Cheaper electricity? Chris Bowen promises it’s on its way to you soon...

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Lower retail electricity prices are in that land of the unicorns where your $275 saving lives.

Mr Bowen recently posted on Facebook that wholesale energy prices had decreased 47 per cent in the past 12 months.

At the National Press Club today, I asked him:

…in many cases retail supply charges have increased and time of use windows have changed, making any consumer price changes minimal, and less transparent. Minister, who is actually benefiting from the halving of wholesale electricity prices?

He confidently responded with a non-answer. It will flow through to the consumer so wholesale price reductions are a good thing.

The bottom line is that lower retail electricity prices are with your $2.75 saving Labor promised in 2022.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Cheaper electricity? Chris Bowen promises it’s on its way to you soon...

You need to decolonise your mind

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It’s not spring, so it wasn’t spring cleaning. It was pure catharsis.

Some might say the real colonial occupation in Western liberal democracies is not the one the textbooks denounce, but the ideological one they themselves carried. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o coined the phrase in a very different context. The irony is that the phrase now travels more easily in the opposite direction.

From the late 1970s and 1980s, imported theoretical apparatuses such as postcolonial theory, applied postmodernism, and critical approaches to identity, established themselves inside Australian universities and then cascaded into teacher training, curricula, and public discourse.

Much of it arrived via French high theory in the late 1970s and 1980s. Thatcher was alert to the broader cultural and educational dangers of the time. Australian universities largely were not.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, You need to decolonise your mind.

What did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward

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What is his Plan B? This has nothing to do with chepaer electricity or carbon emissions. 

Those who allow Labor press releases to act as their sole source of truth wouldn’t imagine that Australians are caught in the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory.

The economy is … buggered. And the culture wars, that don’t exist, have the major parties bound and gagged as the captives of Populism. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe by the level of hysteria.

While this is going on, the average voter is watching ISIS fighters, enthusiasts, and brides return with surprisingly few consequences.

On that topic, and with battle-hardened ISIS Grooms discovered in Iraqi jails, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson wrote to Angus Taylor offering her party’s support for any legislation put forward to keep them out.

This was triggered by Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh, known as ‘Dr Jihad’, wishing to return. An action Angus Taylor wants to block over his alleged support for ISIS.

Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume wasn’t particularly interested in One Nation’s offer of support, insisting that the Coalition needs the support of Labor, not One Nation. Good luck with that.

My latest in The Spectator Australia co-authored with my editor, Alexandra Marshall @ellymelly, What did I miss? Australia's political week in fast-forward.

Vikki Campion’s warning: Mess with Barnaby and meet your match

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You can’t have two people in politics who have kids. Who looks after my children?

Why has Vikki Campion suddenly reappeared in public life in support of her husband? She has launched her own Substack this week in addition to her writing for the Daily Telegraph and occasional media appearances.

She tells me she was previously unable to use social media before as a Coalition staffer.

They did the interview deliberately. Vikki tells me:

Barnaby’s doing you a favour by finding some power, getting the internet access, it’s freezing cold. It’s the first time we’ve managed to connect the shed to the internet successfully. We have no dedicated office, no epic studio. This is the best we can do. There’s no shirking, he shows up.

Vikki is not asking for special treatment. She is asking for the most basic recognition that a farm is not a studio, a working dog is not a prop, and rural Australia does not run on the same clock or the same assumptions as the inner city.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

One Nation’s heroine of the week is not Hanson, but Barnaby Joyce’s dog, Stella. That canine disciplining, in the middle of a 7.30 interview with the humourless Sarah Ferguson became a talking point for days, completely distracting attention from the controversial aspects of Hanson’s fortnight in the UK and Sicily. The haters hate it, and even question whether Stella was even there. But Michael de Percy got the real truth from Barnaby’s missus, Vicki Campion, and you can read it here.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Following the Stella!!! dog incident with Barnaby Joyce, One Nation has released merchandise – for your dog – I shit you not. Anyway… Hyper-commercialisation is the real infiltration of American politics into Australia. Anyway, our Canberra Correspondent Michael de Percy interviewed Vikki Campion about what she thought of the whole saga.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Vikki Campion’s warning: Mess with Barnaby and meet your match.

