Liberals' last hurrah?

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When Sir Robert Menzies retired, he left Australia in a better place than which he found it.

It is sixty years since Sir Robert Menzies retired. He left Australia in a better place than which he found it. And while the political party he founded has since lost its way at times, it has never been in such a perilous position as it is now.

If you were to ask me who the base of the Liberal Party is today, I can tell you it isn’t me. It’s not business people. It’s not conservatives. Indeed, it would take considerable research to find those who are satisfied with the Liberal Party outside the party machine itself.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Liberals' last hurrah?

Flag-burning justifies audits of funding for activist groups

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If activists don't want the Australian state, then we need to ensure they are not benefiting from it.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Flag-burning justifies audits of funding for activist groups.


Silvertail Liberals are up against sons and daughters of Anzacs

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The Liberal Party thinks that changing their leader is going to fix the party’s problems.

Anthony Albanese is having a field day. The worst Prime Minister in Australian history is getting away with incompetence because his complete rock-show of a circus has been overtaken by the Liberals’ own clown show. It’s been happening for years, and the faceless machine-men and their turkeys are all coming home to roost. Even the ABC’s former chief leftologist has gleefully come out of retirement to tell us that, historically, One Nation’s surge hurts the Coalition most.

The problem with this idea is its premise. Once the Coalition finds its feet, it can turn back the tide … but that is nonsense.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Silvertail Liberals are up against sons and daughters of Anzacs.

Albo delivers ‘dog’s breakfast’, claims antisemitism wasn’t Labor’s fault

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Albanese’s dog’s breakfast of a Bill will NOT protect Australians from home-grown terrorist attacks.

From the Parliamentary Press Gallery: Following yesterday’s shemozzle, and after a good night’s sleep, I rode my new scrambler into Parliament House just in time to get the very last motorcycle parking space. All eyes were on the Albanese government as the failed omnibus bill was split into two distinct bills, one for hate speech and one for gun laws.

You can’t make up the stuff that happens in Parliament. I often think those among us who are cynical about politics have every right to be. But don’t take my word for it, ask One Nation.

Senator Pauline Hanson won’t be in the debate that will run late tonight because she is banned from the Senate for warning about Islamist extremism. That’s right, protesting the ideology that inspired the murder of 15 Australians is the reason Senator Hanson is not allowed to vote on the laws designed to stop Islamic terrorism in Australia.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter. Terry Barnes wrote:

The Albanese hate speech and hate groups bill has passed in federal parliament, as has the now-separate gun control and buyback bill. All done in just one day. The Nationals supported neither bill, making Sussan Ley look an isolated and feeble an Opposition and Coalition leader – which she is. She effectively gave Anthony Albanese a get out of gaol free card, while angering half her MPS and getting two fingers from the Nats. If the knives aren’t being sharpened for Ley now, they soon will be. The only performance more shambolic than hers this week was Albanese’s. Michael de Percy was ringside to the whole sorry show yesterday, and wrote this wrap.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo delivers ‘dog’s breakfast’, claims antisemitism wasn’t Labor’s fault.

Condolences today, (in)action tomorrow

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Bridget McKenzie says PM failed to rise to the test of leadership.

From Parliament House: The House of Representatives was dominated today by the necessary and important reading of the names of the victims of the recent Islamist-inspired massacre at Bondi. Many of the families and friends of victims attended the ‘Victims of the Bondi antisemitic terror attack – Condolence motion’. Our Parliament is an important place for such symbolism.

Originally, both Houses were recalled for a special sitting for the condolence motion but also to pass laws designed to prevent such horrific terrorist acts from occurring again. The condolence motion saw normal business suspended until each member had had their say, and then the House would adjourn until Tuesday to debate the new laws.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

It looks like a compromise version of the controversial hate speech bill will pass tomorrow, as the Coalition – rather, Liberals – and the Albanese government negotiated yesterday to give it some sort of mutual support. What the detail of the deal is we’re yet to see, but there will have been a lot of coffee and pizza in the Attorney-General’s department last night as the bureaucrats drafted legislative mumbo-jumbo through the night. In terms of the politics, Anthony Albanese may have failed his national leadership test after Bondi, but he’s still managed to shift political responsibility for the compromise to hapless Sussan Ley. As for the day itself, our press gallery correspondent Michael de Percy was there after having previewed it, and it’s fair to say he was not impressed by the tone of heavy-handed legislative intervention in the air, on gun laws as well as hate speech.

