Aussie Life
Aussie life
Like mansplaining and body hair, the ability to hold and express conflicting opinions is probably something most people would hesitate…
Language
In the NSW parliament Premier Minns referred to another member as ‘mate’. Then an opposition member got up and took…
Aussie life
Lock up your babies, Brisbane; the Queensland government is considering lifting its ban on keeping dingos as pets. I had…
Language
There is an expression that is now quite common in America, although I don’t think I’ve heard it used in…
Aussie life
The Victorian government’s ‘treaty’ with the one per cent of its citizens who purport to be Aboriginal is unjust and…
Language
It is probably time to unpack the word ‘communism’. Zohran Mamdani has been elected Mayor of New York, and he…
Aussie life
‘Celebrate Spring in Nature’, is the call to action on the Parks Victoria website, which urges us to visit the…
Language
Over the past few weeks I have been collecting media clichés – those empty, meaningless, padding words that have turned…
Aussie life
As this great metropolis falls apart, I’m hearing Australians are getting too cynical. But that’s not it at all. As…
Language
I’m sure I can’t be the only person irritated by the word ‘wellness’. It is the most fashionable of all…
Aussie life
My local post office is one of four on Sydney’s lower north shore scheduled for closure before Christmas, and everybody…
Language
John writes to ask about the word ‘noisome’? Does it (he asks) have anything to do with noise? The answer…
Aussie life
Damn you, politicians. Damn you for what you have done to this country you were supposed to serve and govern…
Politics
Will the Liberal party take a stand on net zero or not? (I am using net zero as a shorthand…
Aussie life
It’s not often you can say, ‘I know exactly how he feels’ about your Prime Minister. But in following the…
Language
Cheryl asks me to explain why we call someone who is off their rocker ‘dotty’. Well, ‘dotty’ has had that…
Aussie life
Talking with an old friend recently about relations between the sexes, I said men these days don’t know if they’re…
Language
Do you know Banjo Paterson’s ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ I asked? Yes, was the answer, I have it off by…
Aussie life
The tendency of Australian politics to shadow British politics is never more conspicuous than when both countries are led by…
Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow has coined the expression ‘pulling an Albo’, meaning ‘looking busy while doing nothing’.…
Aussie life
Legislation for a statewide treaty with indigenous Australians should never have made it to the steps of the Victorian parliament,…
Language
Harvey writes from West Australia about the Native Title Act and asks for the meaning of this word ‘native’. Well,…
Aussie life
The precise location of Victoria’s most dangerous fugitive was finally revealed last week after international news networks aired footage of…
Politics
Conservative politics in Australia looks to be in the worst shape it has ever been in. How many policies does…
Aussie life
The dictionary definition of a banana republic refers to a country that has an economy dependent solely on revenue from…