What if small businesses went on strike against Labor?

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Small businesses are hurting (and closing) under Labor’s federal and state policies

Labor’s wealth redistribution and bracket creep realities are one result of the federal stage 3 tax cuts adjustments and reversals and fiscal settings that have led to bracket creep.

These effects, amid persistent inflation, are squeezing small business owners and their ability to retain staff or invest in future capabilities. Small businesses face higher effective burdens without the scale of larger firms. Yet they are carrying a proportionately higher regulatory burden.

ASIC has reported record revenue of some $830 million in fines. The NSW government is riding high on the back of increased revenue from fines including small businesses. This is set to continue.

Terry Barnes wrote in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy is right. Small businesses can’t thrive under federal Labor’s anti-private enterprise and high-taxing regime, let alone state Labor’s payroll and other job-killing taxes. And that’s not including onerous government-mandated paperwork and compliance. But speaking as a self-employed small business type, the costs of going ‘on strike’ against Labor’s incessant demands on my bottom line is having the Australian Taxation Office out to crush both me, and my ability to put food on the table for my family and keep the lights on. How I’d love to tell the ATO to get knotted, but they know they have me, and hundreds of thousands like me, by the short and curlies.

 My latest in The Spectator Australia, What if small businesses went on strike against Labor?

One Nation polling proves ‘The Establishment’ can’t be trusted

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The Establishment presents itself as the calm, serious voice of reason in politics and society. But, nuh!

The Establishment presents itself as the calm, serious voice of reason in politics and society.

You hear it most clearly when the Prime Minister says Pauline Hanson should not ‘talk Australia down’ when overseas.

Life at Copacabana must be quite pleasant. Here in regional Australia, businesses are collapsing, people are struggling, and nobody is saying, ‘How great is Albo’s Australia!’

Yet the media’s focus is all on One Nation. It reminds me of most of the stuff coming out of universities these days.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Michael de Percy looked at the polls and said … The Establishment can’t be trusted! That’s because after a solid week of wall-to-wall screeching, One Nation has emerged with barely a dent.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy heads in a similar direction to James Allan, except he’s concluded the battle of ideas is over already, and One Nation has won it. In his view, the Establishment is trying to bring Hanson and One Nation down because they can’t recover their dominance any other way. Ironically, Hanson herself has been around politics so long that it could be said that she, herself, is part of the Establishment, or at least the political class associated with it. She knows how the system works, and plays the game accordingly.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, One Nation polling proves ‘The Establishment’ can’t be trusted.

What did I miss? Australia’s political week in fast-forward

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They came after Pauline, they came after Barnaby, and now they are coming for Malcolm Roberts.

 The results of Labor’s economic meddling are in. Rents are going up, housing prices are coming down, mortgage repayments are going up, and Labor also briefly considered tinkering with the idea of charging capital gains tax on the sale of the classic car you’ve worked on forever. (They backed out of that last one pretty quick!) Your labour counts for nought of course.

(Unless you are at BHP, Australia’s biggest company, where 63 union members walked off the job in a strike that was meant to cripple the Pilbara. Quite the union hit job…? The final numbers are being debated and the unions are insisting it was a success.)

In other news, people are hearing about a tax on the sale of assets when one’s partner dies. Is this for real? Isn’t that called a death tax?

There are so many questions.

My latest weekly round-up in The Spectator Australia, What did I miss?


How will the Liberal Party atone for their ‘failings’?

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The Liberal Party once stood for the individual, the family and free enterprise.

