Flat White

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

This Fourth of July look beyond the news to the red, white and blue

4 July 2020 5:00 am

In the last few years, many of us have realised that the mainstream media present a particular view of reality. Whether…

Eden-Monaro: a bellwether seat on a knife’s edge — and a canary in a coal mine?

3 July 2020 5:43 pm

A summer evening by the river; a band playing movie themes, light classical and marches, kids, dogs, families sprawled on…

Change the GST? First let’s get a Commonwealth with common sense

3 July 2020 3:46 pm

There can be no real discussion of economic reform in Australia until there is a discussion of reform to the…

Dear ABC: are fraud allegations less serious if the victim is white?

3 July 2020 2:03 pm

See if you can finish the following sentence. Guy Sebastian is one of Australia’s most talented and highest-profile …. Did…

Yes, there’s a by-election on, but this baseless optimism about the economy needs to stop

3 July 2020 11:45 am

Since the coronavirus economic crisis began, there has been a great deal of rhetoric from the Morrison government that the…

Why the ABC shouldn’t just receive a funding freeze, but a cut.

3 July 2020 5:00 am

The ABC using its own airtime to cry poor makes for tedious viewing and ignores the concerns of ordinary Australians. …

COVID-19: How one eatery was done like a dinner by the bureaucrats

2 July 2020 6:48 pm

As more and more well-informed opinions appear, it is becoming clear that much of the coronavirus lockdown was unnecessary.  We…

Wattle load of nonsense

2 July 2020 4:00 pm

The following is a summary, as best as I understand it, of the process of rebranding Australia. When reading it,…

Why Australia’s draconian vaping policies deserve condemnation

2 July 2020 2:18 pm

Over one year ago, I authored a column in these very pages for The Spectator Australia. In that column, I…

Forget the ronas, look at our latest on LGBTIQ family violence prevention

2 July 2020 10:31 am

On July 1, the Andrews government announced a hefty funding boost for “LGBTIQ Family Violence Prevention”.   It was a curious…

The cyberattacks must be our Sputnik moment

2 July 2020 5:00 am

The recent cyberattacks by a “state-based cyber actor” on Australia underscores the necessary public policy shift the centre-right must make…

JobKeeper – or RecoveryPreventer?

1 July 2020 7:15 pm

Emergency income support has a time and place in buoying Australians through the pandemic. But the usefulness of the unprecedented…

School of crock

1 July 2020 3:54 pm

I have always loved looking after children. Helping them to learn and grow over this important part of their lives…

Parlez-vous Parler?

1 July 2020 1:26 pm

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The big three of the social media phenomena that has swept the world since the early naughties have finally met their match.…

Eden-Monaro: why so little focus on a seat so significant for both leaders?

1 July 2020 11:40 am

For all its reputation as a “bellwether seat” usually going with the government of the day, Eden-Monaro has not been…

Time to end the unions’ super scam

1 July 2020 5:00 am

Sir Robert Menzies said in 1949, “The best people in this community are … those who by thrift and self-sacrifice,…

Virgin’s Bain?

30 June 2020 6:00 pm

Last Friday, American private equity firm Bain Capital reached an agreement with Virgin Australia administrators Deloitte to purchase the dilapidated…

Power companies must decide: are they about virtue signalling or cheap, reliable energy?

30 June 2020 4:30 pm

Yesterday, The Australian reported dissent within the Australian Energy Council (AEC), the industry association that represents electricity generators.  Of its 24…

So Albo’s safe from a Bill Shorten challenge – for now?

30 June 2020 3:00 pm

It’s fair to say that things are pretty awkward at the top of the ALP right now. Jim Chalmers is…

Memo AFL: do you play footy – or politics?

30 June 2020 12:30 pm

Australia is not a racist country and the Australian Football League should know better than to give its support to…

Only a market-based, real-world, cost-benefit approach can prevent a great global corona depression

30 June 2020 5:00 am

The coronavirus, the political risk event of our generation, will change many things. Not least of these is the sufferance…

Queensland Labor: left and lefter

29 June 2020 7:22 pm

Queensland’s great political double act looks set to continue right up until the state election in October of this year.…

Confected outrage

29 June 2020 5:06 pm

Nestlé, why stop now? You are on a real roll trending and riding the tsunami wave of stupidity going on at the…

The truth about ethnic communities and coronavirus

29 June 2020 2:33 pm

Just as the epidemic shines a mirror on a host of issues, it has also raised questions about our multiculturalism.…

It’s 2020, so everything is racist. Especially at the ABC

29 June 2020 11:31 am

It’s 2020, so everything is racist, including misspelling non-Anglo names. Over to Samoan-Australian ABC journalist, Tahlea (or Tali) Aualiitia (and…