opinion
opinion
diary September 21, 2019
Schmo Morrison was in full marketing-man mode as he batted away accusations against forgetful Comrade Gladys Liu. Membership of a strange Chinese state propaganda machine; squillions of dollars raised at great fundraising feasts; agitation to amend the foreign investment regime so Chinese business can snap up swaths of agricultural land – nothing to see here, move on, says Schmo.
letters September 21, 2019
Rick Morton (“Newstart: the human cost of Morrison’s plan”, September 14-20) details the damage done to selected Newstart recipients through the introduction of the cashless credit card. Great harm is also done by the complete inadequacy of the...
editorial September 21, 2019
No one could accuse Pauline Hanson of being a fair-weather critic of the Family Court. For the past 20 years, she has agitated for an inquiry into family law. This week, finally, she got her wish. In her parliamentary career, Hanson has never attempted to hide her views about this system: she considers it stacked against men.
opinion September 21, 2019
Entering Trump’s dinner circle
The duchessing of Scott Morrison in Washington begins today with one of the most colourful ceremonies Donald Trump can muster. The United States Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, resplendent in their 18th-century uniforms and playing antique...
immigration September 21, 2019
Protecting the white body politic
This weekend, Donald Trump will welcome Scott Morrison to the White House with a state dinner – the first Australian leader to be so honoured since George W. Bush thanked his “deputy sheriff” John Howard back in 2006. It is a meeting of two leaders...
letters September 14, 2019
Yet again, Behrouz Boochani (“Dutton’s for punishment”, September 7-13) articulates, with profound insights, many truths experienced by people rightly seeking asylum and incarcerated on Manus Island and Nauru. He also reminds those of us opposed to...
diary September 14, 2019
Gadfly: Legal eagles take to Sky
It was a star-encrusted night on Tuesday as the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties held its annual knees-up at Sky Phoenix in Sydney. This was not just a few lefties munching on dim sum around a lazy Susan in a Chinese restaurant. Rather, it was a grand affair bursting with judges, lawyers, politicians, scientists, captains of industry, academics, public administrators, journalists and other worthies.
editorial September 14, 2019
This is what happens when your chief climate policy is prayer. Rainforests burn in the spring. Bushfires rage in two states before it is even summer. Rivers are silted with dead fish. Drought wrecks the inland.
politics September 14, 2019
The Morrison government is running away from a national integrity commission at breakneck speed. Its reluctance is made all the starker by its unrestrained willingness to seize on the embarrassment caused to its Labor opponents by Australia’s...
immigration September 14, 2019
From Manus Island to Port Moresby
As the government of Papua New Guinea has vowed to remove all refugees from Manus Island, most of us who have been detained there for almost seven years are being transported to Port Moresby. It is a big change for us: disturbing and disruptive in...
diary September 7, 2019
Giovanni (Pork) Barilaro, deputy premier and king of Cockies Corner in the New South Wales parliament, has been busy puffing hot air and positioning himself for a move to Canberra. But he has other pressing concerns: unfortunately for Giovanni, the Australian Taxation Office has applied for a winding-up order for Ryleho Group Pty Ltd, the Queanbeyan timber doors-and-windows operation he owns with his brother Tony.