During the pandemic, I recall John Howard’s advice to Josh Frydenberg, then Treasurer, words to the effect of ‘now is not the time for ideology’. It has all gone pear-shaped for the Liberal Party from that time on. Many of the Party’s actions, even Tony Abbott’s, were not in the spirit of the individual, the family, or free enterprise.

Rather than return to the Party’s creed, Peter Dutton attempted to show his soft side. The man who took on Australia’s national security agencies and forced them to do their jobs suddenly went limp. It was a disastrous result and, in my opinion, one where his advisors are largely to blame.

Sussan Ley then went full Labor-lite. It was as if she had listened to Scott Morrison in the 2022 election debate where he agreed with Albanese that the Labor Party made all the great innovations in Australian politics, but the Coalition ended up having to pay for them. Talk about a non-policy. It had me cringing worse than Fawlty Towers.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy concludes the Liberal party has made some huge mistakes over the last 15 years, and is paying the price in the current polls. The crux of his argument is that the Liberals have to break away from the Establishment and identify with the people – which effectively is what the Hanson party has done, as they see it. But as Michael also contends, the Liberals have strayed too far from their spiritual roots – smaller and less intrusive government, lower taxes and greater personal responsibility. As a party, the need to rediscover those roots urgently, and frame their electoral alternative to both Labor and ON around them. Angus Taylor is not as eloquent as his wife, perhaps, but his policy thinking certainly is heading in that direction.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, How will the Liberal Party atone for their ‘failings’?

 


Can One Nation break through the glass ceiling to the majors?

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One Nation has struck a chord with Australians who are sick and tired of the same old Uniparty.

Pauline Hanson is like the Rocky Balboa doll: ‘You can kick it, you can beat it, it does everything. That’s right, takes a terrific beating.’

In my opinion she was Australia’s first political prisoner. Of course, Hanson was exonerated. But you can’t get much more underdog than that.

Hanson has also been consistent. She doesn’t need to say she is a conviction politician (like Albo used to tell us before gaslighting became the new normal). Nothing says conviction more than living by conviction.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

One Nation’s polling may or may not have peaked, but in terms of voter share it is up equal to, or ahead of, the two major parties. Will it stay there? Will it crack the ‘glass ceiling’ in actual elections? Michael de Percy thinks so, as One Nation rides the wave of voter dissatisfaction with their major party choices. But with ascension to major party Olympus comes what Pauline Hanson seems to hate – scrutiny. Of ideas, policies and, yes, people. That even includes One Nation people scrutinising other One Nation people, as we’ve seen this week with Barnaby Joyce dissociating himself from certain views of Malcom Roberts. Arguably, One Nation has some political growing-up to do if it aspires to electoral greatness. Being prepared to offer costed policies would be a great start.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

There is a lot of talk about the survival chances of One Nation as a potential major party. Michael de Percy runs through the essential things that Pauline Hanson and her colleagues will have to get right if One Nation is to survive this trial by fire. Are these unfair standards? Probably. But at the moment, all of their political competitors are out to get them.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Can One Nation break through the glass ceiling to the majors?

Green energy turned into Armageddon

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Where's my $275 saving on my energy bill, Mr Bowen? That was thousands of dollars ago!

This week, Zen Energy, the company that was touted as the ‘proof of concept’ for Chris Bowen’s green energy dream, went into administration. Bowen’s dream became a nightmare.

The trouble is that the Coalition and One Nation are too busy fighting each other. There is policy gold unfolding all around them, but they have become so myopic they are believing their own fates are reflected in the current polling.

For One Nation, that they are on a collision course with victory.

For the Coalition, that they are done for and they have to do something else because nobody likes conservatism.

All the worst Prime Minister in the history of prime ministers has to do is throw in a mind grenade and the conservatives go into a twist.

Lesson: Don’t do that.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Green energy turned into Armageddon.

Albo’s cold fart warmed up, or Gus’ genuine cool?

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As we used to say when we were kids, Albo think's he's hot shit, but he's only cold fart warmed up.

