In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
The unholy war over the census
A Christian, a Muslim, an atheist and a Jedi walk into a bar. If it’s Tuesday, 9 August, they order…
The Senate: as ye sow, so shall ye reap
The final Senate results are in and the Star Wars cantina of the last parliament will look monocultural compared to…
Bill Leak’s cartoon is tragically true
Bill Leak’s cartoon in this morning’s edition of The Australian has attracted predictable outrage from both indigenous organisations and from…
Ricky Muir: a working class hero is something to be
Cosmopolitans were horrified when country sawmill worker Ricky Muir was elected to the Senate in 2013 as a representative of…
Opposing indigenous recognition is not racist
Australia is a multicultural success story. People from all backgrounds, hailing from hundreds of different nations, have made a positive…
Islam, the new normal – and the new bigotry
The desire to absolve Islam from any wrongdoing, and to distract their constituents can sometimes be fun to watch. Lest…
Ignore the turbulent trannies
There’s no denying the LGBT movement can be prone to overreaction when questioned, let alone criticised. After a week where…
Towards a Safe Supermarkets program?
Rejoice, rejoice. The ABC has found a new font of identity politics. A new set of victims. And — naturally…
The (publicly funded) art of an eye for an eye?
New Matilda contributor Ben Eltham has claimed budget cuts to the Australia Council were payback for the artist boycott of…
The conservative case against an Abbott return
They say a man’s always promoted to his highest level of incompetence, and Australian voters saw to that in 2013.…
The NT royal commission decision-making: not a good look
Monday’s announcement by the royal commissioner into youth detention in the Northern Territory, retired Northern Territory chief justice Brian Martin,…
What matters more? Identity politics or closing the gap?
The scope of the Royal Commission called in the wake of the Don Dale scandal has thankfully been widened to…
Is Kevin putting his book together? Some clairvoyance from the editor
You can always tell when someone has finally had enough of their job and is desperate to get the hell…
Don’t you oppress me
The menfolk of Dandenong in Melbourne’s far-flung south-eastern burbs have been doing it tough for years. The decline of manufacturing…
Julian Burnside, fidei defensor
Julian Burnside has become a defender of the faith – the Islamic one, of course. The Sheik Shady saga continues,…
Rudd and his referees
“Turnbull. Pathetic.” This brief, two-word tweet was not a summation of the recent federal election campaign by a Liberal-National member…
The case for real Senate reform — and what it could look like
The pundits and the Press Gallery tend to discuss election results as if the Australian electorate were a single sentient…
Being brusque does not justify George Pell’s trial by media
On Wednesday night, the whole of the ABC’s 7.30 programme was given over to an expose of historic allegations against…
Malcolm Turnbull: supreme narcissist
Over lunch with friends on June 30, we all guessed the election outcome. I thought the Coalition would lose 11…
Troughing and other pig-headed behaviour
So soon after scraping back in, Malcolm Turnbull is prepared to risk everything on the one issue, which makes many…
The media and the Religion of Peace™
I’m quite sure I wasn’t the only one who, upon hearing last week that Merrylands Police Station in Sydney’s west…
Daniel Andrews’ letter of intolerance
The moral indignation of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews public letter to the Prime Minister on marriage equality again shows the…
Three letters to my daughters
July 8 2016 To my daughters (and their friends) I’ve been thinking and watching and observing my daughters and their…
Marriage equality: Daniel Andrews has big ears, but doesn’t listen
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has ears sticking out from his bonce like wide-open car doors. But for a bloke whose…
Editor’s picks
Magazine
Making appointments, Coalition-style
A satirical look at the previous government’s conservative leanings
Four troubling features of the Higgins judgment
Everyone behaving badly, but only one is pronounced guilty in a social justice outcome
