Flat White

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

Third party insurance against another decade of political failure

10 January 2019 2:33 pm

Economic and social decline looks set-in as our lost political decade morphs into a second with no end in sight.…

Can shock treatment save the Liberal Party?

10 January 2019 8:28 am

As 2019 gets underway, the Coalition finds itself in arguably its worst political position in recent memory. All the opinion…

The media won’t tell you, but it’s the middle-class rioting in France

9 January 2019 6:51 pm

One less-reported fact about the Paris ‘yellow vest’ riots is that they have sparked by small business traders, petit bourgeois,…

Bugger the bush – and our agricultural industries too

9 January 2019 3:24 pm

The enemies of the bush (resident in green-and-pleasant Brisbane) plan to close the Queensland pastoral colleges in droughty Longreach and…

Is our next Governor-General too safe, too male, too white?

9 January 2019 11:30 am

In my book Winners Don’t Cheat, which is aimed at young Australians but accessible to all ages, I warn against identifying…

Just whose Palestine would Labor recognise?

8 January 2019 3:09 pm

How can some leading Australian politicians be so misguided and so wrong-headed as to call for the recognition of a…

The transsexual tsunami and freedom of speech

8 January 2019 9:48 am

Back in 1964 Bob Dylan told us that “the times, they are a changin’.” I take it that even he…

Market forces: let’s get this party started safe

7 January 2019 3:11 pm

As we reach the peak of music festival season in Australia, it’s become an unfortunate probability that multiple young Australians…

Labor’s housing affordability mess: profit for the few, pain for the many

7 January 2019 11:21 am

Labor’s two-pronged housing affordability package has them rowing the same boat in both directions, expending a lot of taxpayer dollars…

Neil Prakash: leave him to his victims’ mercy

6 January 2019 12:47 pm

The controversy surrounding the government’s attempts to strip ISIS member Neil Prakash of his Australian citizenship is at a stalemate,…

Thugs welcome, bring guns

4 January 2019 10:49 am

The news is broadcast far and wide: California is a safe haven for foreign criminals, complete with instant welfare benefits…

Politics is getting nastier because we’re getting dumber

3 January 2019 5:57 pm

An intriguing argument from a British politician and writer Dan Hannan: The fall in IQ scores in the West is…

When it’s fine for the left to do a Fraser Anning

3 January 2019 9:24 am

Context and explanation meant absolutely nothing to the outraged leftist media complex collaborating with self-interested politicians when accusing Senator Fraser…

Truth tellers, beware

2 January 2019 2:57 pm

“Tell the truth and shame the devil,” the Inquisitors would  say But for some truth tellers, misery – even death…

Destructive Dutton shows why he bombed back in the spill

2 January 2019 12:07 pm

There’s delicious irony that political judgement was the at the heart of Peter Dutton’s divisive weekend outburst against former colleague…

Cirque du Sharia

1 January 2019 12:27 pm

Perhaps rejoicing at Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban are working hard not to…

Singing out 2018

31 December 2018 9:12 pm

The end of the year is a time for reflection about the significant events and moments that have shaped the…

Dutton’s on the button, but…

30 December 2018 5:30 pm

In a wide-ranging interview with the Brisbane Sunday Mail , Peter Dutton unleashed on Malcolm Turnbull.  His comments were calculated…

A New Year’s resolution: thou shalt have fun

30 December 2018 9:40 am

The New Year holds promise for us all. A fresh beginning, a new start, a grand opportunity to start over.…

The looming Liberal extinction event

29 December 2018 3:24 pm

Malcolm Turnbull did not lead a ‘Labor-lite’ government. He led a Liberal government for the twenty-first century. I almost choked…

Underage #LoveWins in Germany

27 December 2018 4:44 pm

No age of consent? No problem. According to Die Welt, Germany’s Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional for the Fatherland…

Good news: peace on earth

24 December 2018 11:34 am

Christmas is a word which literally means the celebration of Christ. Santa Claus was once real, a good Christian chap…

And so this is Christmas

21 December 2018 1:52 pm

The bric-a-brac shop is brimming with glittering tinsel, snow-covered reindeer, cheery Santa dolls and wreaths.  I ask for a nativity…

Santa can exist in all of us – and so can good

21 December 2018 9:27 am

There are some things that it is difficult to face up to on your own. Boring Hollywood movies is one…

The forgotten meaning of Christmas

20 December 2018 2:34 pm

Not far from where I live, there’s a bustling Christmas market that draws big crowds, depicting life in first century…