In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.
A plunge into politics as Trainspotting meets The West Wing
Australia’s federal parliament isn’t normally associated with sex, drugs and dance parties and nor should it, because they’re rare occurrences.…
Full circle after 65 years on the throne
The first British (and Australian) monarch to spend sixty-five years on the Throne, today Her Majesty the Queen celebrates her ‘Blue Sapphire…
The ABC: would you miss it if it wasn’t there?
“The ABC is letting Australia down in terms of news presentation,” Paul Keating declaimed in typical style late last year.…
No one loses from the Cory caper
Since Tony Abbott’s ouster, the Liberal bosses’ efforts to purge conservatives from power has been in stark defiance to global…
A lecture from UQ on diversity and tolerance – not
Lofty notions of free enquiry, open debate and tolerance are paid no shortage of lip service in Australian universities. In…
Domestic violence leave doesn’t fix the problem
ACTU President Ged Kearney last year took to the stage at the International Labor Organisation conference to make an impassioned…
Black gold
Last Wednesday, attentive readers may recall, Prime Minister Turnbull gave a Press Club presentation designed to re-start his government. It…
Revealed: how your taxes fund the 18c Fan Club
One of the most obvious features of the parliamentary inquiry into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has been…
The Nauru deal: don’t say we didn’t warn ya
Back in November, just after the presidential election, Neil Brown wrote a cracker of a column for the Speccie. It…
Worst. Phone call. Evah. Really?
It’s impossible to say for sure whether this business about a phone call between Turnbull and Trump is true. It smacks of…
Renewable energy targets? Just say no
How will you be able to look your grandchildren in the eye and tell them you didn’t do anything about…
The Left aren’t just giving Australia Day the arse…
Last Friday, the University of Western Australia Student Guild voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the date of Australia Day and proposed to…
Youngstown: Springsteen’s or Trump’s?
Bruce Springsteen offered a sombre and evocative description of the toll taken on the typical rustbelt community by decades of…
A new idea for schools that doesn’t involve more money? Outrageous!
An education policy that doesn’t include lavishing more money on schools? Outrageous! That’s been the common response to the federal…
Wristband paedophilia?
If you’re not wearing the wristband, do you really believe in it? It’s an existentially fascinating question in our age…
Borrowing binge raises the debt roof
Scott Morrison returns to his desk this week with enthusiasm for company tax cuts reinforced by impressions gained from an overseas…
Trump is simply following John Howard over borders
BOSTON, UNITED STATES — The anti-Trump alarmism is getting a bit tiresome. At this point, we have to assume the…
Renewables, 18c and the many paradoxes of Tony Abbott
In his address to the Young Liberals in Adelaide over the weekend, Tony Abbott once again demonstrated how wonderful he is…
Murder by euthanasia: a warning from the Netherlands
Once you create a situation at law where killing of another person is allowed in certain circumstances, not only will…
Trump’s temper might just make him a great president
The hope of last resort amongst the chattering classes was that having won the election, Donald Trump would relax into…
Wish him naught as we wave him goodbye
David Morrison crawled away from his Australian of the Year role as he performed it, self-aggrandising, unapologetic and intellectually irrelevant.…
Another wrong note from the Australian Republican Movement
My compliments to the Australian Republican Movement for their smashing new advert. It was heartening to see so many Australians…
Don’t begrudge Gillard her gong
In her Australia Day column for the Herald-Sun, Rita Panahi decried the giving of Order of Australia honours to former…
I was a teenage white invader
I have a confession to make: I’m one of the invaders. My ancestors did not come to these shores with…
What’s so bad about January 26?
This week, Warren Mundine proposed that Australia Day should be moved from January 26 to January 1, because the 26th…
Editor’s picks
Magazine
Albo’s Orwellian Bill
Censoring free speech is dangerous, not to mention downright un-Australian
Misinformation laws will feed attacks on Western history
We need the freedom to debate bad ideas