My latest in The Spectator Australia,  Condolences today, (in)action tomorrow.

Labor’s Islamic terrorism deflection is desperate

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Instead of dealing with Islamic terrorism, the Albanese government is focused on gun laws.

Since neither the Coalition nor the Greens have agreed with Labor’s response to the Islamist-inspired murder of 15 Australians, the Prime Minister has pivoted to a familiar line of attack. He is now claiming the Coalition opposition has made clear what they don’t stand for, but offered nothing on what they do stand for.

This is rich coming from a leader whose own omnibus legislation was a massive failure.

What began as a rushed response to genuine community outrage over antisemitism and Islamic extremism initially morphed into a sprawling, politically expedient package that bundled hate speech reforms with gun control in a way that alienated potential allies across the spectrum.

Now, instead of dealing with the real problem – Islamic terrorism – the Albanese government is focused on gun laws. 

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Labor’s Islamic terrorism deflection is desperate.

Nobel Peace Prize forgets its realist origins and goes full Woke

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The Nobel Peace Prize is embracing a performative Wokeness that dilutes its credibility.

Today, the Nobel Peace Prize seems to have strayed far from those pragmatic roots, embracing a performative Wokeness that dilutes its credibility. The recent spectacle involving María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless efforts against authoritarianism in her homeland, has put the proverbial cat among the pigeons.

In a bold and symbolic gesture during a White House meeting on 15 January 2026, Machado presented her Nobel medal to President Donald Trump, acknowledging his ‘unique commitment’ to Venezuelan freedom.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Nobel Peace Prize forgets its realist origins and goes full Woke.

Albanese’s hypocritical two-tier rush undermines our democracy

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The Bondi massacre will define Mr Albanese’s prime ministership.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has long positioned himself as a champion of due process, transparency, and democratic norms. Kindness is not weakness, he tells us. Yet his government’s frantic push to ram through omnibus legislation aimed at curbing civil rights and liberties reveals a stark hypocrisy that threatens the very foundations of Australian democracy.

As scholars of politics and international law, we call for the government to withdraw this omnibus bill, subject it to genuine parliamentary inquiry, and consult widely, including with those it claims to protect. Australia’s democratic legacy deserves better than a rushed power grab. Albanese must decide whether he will live up to the principles he demands of others or continue down a path that diminishes our nation’s standing as a free and fair society.

My latest in The Spectator Australia with Professor Sascha Dov Bachmann, Albanese’s hypocritical two-tier rush undermines our democracy.

Hate speech is not Islamic terrorism, and where’s Pauline?

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Pauline Hanson is the only political leader who has addressed the problem of Islamic extremism.

In the timeless wisdom of childhood playgrounds, we were taught that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’. This simple adage points to a fundamental truth. Physical violence inflicts real harm, while mere words, no matter how offensive, do not equate to acts of brutality.

Yet, in the corridors of power in Canberra, the Albanese Labor government seems to have forgotten this distinction entirely.

Instead of confronting the deadly threat of Islamic terrorism head-on, they are diverting attention to nebulous concepts like ‘hate speech’, lumping in Islamophobia and homophobia as if they pose the same existential danger as the radical ideologies that have claimed innocent lives on Australian soil.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Hate speech is not Islamic terrorism, and where’s Pauline?

Adelaide writers’ festival meets the ghosts of socialists past

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Reasons given for boycotting the event included not being ‘party to silencing writers’.

The implosion of the Adelaide Writers’ Festival stands as a hard reminder of historical lessons ignored.

Initially, the board cancelled a scheduled Palestinian-Australian author. A mass exodus of left-wing authors followed, culminating in the resignation of festival director, Louise Adler, and the cancellation of the event.

The author’s cancellation also brought a wave of withdrawals from writers and others, protesting what they call censorship.