Anthony Albanese stepped off his RAAF jet last October in his jeans with a Joy Division T-shirt stretched across his chest, grinning like he’d just pulled off the greatest larrikin stunt in Australian political cool. The press gallery cooed. Cool statement, they said. The Prime Minister enjoying his ascension, showing he’s still one of the boys.

As we used to say when we were kids, Albo thought he was hot shit. But he was only cold fart warmed up.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo’s cold fart warmed up, or Gus’ genuine cool?

Want to save Australia’s heritage? Attend this event!

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There's an event on August 6 in Sydney might help those who aren't sure about Australian culture.

Everyone’s talking about Australian culture. What is it? Where is it? And how do we know it when we see it? There is an event coming up on August 6 in Sydney that might help those who are confused. If there is one part of Australian culture that everybody understands, it is the legend of the Anzacs.

So, if you would like to enjoy a three-course black-tie extravaganza for $150 per head or corporate tables of 10 for only $1,350, while supporting the sons of daughters of Anzacs, have I got a deal for you!

The Lone Pine Gala Dinner will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney on August 6 from 6pm till 10pm.

You can book your table or tickets before July 24 here.

The purpose of the event is to raise funds for the Gallipoli Scholarship Fund. The Fund ‘provides $8,000 per year in scholarships to support young Australians carrying a legacy of service, helping them succeed in higher education’. The scholarship is open to direct descendants of an Australian or New Zealand Veteran who has served in any conflict or peacekeeping operation from the first world war to the present day.

I have been attending the event of the last two years, with previous speakers including Dr Brendan Nelson and Sir Peter Cosgrove.

This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Aaron Patrick, columnist with Seven West Media, former Deputy Editor of the AFR, and author of The Last Battle, the story of Australia’s SAS and Commandos and our greatest victory in our longest war in Afghanistan.

The event is hosted by the Gallipoli Memorial Club, an organisation established by the original Anzacs. I am honoured to be the editor of the Club’s official journal, The Gallipoli Gazette.

The Gallipoli Memorial Club Museum is located at Loftus Street in Sydney. After years of renovations, the Museum is due to open soon.

Why am I so keen? Check out the Club’s creed:

We believe that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation for perpetual peace and universal freedom.

Do yourself and your fellow country folk a favour. Get along to the Lone Pine Gala Dinner 2026.

As a sampler of Aaron Patrick’s work, below is my recent review of his book.

Aaron Patrick’s The Last Battle: Australian SAS, Commandos and Our Greatest Victory in Our Longest War ($36.99 in paperback or $17.99 as an e-book) is a meticulously researched, minute-by minute account of the Battle of Shah Wali Kot in June 2010. Drawing on extensive interviews and operational detail, Patrick captures the chaos, courage and split-second decisions that defined the fighting in the villages of Chenartu and Tizak. In my view as a former Army officer, the book delivers exactly what it promises – a genuine sense of what it was like to be an SAS or commando soldier on the ground in Afghanistan. Patrick captures the noise, the fear, the relentless pressure, and the extraordinary bonds characteristic of active service.

What upset me the most is not the combat narrative but the bureaucratic nightmare that followed. Patrick’s account makes clear how the realities of close combat and the impossible choices it demands were later reframed and scrutinised in ways that may have placed almost all responsibility on the other ranks and junior commanders. Higher command and institutional processes appear curiously insulated. While the soldiers who did their duty under the most extreme conditions remain open to scrutiny, this was not necessarily the same for the bureaucracy.

This reflection arrives at a particularly sensitive moment.

Patrick’s book stands on its own merits as an extensively researched work that understands military culture from the inside. It portrays the operational environment and the human cost without descending into the polemic.

