In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Covid: an alternative interpretation
I recently saw this acronym for COVID. C = Censor O = Oppress V = Victimise I = Isolate D = Divide In a country that…
New polling: Australians say fire up the nukes
This is one of those bonus weeks for poll wonks when we get a Newspoll on Monday and the fortnightly…
Why is Labor still at war with JobKeeper?
JobKeeper saved Australia from a deep recession. Labor knows this is true. They know that for the 3.8 million Australians…
The new provocateurs of Covid
The extraordinary 1988 John Hillcoat/Nick Cave film Ghosts … of the Civil Dead is set in a slightly futuristic high-tech…
Does Daniel Andrews really have a plan to exit his ‘vaccination economy’?
Does Victoria actually have a virus roadmap? When you compare Daniel Andrews’ remarks with Gladys Berejiklian’s, a stark divide emerges.…
Their ABC and the school that tried to end racism (by being racist)
Last week, the ABC aired its latest British borrowing, the first episode of a documentary program called ‘The school that…
Fifty years of lies about domestic violence
Exactly fifty years ago, the world’s first refuge for women fleeing domestic violence opened in London. After her small Chiswick terrace quickly filled to…
The really worrying news in Newspoll for Scott Morrison
Reporting on today’s Newspoll has focussed on seat outcomes, a bit of a mug’s game as it assumes equal swings…
Time for ADF chief Angus Campbell to go before he’s pushed
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has never shirked from hard decisions, and for the first time in some years a minister…
What triggered Melbourne’s union protests – from on the ground
What actually triggered the mass civil disobedience by construction workers last week in Melbourne? The following is a record of…
What did we tell you about Chairman Dan’s ‘roadmap’?
The Spectator Australia, Sunday 19 September 2021: Daniel Andrews has this afternoon delivered his roadmap for freedom for Victorians…We can…
Beware Stumbling Joe’s mumbling, Scotty
When they were talking the other day in Washington the other day, did Joe Biden tell Scott Morrison his recipe…
Indefinite detention is the Australian way, Mr Littleproud?
And the Julia Gillard Award for Hyperbole (pronounced hyperbowl) goes to Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud. He believes the Melbourne…
No, New Zealand is not Aotearoa
“Create your own pepeha to celebrate te wiki o te reo movement.” Given that estimates range between about 4% and…
Why is Victoria heading down a dead end street with prostitution law reform?
New South Wales model of decriminalisation and deregulation of prostitution has failed to protect workers in the sex industry while empowering…
Keating, Turnbull and Rudd: the new Three Stooges
Three questions in today’s quiz: Who couldn’t care less about party or national loyalties once the prime ministerial pension kicks…
We salute the Trotskyite press (sorta)
First The Age called the Melbourne protests correctly. Now, even the Trotskyites have made points worth noting. Red Flag, their…
Australia’s vaccine mandates: a violation of international law?
The Covid-19 Directions adopted by Australia’s governments have the effect of violating the rule of law when they excessively interfere…
Now it’s the great vape conspiracy
The ongoing conflation of vaping and tobacco industry e-cigarettes is an intentional misdirection and a dangerous one. The strongest observation…
Why is Victoria Police fighting media freedom?
Whatever your views on the Melbourne protests, here’s something you should be concerned about: the attack on media freedom –and transparency…
Limiting access for the unvaxed to public places will likely breach the Disability Discrimination Act
Your correspondent is a retired lawyer who these days prefers gardening to litigating. Spring in the Victorian High Country is…
Unis still stinging students while claiming Covid-poverty
In the era of Covid-19, change is everywhere. I have spent the past 18 months adapting to the Covid-19 university experience.…
The US will help mend fences with France – but climate may be the price
Around the time of the April 2016 submarine announcement – a contest between Germany, Japan and France – there was…
We salute The Age
You read that right. We salute The Age. Bravo! Three cheers for The Age! We could not have bettered their…
What to do when you live under a despotic government?
Our Morning Double Shot editor takes a different view than I on the relationship between law and morality when it…
Editor’s picks
Magazine
Minister Marles unfit for military service
Why are we flogging off our historic military assets?
Can Taylor fix the broken covenant?
First, he must re-establish Liberal authority
Taylor to the rescue
There’s a new conservative Liberal leader in town. Get behind him
