Flat White

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

The cult of the vegan vigilantes

8 April 2019 12:39 pm

When I checked my news feed this morning it was filled with story after story about radical vegans causing mischief…

EXCLUSIVE: The men who really saved Australia from the GFC

8 April 2019 7:03 am

Often in Australian political life, individuals that make profound contributions to public policy go unnoticed while those more conspicuous have…

The unmentionable problem with Labor’s electric car plan

7 April 2019 1:01 pm

With the federal election campaign underway in all but name, the stars have been aligning for a move to the…

Now we know how the SMH and Age will define “mainstream” in the election

6 April 2019 2:41 pm

Boy. Boy oh boy oh boy. Channel Nine’s left wing tabloids have really jumped the shark. “Reparations for black Americans:…

The Coalition needs a bazooka to stop Shorten. Try this one…

5 April 2019 12:19 pm

In my Backwards and Forwards column on Monday, I said that if Bill Shorten gave a barnstorming, grievance-pandering, promise-laden speech…

Play on Labor’s ground, surrender the advantage

5 April 2019 7:50 am

The 2019 Budget has been a budget that satisfies everyone but pleases no-one. It has proved to be a Labor-lite…

Ten reasons why we’re being denied the truth about Planned Parenthood

4 April 2019 6:21 pm

Do you know what is one of the most revealing films that won’t be shown in Australian cinemas this year?…

What about immigration, Scott, Josh?

4 April 2019 7:55 am

When Australia goes to the polls sometime and the Coalition is likely defeated, as the 50 straight Newspoll losses would…

More an epitaph than a budget

3 April 2019 5:29 pm

Looking at the reaction to Josh Frydenberg’s first budget, its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It has…

What’s woke this week?

3 April 2019 12:26 pm

Wokeworld this week invoked cheese in the fight against Trump, introduced therapeutic cuddle parties for men to fight toxic masculinity,…

Numptynomics

3 April 2019 8:02 am

Looks like a slightly startling Sloane Ranger mummy (or Simon Le Bon) from 1981, sounds like a student trot mixed…

A campaign launch disguised as a budget

2 April 2019 8:56 pm

It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. In other words, it’s business as usual in Australian politics – business as…

Roxane Gay’s toxic feminism

2 April 2019 3:09 pm

On Sunday night in Melbourne an event was held that was supposed to be a discussion/debate between Christina Hoff Sommers…

Scott and Josh’s tax sham surplus shame

2 April 2019 5:00 am

After over a decade of abysmal federal budgets, Scott Morrison is set to announce a budget surplus today. I expect…

A Liberal man of letters: Peter Coleman, 1928-2019

1 April 2019 10:08 am

Journalist, parliamentarian, editor, author and Spectator Australia columnist Peter Coleman has died in Sydney at the age of 90. He…

Thanks, Liberals: income tax growth is almost doubling

1 April 2019 10:00 am

The government is tearing a hole in your pocket at an alarming rate. The Reserve Bank of Australia announced that…

Backwards & forwards: the NRA blows budget week to pieces

1 April 2019 7:27 am

The week in politics, the week to come. Looking back Were you looking for pre-Budget leaks last week? For big…

How drug prohibition caused the Lawyer X outrage

31 March 2019 7:29 pm

An outrageous injustice is currently being investigated before a Royal Commission in Melbourne – the case of Lawyer X, now…

Would you leave your children with Clementine Ford?

31 March 2019 4:43 pm

Lock up your sons and daughters! Allen & Unwin have just announced they are ‘thrilled’ to be publishing a junior…

Al Jazeera has exposed One Nation as part of the political establishment

31 March 2019 12:04 pm

During an eighteenth century parliamentary debate, British statesman Edmund Burke professed that “in the reporters’ gallery yonder, there sat a…

Mother, sister, brother produce a baby

30 March 2019 12:24 pm

Remember when people warned that redefining marriage would open an ethical Pandora’s box? And remember when those who objected to…

Bernardi bombshell: is Cory rejoining the Liberal Party?

29 March 2019 2:48 pm

Spectator types have shown their good manners this week. We haven’t spoken ill of the dead – or the terminally…

Free speech vs hate speech

29 March 2019 12:52 pm

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to stopping hate speech, expressing his concern at what he…

Why the majority is ruining democracy

29 March 2019 8:57 am

The majority are not always right. It’s obvious, really. The tautology that 50 per cent of people have below-average intelligence…

Shorten’s secret friend and helper: Pauline Hanson

28 March 2019 6:06 pm

Thursday 28 March was the day that the Coalition guaranteed it lost May’s election.  It had its good, bad and…