The greatest tragedy illuminated by the book and its broader context is the potential long-term damage to recruitment. Young Australians who might otherwise have become our next generation of military heroes may now think twice before volunteering for special forces or even the wider Army. When the consequences of operational service, in the national interest can lead, years later, to prolonged legalistic processes rather than recognition or support, the deterrent effect is real. In this sense it echoes the shameful treatment of many Vietnam veterans. But not just through public shaming this time, but through a cold, drawn-out legal and bureaucratic machinery that appears to leave people to navigate complex processes with limited support.

This important book forces the reader to confront how our institutions sometimes repay that service. The Last Battle is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand more about events in modern warfare that may challenge the very foundations of the Anzac tradition.

One Nation supporters are the underdogs

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Pauline Hanson in action in the Senate.

What we are seeing throughout the West is a remaking of liberal democracy. In its infancy, even John Stuart Mill was worried about what would happen if the principle of ‘one vote, one value’ was applied with universal suffrage. Imagine a dumb arse navvy getting the same vote as an educated property owner? This is the classic problem of the tyranny of the majority.

Instead of advocating plural voting, where those better-educated individuals had more votes than less-educated workers, academics have invented a shame culture that effectively does the same thing. Politicians of the major parties have given in to this shame culture by doing their utmost to avoid being labelled ‘Populist’.

For years, the left have used subtle yet effective ways of blocking dissent and any form of challenge to their policies relating to energy, identity politics, and welfare.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, One Nation supporters are the underdogs.

Life on the DMZ: A Personal Photo Essay

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A guard post on the North West Islands, about 15km from North Korea

My talk to the Crookwell Rotary Club — 16 June 2026

On a crisp June evening I had the pleasure of speaking to the Crookwell Rotary Club about one of the most confronting and inspiring places I’ve visited in recent years: the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

The talk, “Life on the DMZ: A Personal Perspective,” was a photo essay drawn from multiple visits to the frontier that still divides the Korean peninsula. It was a privilege to share these images and stories with a room full of people who understand service, resilience, and community — values that feel very much at home in the Southern Tablelands.

Why the DMZ?

I’ve been exploring the Demilitarised Zone between the two Koreas for the last few years to understand what it is like to live at the frontier of freedom.

The North Korean propaganda village, as seen from South Korea

The contrast between North and South is confronting. It gives one a profound sense of gratitude for the lifestyles we enjoy in the West — and makes clear how important it is that we actively defend our way of life.

Personal Connections — Korea Military Academy

The Korean  military Academy

At an Asia Society Korea event in Seoul I met Colonel Steve Tharp (US Army), Colonel Honki Jee (ROK Army), and retired Lieutenant General In-Bum Chun.

After the session, General Chun approached me, thanked me for my service, and said:

“Thank you for the 340 Australians who lost their lives so that we could create this,” gesturing out the window toward the metropolis of Seoul below.

That moment crystallised the living legacy of Australia’s sacrifice in the Korean War.

Our friend Colonel Jee and his name on the graduation list.

Observatories and the View Across the Divide

With Colonel Tharp at Dora.

Dora Observatory, on Dorasan in Paju-si, is one of the closest public vantage points for viewing North Korea. The detailed topographic model helps orient visitors to the guard posts, villages, and terrain on both sides of the DMZ.

The view at Ganwha Peace Observatory.

Further west, Gangwha Peace Observatory offers another powerful perspective on the division.

Life on the Islands – YP-Do and Coastal Defence

Guard Post at YP-Do

Yeonpyeong Island (YP-Do) and the Northwest Islands are among the most exposed parts of South Korea’s frontier. Here, old Sherman tank guns have been repurposed as coastal artillery, and modern K9 howitzers stand ready.

Re-purposed Sherman tank gun on YP-Do.

The islands show the constant state of readiness that defines life on the DMZ.

The tunnel to get to the coastal artillery.

The Constant Threat of Landmines

Even decades after the Korean War, the danger remains real. Warning signs like these are common near the DMZ. In December 2023 a man in his sixties was killed when his excavator triggered a Korean War-era landmine while working on his property.

