Flat White

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

Downfall?

18 November 2021 12:31 pm

Since Covid hit, Daniel Andrews has been perched atop his throne, ruling Victoria with an iron fist. There has been…

Four vaccine vexes

vaccine

18 November 2021 4:00 am

1 Vaccines are 95 per cent efficacious. Yeah, right. And double positives never make a negative. Figure 1 gives the…

Time to die, Mr Bond. Time to die

17 November 2021 5:30 pm

It is said that No Time to Die will be the twenty-fifth and last Bond movie made. There are two possible reasons.…

Nuclear energy is our only way forward

17 November 2021 3:39 pm

What’s going to happen?  Is everything going to be ok?  What should we do?  Predicting the future has always been…

John Roskam: well done, friend and freedom fighter

17 November 2021 2:25 pm

Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam has announced he will be standing down after 17 years at the…

Who stands with Dan? The cult revealed

17 November 2021 1:07 pm

Who, exactly, make up the members of the Cult of Dan, those hashtag warriors who instead of rattling off Hail…

Breathe easy: Perrottet records false positive for the Dan Andrews strain of governance

17 November 2021 11:30 am

For a moment yesterday it seemed that the New South Wales Liberals had caught the deadly Chinese flu dictator variant…

Language, power – and Covidspeak

17 November 2021 4:00 am

Of all the known unknowns of the Covid-19 pandemic, of who to blame and of how to act, one certainty…

So much for amendments to the pandemic bill. Habeas corpus still goes out the door

16 November 2021 5:30 pm

The idea that a government could be handed near-absolute power to control the lives of citizens indefinitely ought to be…

The terrible truth about hydrogen

16 November 2021 3:07 pm

The idea of using hydrogen in the energy industry is not a new one, but only in the last two years has it…

Men in women’s sport? They just want equality, right?

16 November 2021 1:18 pm

It helps to be insane if you want to understand modern culture.   Take this article from the Seven West Media-owned PerthNow…

#DanIsWobbling?

16 November 2021 11:30 am

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the Politbureau of Danandrewstan meets. Today’s concessions on the Pandemic Bill…

Dateline Glasgow: India and China save Australia’s bacon (and coal industry)

16 November 2021 4:00 am

COP26 in Glasgow has ended in the manner largely predicted at the outset: with an ambiguously worded ‘Glasgow Pact’ containing…

Andrews pandemic powers push voters over the edge

15 November 2021 6:10 pm

As Victorian voters show early signs of recovery from their 262 days in lockdown Daniel Andrews’ Spring Street outfit is…

The Liberals. The shrinking tribe

15 November 2021 4:32 pm

Before there were countries, there were tribes. In politics, there still is. Almost everyone identifies with a particular political tribe and, if even if one’s primary tribe is not one…

Would voluntary voting drain the Canberra swamp?

15 November 2021 3:09 pm

Politicians are paid to fight on behalf of their voters but Australian legislation electoral laws major parties a lazy way…

Why does the ABC say Thailand’s vile sex trade needs support post-Covid?

15 November 2021 1:00 pm

The ABC has run a piece that appears to lament the struggling sex industry in Thailand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It wistfully…

Is ScoMo really enjoying a conservative revival?

15 November 2021 11:33 am

Scott Morrison is winning back support from conservative voters? That’s how the improvement in the Coalition’s primary vote in today’s…

A cheap bottle of Perrottet

15 November 2021 4:00 am

Yikes.  There are political mistakes, and then there is Dominic Perrottet.  What was tentatively hoped to be a stroke of genius…

I thought the left supported freedom

14 November 2021 4:09 pm

Not too long ago the left was all about freedom, individual choice, resistance to authority and the State, and full-on…

The Liberal Democrats freedom manifesto

14 November 2021 2:24 pm

The Liberal Democrats unveiled their Freedom Manifesto on Outsiders this morning. Here is the fully text of the document. Prologue…

ScoMo’s climate modelling is even dodgier than his climate policy

14 November 2021 12:00 pm

The government went to Glasgow to sell its net zero emissions by 2050 policy to world leaders.    The policy was based on…

Mateship’s lifted the vax rate? Maybe – and the odd walloping, too

13 November 2021 3:19 pm

Australia’s high vaccination rate is due to Aussie mateship and a high level of trust in government. Oh, and I’ve…

The unresolved debate on Covid vaccines

12 November 2021 12:00 pm

In an article last month, I noted the puzzling UK official data that confirmed the efficacy of vaccines in reducing hospitalisations and deaths but with infections for 40-49 year…

November 11, 2021: the day the great war against the private sector was won

12 November 2021 4:00 am

Without the slightest hint of irony, the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday released the latest Employment and Earnings, Public Sector…