

Madman Mark McGowan – the tinpot dictator of Australia

25 January 2022 2:00 pm

Throughout the era of Covid, we have made numerous comparisons of governments and the restrictions they impose to past regimes…

Tony Abbott for PM – of Britain!

25 January 2022 12:00 pm

The conservative stalwart broadcaster Mark Steyn has made the suggestion, in apparent seriousness, that the British Tories should draft Tony…

Omicron roars through, but I only hear crickets

25 January 2022 9:00 am

Since Omicron has spread so vigorously throughout the fully vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, and considering too that the unvaccinated (or…