Flat White

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

Triggser warning

12 May 2017 7:28 am

The Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has finally found freedom of speech she would like to defend – Yassmin…

Can we please let kids be kids… for once?

11 May 2017 7:15 pm

Just when I thought Daniel Andrew’s socialist government’s mind-boggling insanity in Victoria couldn’t get any worse, we’re now hearing reports…

When political correctness matters more than common sense

11 May 2017 5:12 pm

“Welcome to the New South Wales education system,” said Liberal Legislative Councillor Peter Phelps, “where students can be told ‘it’s OK…

Budget 2017: a housing policy shambles

11 May 2017 2:50 pm

The housing measures in the 2017 Budget present a great case study in how expectations can be mismanaged. The government…

Trump and Comey: the G-Man goes

11 May 2017 8:03 am

BOSTON, United States — Even if the president and his staff are completely innocent of collusion with Russia, Trump’s done…

Budget 2017: the Inigo Montoya game

11 May 2017 7:14 am

During the Treasurer’s Budget speech, some of my friends like to play the Budget Bingo, downing a shot for an…

Rejoice, rejoice: Fairfax are back

10 May 2017 8:53 pm

Rejoice, yes rejoice, all good people. The strike at Fairfax is over. The journos we so missed are back at…

Budget 2017: Medicare – not even Labor lite

10 May 2017 5:29 pm

So the economic narrative of the Turnbull Government has come to this. A ‘tax and spend’ Budget that is more…

Budget 2017: bank levy is just a populist revenue grab

10 May 2017 2:44 pm

So much can be said about the 2017-18 federal budget — little of it complimentary — it’s hard to know…

Silencing dissent over abortion

10 May 2017 9:26 am

Well-informed Flat White readers will be aware of the two abortion bills before the NSW Parliament, and the remarkable petitioning effort against it…

Budget 2017: more unfunded promises and hypocrisy on school spending

10 May 2017 9:04 am

One of the delicious ironies of politics is the tendency for one side to admonish the other side for doing…

Budget 2017: politically clever, but…

10 May 2017 7:38 am

I’ve been lamenting that for too long we’ve had no sensible centre in Australian politics, effectively ceding the political debate…

Budget 2017: an invitation to vote Labor

9 May 2017 8:43 pm

Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have been far too clever by half with year’s budget. Yes, they’ve moved to blunt…

Your ABC: pissing away your taxes

9 May 2017 5:03 pm

Have a look at how much money the ABC gets in tonight’s budget, but before you do have a look…

Budget 2017: budget for nothing from the budget tonight

9 May 2017 2:09 pm

Language constantly evolves to match the evolving society. Words get old and become obsolete, new words come in to enrich…

Budget 2017: trashing the Liberal legacy on Catholic schools

9 May 2017 11:22 am

Sometimes former Labor leaders become libertarians. This is how we’ve started the week, with Mark Latham joining the Liberal Democrats…

Budget 2017: the Medical Research Future Fund must go

9 May 2017 7:47 am

The federal budget comes out this evening and, in what can heart-warmingly be described as a bipartisan tradition, the ‘heroes’…

Milo vs Hillary: signs of strength

8 May 2017 12:02 pm

It is said that true strength is shown in how you dust yourself off after setbacks and keep going. Take…

Victoria’s euthanasia mission creep

7 May 2017 5:18 pm

Anyone looking at the experience in Canada since euthanasia and assisted suicide laws came into force last year, should be…

Send in the drones

7 May 2017 10:54 am

On a crisp Canberra autumn morning last week scientists and technical experts from the CSIRO, the University of New South…

Will Europe fall to Putin’s grand design?

6 May 2017 3:37 pm

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. All the powers of Atlanticist Europe have entered…

Politicians need to listen on abortion laws

6 May 2017 9:42 am

Occasionally a politician proposes something so mind-bogglingly extreme and dangerous that it’s hard to fully believe they’re actually being serious.…

The 18C fight: it’s bigger than you think

5 May 2017 5:12 pm

It has become a sort of trump card in debates over 18C for its defenders to ask its critics what…

The government goes after online shoppers

5 May 2017 12:21 pm

If there’s one thing government enjoys more than taking your money, it’s finding a convenient excuse to do it. With…

Let’s put people in charge of their own super

5 May 2017 8:03 am

Imagine if your boss called you into their office to tell you they had decided who you could bank with.…