Reasons given for boycotting the event included not being ‘party to silencing writers’.

However, uninviting controversial writers from a publicly-funded event is a far cry from silencing writers in general. It is my view that if people want to write controversial stuff, then they can do so at their own expense.

Among those who withdrew from the publicly-funded event were ABC journalists, whose actions raise sharp questions about the dangers of blind idealism. Such misplaced idealism is not new.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

What is the collective noun for a gathering of useless people who deserve one-way tickets for the next rocket to the Sun? That’s right, a writers’ festival. No-one should mourn the demise of the 2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week, and nobody should express any sympathy for, let alone solidarity with, the person who caused the controversy, nor the luvvies who flounced out after her. The real issue is this. If you take taxpayers’ coin for your love-in, the government of the day which approves the funding has a right to say who comes to the party. If you don’t like it, send the money back and do your own thing. I could say more, but…Michael de Percy shares his own views on the stupidity.

 My latest in The Spectator Australia, Adelaide writers’ festival meets the ghosts of socialists past.

Albanese’s dithering on terror

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We warned that Albanese’s obsession with domestic optics undermined Australia’s national security.

From May to September 2024, we warned that Albanese’s obsession with trendy domestic optics was dangerously undermining Australia’s national security, both at home and abroad. We highlighted how his preference for ‘de-escalation’ rhetoric in the face of repeated grey-zone provocations such as China’s People’s Liberation Army harassments of Australian Defence Force personnel was inviting escalation and eroding our credibility with key allies like the United States and Nato and across the region.

We criticised specific decisions, such as the scaling back of participation in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the snub of the Ukraine peace summit, and the tokenistic approach to countering Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. These were not mere oversights. They were signals of weakness that emboldened autocrats and left Australia exposed to hybrid threats. 

Tragically, events since then have proven our warnings right and with devastating force.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Now he’s caved in and bowed to the widespread demand of a Royal Commission into anti-Semitism, it’s appropriate to critique Anthony Albanese’s post-Bondi leadership. Michael de Percy and Sascha Dov Bachmann blast Albanese’s weakness over Bondi, but go further and conclude that when it comes to national security – and, remember, protecting its citizens from terrorism is a national government’s core business – the PM who prefers moonlighting as a DJ has performed not only poorly, but incompetently. It’s hard to argue with that.

My latest in The Spectator Australia with Professor Sascha Dov Bachmann, Albanese’s dithering on terror.

Labor’s Royal Commissions are typically political theatre

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Royal Commissions should fix problems, not fabricate scapegoats.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Albanese announced a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Retired High Court Justice Virginia Bell AC has been appointed to lead the inquiry, despite opposition from some in the Jewish community over a lack of consultation, despite Mr Albanese claiming to have consulted widely.

As a political scientist, I’ve observed how governments wield the instrument of Royal Commissions not just to uncover truths, but to shape narratives that suit their political agendas. The Australian Labor Party has earned a particular reputation for crafting terms of reference and timeframes that conveniently cast their opponents as villains while airbrushing their own historical complicity. This isn’t about partisan sniping, it’s about ensuring that inquiries serve justice and reform, not electoral advantage.

Albanese folds, appoints Virginia Bell to lead Royal Commission

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Albanese folds, appoints Virginia Bell to lead Royal Commission.

In a press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Albanese announced a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

He claimed that the NSW Royal Commission would have been, in effect, a ‘de facto’ Commonwealth Royal Commission into the Islamist-inspired massacre that killed fifteen people at the Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.

However, he had ‘reflected’ and ‘listened’ and established a Commonwealth Royal Commission.

The Commission will be led by retired High Court Justice Virginia Bell AC, who was appointed by Labor Attorney-General Robert McClelland to the High Court in 2009.

Bell led the inquiry into former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s multiple ministries.

The Commissioner has been tasked with tackling antisemitism, making recommendations to assist law-enforcement to tackle antisemitism, to examine the circumstances surrounding the Bondi terrorist attack, and to make any other recommendations arising out of the inquiry for strengthening social cohesion.

