In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
Why go to church tomorrow?
The churches of the West are in a bad way. You know it, I know it. Classical Liberal thinkers, both…
One of Izzy’s silent supporters speaks: don’t shoot before you think
I’m sure it has happened to all of us, at least once in our lives. You remember that time you…
The Clover Moore catastrophe
Clover Moore’s Sydney, with its Climate Emergency clarion call, is far from the first city to adopt the zero-emissions-by-2050 mantra. …
Tourist guide: North Korea’s a joke, but a joke that can kill you
Like many Australians, I have feared the worst after hearing of the disappearance of Alex Sigley, Australian student and tour…
More evidence plain packaging has failed (unless you’re out to hurt the poor)
Recent studies are sending the premise of plain packaging up in smoke. Plain packaging does not actually reduce cigarette consumption.…
Snowflake latest: Sydney University is irreparably racist and must be abolished. Or something similar, anway
At the University of Sydney we can see what happens when students are no longer taught our history. When the…
The public’s fury at being told what to do and think has exploded with the Folau fiasco
Trust the perennially sanctimonious Kerryn Phelps to capture in a couple of sentences why the Israel Folau saga has resonated…
A defensive battle was won on May 18. A long slog’s still needed in the culture wars
When GoFundMe shut down Israel Folau’s fundraising campaign for his legal battle with Rugby Australia, it confirmed in spades the…
Yes, stillbirth should be above politics, Senator Keneally, so let’s keep it that way
There are some issues so fundamentally important that they should be above politics. Stillbirth is one of them. Recently, Senator…
Journalism is not a crime (but we’re more interested showing just how woke we are)
If, like me, you believe in the fundamental right of free speech, you will also have concerns about how people…
Why are school standards still falling?
Despite all the policy differences in the election, there was little to distinguish between the two major parties on the…
And now for some political wisdom from the Trotsky clan. True
In one of those cruel strokes of fate, all of Leon Trotsky’s four children predeceased him, even if many would…
Where’s the Prime Minister on the free speech crisis?
GoFundMe’s shutdown of Israel Folau’s fundraising page for “violation of … terms of service” is a troubling development for religious…
The CBD goes Dark MoFo, as do the Tassie Libs on debts
Our peeved yet perspicacious political insider writes exclusively: The rigours of CBD’s arduous employment in the Public Service combined with…
ANZ, Maria Folau and the joke of the year
Want to hear the joke of the year? A bank — bank, mind you — is giving public lectures in…
GoFundMe don’t want tolerance, but unconditional surrender to identity politics
GoFundMe’s decision to shut down Israel Folau’s crowdfunding page is shunting the debate about diversity and inclusion into the sand…
It’s boom time for the public service pen pushers
With the NSW Treasurer handing down the state’s 2019-20 budget last week, the big three states — which also include…
Only Dan Andrews would attack his state’s source of wealth
The Andrews Government has announced a royalty hike for gold, intended to remedy budget deficits largely caused by the state’s…
The invasion of the drag queens
Sometimes you wake up and wonder, “Am I in the correct century?” “Am I in the right country?” You look…
GULAG needs a new environmental scare campaign
Our peeved yet perspicacious political insider writes exclusively: Pretend environmental consciousness is what GULAG – the Greens, unions, Labor and…
More quality political analysis
I was in Sydney during the Berejiklian landside and the tyre burning that followed and I stayed in a cheap…
The successful failure of the Australian Conservatives
In 1946 Winston Churchill declared to the British Conservative Party leadership what he believed to be its “main objectives”. Topping…
Israel and Maria Folau: first the PC police come for you, then they come for your family
Now that Israel Folau has had his contract with Rugby Australia torn up, it seems that his wife Maria’s future…
John Setka and the Greens: a match made in heaven
The Greens, as a political brand of sorts, have made some remarkable headway towards establishing their spotless moral credentials over…
Liberals must never forget the forgotten people
One month ago, on a polling booth in Labor’s Victorian inner west heartland of Gellibrand, about an hour before closing,…
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Into the lion’s den
Justice Lee has just put an end to the old-fashioned date night
