Flat White

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

Like cheap, clean energy? You’ll love nuclear

18 September 2019 5:00 am

There is no greater act of economic or environmental vandalism in Australian history than our nonsensical prohibition on nuclear power.…

Jacinta Price: why let the left lower standards for Indigenous Australians?

17 September 2019 3:35 pm

The vast majority of Australians — including many Australians of Aboriginal descent — know very little of the reality of…

Will Gladys reach full term?

17 September 2019 12:08 pm

The spill motion against the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was never going to succeed because the courageous Tanya Davies and…

Does the Human Rights Commission really believe in guilty until found innocent?

17 September 2019 5:00 am

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s recommendations for discrimination law reform — which look like they wish to reverse the onus…

Are the Greens endangering children with climate rally rabbles?

16 September 2019 3:03 pm

The cat is out of the bag. Yes, so the Children’s Crusade, the kiddies climate rally or whatever you want…

Vaping scaremongering will cost Australian lives

16 September 2019 10:46 am

An outbreak of a serious lung illness in the United States and six deaths ‘linked to vaping’ has led to…

The anti-Alan Jones rabble are fighting free speech, not just him

16 September 2019 5:00 am

Weeks after the original supposedly offensive comments, the furore around Alan Jones’ breakfast show is showing no sign of abating.…

It’s university open day season

15 September 2019 1:41 pm

It hasn’t been the same since the twins said they’ve just turned 18, and need a lift to the university.…

Heroes saved us, politicians blamed the wrong culprit

14 September 2019 4:26 pm

“HEROES SAVE US” – That’s the headline on our local Noosa paper, superimposed over a dramatic photograph of a lone…

Gladys Liu and the danger of being everything to everyone

14 September 2019 11:20 am

I don’t know Gladys Liu from a bar of soap, so I have no idea whether she has any compromising…

Psychology’s war on men

13 September 2019 5:00 am

American pharmaceutical companies aren’t allowed to advertise on Australian TV unless you’re talking over-the-counter cold tablets or pain killers. Which…

GetUp’s child slavery

12 September 2019 4:30 pm

In or around 1212, according to legend, bands of children from northern Europe led by a boy Stephen of Cloyes…

What’s woke this week

12 September 2019 1:01 pm

The corporate world has been woking up a storm this week with cultural appropriation and socially just ice cream hitting…

Beware the ‘bill of rights’ trap when debating freedom of religion

12 September 2019 5:00 am

Two recent events have exposed some serious misunderstandings on both the right and left about how Australia’s human rights protections…

What sex is your penguin?

11 September 2019 6:03 pm

Humanity has anthropomorphised animals since time immemorial, from hunters-gatherers to Disney, so no wonder that contemporary madness is slowly seeping into…

Bushfire sense and nonsense

11 September 2019 1:00 pm

Bushfires are normal events in this season in tropical and subtropical latitudes of the southern hemisphere – in Australia, Africa…

Understanding Hong Kong’s fight

11 September 2019 5:00 am

Most commentary on the Hong Kong protests from Western news outlets rightly champion the pro-democracy cause and scorn the ruthlessness…

Asking for the sisterhood: where have all the good men gone?

10 September 2019 7:32 pm

Equality between the sexes, so good in theory, doesn’t necessarily deliver in practice: Marriage rates have steadily declined over the…

Italy: la dolce vita, le sistema disordinato

10 September 2019 3:48 pm

Holidaying in Italy is like wearing a mini skirt without knickers: the rules of the Australian nanny-state are cast aside…

GULAG aghast at Wayne Swan’s gender surrender

10 September 2019 11:53 am

Our non-cisgendered prominent political personage from the Progressive Canberra Cadre writes: Swannie got his election analysis half right about why…

How many international students are too many?

10 September 2019 5:00 am

The Centre for Independent Studies report ‘The China Student Boom and the Risks It Poses to Australian Universities’ presented the…

Gambling — and losing — on bleeding hearts

9 September 2019 4:46 pm

Priya and Nades Murugappan, the Tamil couple from Biloela in Queensland, and their unfortunate children must wish they had not…

No recession, but a big policy ask ahead

9 September 2019 2:04 pm

The economic ghouls may be disappointed that last week’s real GDP read-out for the quarter came without a minus sign.…

The question no politician wants to face about suicide

9 September 2019 11:24 am

World Suicide Prevention Day 2019 is tomorrow, September 10. In theory, it should provide an opportunity to raise honest awareness…

Pornography: neither a culprit nor a cop-out

9 September 2019 5:00 am

Jaymes Todd, the Melbourne man given a life sentence last week for the cowardly rape and murder of Eurydice Dixon…