The Prime Minister stated that it won’t be a drawn-out process, with the inquiry to report before 14 December 2026.

The inquiry is not to compromise any criminal proceedings.

The inquiry will also consider antisemitism in our education sector, drawing on Gonski’s existing antisemitism education task force.

Mr Albanese stated that his government had addressed hate speech, hate preachers, and tougher gun laws. He stated that the Royal Commission would not substitute for the current tactical improvements being investigated by Dennis Richardson but strengthen these.

Mr Albanese claimed that he had ‘listened to people very genuinely’, and that the Richardson Review was absolutely critical to the process. He also claimed that antisemitism went back ‘many, many years’ and that the Royal Commission presented an opportunity to improve social cohesion.

He also claimed that the 73-point plan presented by the Opposition would have taken too long, hence the Richardson Review’s importance as part of the Royal Commission process.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote: 

And so it follows that there are already problems with the design of the Royal Commission. These have been detailed by both Michael de Percy (who was one of the first journalists on the story), and Dight Canning.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

The Prime Minister has finally done what he should have done three weeks ago. He has announced a Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and social cohesion (don’t ask me what the second bit actually means), by his hand-picked former High Court judge, Virginia Bell. In announcing it, Albanese was a classic case of that leadership joke: ‘I am their leader; I must follow them’. The Incredible Shrinking PM looked diminished, humiliated, embarrassed, although his press conference yesterday was a masterclass in linguistic gymnastics turning black into white: his stubborn refusal to call a royal commission, until now, became ‘we listened’. The terms of reference are mostly reasonable if the Royal Commission is truly independent and impartial, but there appears to be implicit no-go zones when it comes to questioning the influence of multiculturalism and migration policies on importing and transmitting old-country and religious (read Islamist fanatic) hatreds. That would violate ‘social cohesion’, would it not? Michael de Percy writes about the hollow Albanese presser. Dight Canning highlights how the announcement laid bare the moral bankruptcy and political hypocrisy of Albanese and his ministerial henchmen, and how diminished a leader the PM is.

    My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albanese folds, appoints Virginia Bell to lead Royal Commission.

    The wrong stuff!

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    Albo’s stitching is undone, and his fluff is showing.

    Appearing at the National Press Club after his 2025 election victory, Anthony Albanese strutted like a peacock. Buoyed by a feeble opposition that couldn’t land a punch, his failure on the Voice referendum and quiet withdrawal of the Assistant Minister for a Republic portfolio were quickly forgotten. But as the harsh realities of governance bear down, the Prime Minister’s carefully stitched-together image is unravelling, revealing nothing but fluff beneath.

    His embarrassingly weak responses to crises at home and abroad are set against an economy that is teetering on shifting sands.

    Albo’s tenure is a tale of big talk and zero delivery. I’ve never heard so much meaningless fluff from an Australian Prime Minister.

    In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

    Michael de Percy’s back from his German sojourn., and he’s taken his axe-like pen to our Incredible Shrinking Prime Minister. As Michael writes, Anthony Albanese has been all talk and in 2026, with likely ongoing inflation, interest rate rises, increasing energy retail prices, and China likely to make a play for Taiwan sooner rather than later – just to name a few annoying little issues. And his prevarications and contortions on an anti-Semitism royal commission – which by necessity should consider the damage to the social fabric cause, as enabled by Australian policy – highlight how Albanese is a merely sectional, rather than a national, leader.

    My latest in The Specator Australia, The wrong stuff!

    New York is now the most idiotic city in the world

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    New York never sleeps because people are having nightmares about communism's failures.

    New York’s newly elected mayor might wax poetic about collective warmth, but history shows it’s more like a fever dream that burns everything in its path.

    If Frank Sinatra were to wake up in the city that never sleeps today, it wouldn’t be because of all the partying and vibrant nightlife he crooned about. It would be because everyone is having nightmares about skyrocketing taxes, crumbling infrastructure, and a bureaucracy that stifles the very spirit that made New York iconic.

    The Big Apple, once a symbol of ambition and opportunity, is rotting from the core with this idiotic pivot to collectivism.

    My laest in The Spectator Australia, New York is now the most idiotic city in the world.

    Make Sydney and Melbourne city-states

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    How else are we going to save New South Wales and Victoria?

    The rift between Australia’s big cities and their regional counterparts is no secret. Sydney and Melbourne, with their swelling populations and progressive agendas, wield disproportionate influence over state governments.

    Take, for example, policies cooked up in the cities: cancelling Christmas, funding climate change grifters, expansive socialist housing programs, and a raft of ‘progressive’ ideas that undermine individual freedoms and the primacy of the family.

    Such progressive nonsense undermines the realities of life in the bush.

    My latest in The Spectator Australia, Make Sydney and Melbourne city-states. 

    Young Australians should travel instead of going to Woke universities

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    I’ve prioritised my education above my finances, my health, and my personal relationships.

    Some people will read the German icon Thomas Mann on a train from Berlin to Dresden, marvelling at his wit and insight. Others will spend three years and $80,000 to be told that Mann justifies Germany’s out of control immigration program because his mother was Brazilian and therefore an immigrant. Such biased thoughts would occur despite having taken unconscious bias training.

    Today’s Australian university sector has embraced the socialist fantasy of equality of outcomes with a zeal that belongs in the former German Democratic Republic. Pass rates must rise, failure must be abolished, feelings must be protected, and if the content has to be hollowed out to achieve this, so be it. The result is a credential that certifies nothing except endurance of the process and a desire to don a rainbow lanyard.

    My latest in The Spectator Australia, Young Australians should travel instead of going to Woke universities.

    Merry Christmas from the heartland of Santa Claus

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    Easily the most amazing experience I have had so far is visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle.

    From Munich: German Christmas markets are the best in the world. There’s something about Germany that makes Christmas feel more like Christmas than anywhere else. The focus is on food, drink, and good cheer, just as the Santa of my childhood represented. Back then, Christmas was special. It was a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It was a time where everyone said Merry Christmas to each other, and it was the most special time of year.

    In light of recent events in Australia, I think the Christmas spirit, much like chivalry and civility, is not dead. It has just been hiding in a closet, biding its time. The good news is that that time has come. And Germany, for all its faults, has reminded me of all that is great about the Christmas spirit.

    My latest in The Spectator Australia, Merry Christmas from the heartland of Santa Claus.

    This won’t blow over, Albanese

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    This won’t blow over, Albanese. Not until this architecture of fear has been blown to smithereens.

    From Nuremberg: I’ve been exploring the city that was home to both the beginning and the end of the most atrocious form of ideological extremism in the 20th Century. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field, where Adolf Hitler conducted his Nazi Party propaganda rallies during the 1930s, became the scene of an American victory parade in 1945 where the huge swastika was blown to smithereens. Later, the city hosted the inevitable retribution of the Nuremberg Trials. The Nazi’s fanatical ideology had no logical end goal other than hatred.

    Today, Islamic terrorism is driven by a similar fanaticism but with unconventional means to instil fear. Like Nazism, Islamic terrorism should never be allowed to fester unchecked.

    Being in the heart of historical atrocities while Islamic terrorists were killing 15 Australians at home put my emotions into over-drive. It will never make any sense to me and my heart breaks for the families of the victims of Nazis here and the Islamic terrorists at home. Both groups are antisemitic in nature, but Islamic terrorism has not been called out by our Prime Minister. Much like the left’s inability to utter the words ‘Merry Christmas’, they refuse to call the Bondi attack what it is: Islamic terrorism.My latest in The Spectator Australia, This won’t blow over, Albanese.

    Old hatreds have infiltrated Australia, and we let them in

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    We must never allow this ancient hatred to grow roots in Australian soil.

    If only our government had been as dogmatic about protecting our society as it has been about protecting our ecosystem, we might have kept out ancient hatreds in the same way we have kept out rabies.

    Instead, we have ended up with an extreme form of liberalism that protects the worst of us instead of those of us who contribute to the common good. Regardless of whether this was a religious or racist attack, it is clearly an attack on Australia’s Jewish people.

    My latest in The Spectator Australia, Old hatreds have infiltrated Australia, and we let them in.

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