Landmines are a persistent threat.
I wasn't joking around.

The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel and surrounding areas are stark reminders that this frontier is still very much a live military zone.

The third tunnel exhibition is rather touristie, but don't be fooled!

R&R – The Human Side of South Korea

While the DMZ commands respect and vigilance, everyday life in South Korea is vibrant and full of colour. Korean baseball (KBO), hearty meals, and the ritual of Cass beer, soju, and makgeolli provided wonderful moments of R&R between visits to the frontier.

Cass beer, soju, and makgeolli. What's not to like?

Jamsil Stadium is an institution. Grateful for Colonels Tharp (pictured) and Jee (taking the photo).

Korean food is the greatest. Pork hock.

Korean food and drink are the best. The end.

The Mapo Wine Club is an institution. What an excellent evening! Thank you, Gentlemen!

Defending Memory

At Jayu (Freedom) Park in Incheon stands the statue of General Douglas MacArthur, honoured for the 1950 Incheon Landing. In 2005 progressive activists tried to have it removed. Korean War veterans mobilised in large numbers to physically defend it. The statue remains standing today — a powerful example of a nation that refuses to forget its friends.

General Macarthur statue at Incheon Freedom Park.

Life on the DMZ is a frontier of freedom that still shapes lives today.

It was an honour to share these photographs and reflections with the Crookwell Rotary Club. In a regional community like ours, the values of service, mateship, and quiet resilience feel very close to the stories of the Korean people and the legacy of the 340 Australians who gave their lives in the Korean War.

Freedom is not free.

Thank you to everyone who came along, asked thoughtful questions, and stayed for a chat afterwards. These conversations matter.

Lest we forget.

Pauline Hanson came, saw, and conquered Canberra

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Pauline kept on as if nothing had happened. One Nation later joked they wish they’d thought of it!

The National Press Club this week attempted to show its liberal democratic credentials by giving the One Nation leader a national platform.

I was hoping it would be a win-win situation for Pauline Hanson.

If the journos got the best of her, more sympathisers would be on her side. If she won over the journos, she would have shifted the party into new territory. But nobody could predict that she would win, and win, and then win big in Canberra.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Our Press Gallery correspondent, Michael de Percy, was at the Press Club on Wednesday, and asked Pauline Hanson a question as one of her media interrogators. As an accredited Gallery journo, Michael had a box seat to the proceedings, and he’s shared his impressions of the lunch, Hanson and her performance. It’s probably fair to say he’s had a Pauline conversion. And, as Rowan said on Sky, Michael’s question was excellent.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Pauline Hanson came, saw, and conquered Canberra.

Labor failed their political IQ test

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Bozo! The Stop Sign!! And the week Albanese almost certainly regrets...

This week, Labor failed a political IQ test.

The best way to fight your political opponent is to Labor what pouring petrol on a fire is to the Rural Fire Service. Not only did Labor raise barely a trickle of financial support to stop One Nation, they helped Pauline win big. After three days and counting, One Nation’s war chest has surpassed $3.6 million.

Albo reckons it’s all a bit dubious. Pauline posted proof of truth.

Independent tech auditors say the amount is legit. Apparently, they’ve checked with the SQuirreLs and the SQuirreLs say the funds are not just promised but already delivered. That means there could be even more money on the way.

Just to remind Albo about his integrity, trucks are now driving around his electorate of Grayndler with the words ‘Fire the Liar’ emblazoned on the sides of the trucks.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Meanwhile, the Fire the Liar fundraising campaign goes from strength to strength, with Oner Nation’s banked total now well over $4 million. Damien Costas explores the politics behind the visceral public reaction to Fire the Liar – and indeed to the Liar, and his and his government’s lies, that inspired it. Michael de Percy also adds his ringing endorsement to the cheeky One Nation campaign inspired by a comment made on a Sky News television programme just a week ago.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Labor failed their political IQ test.

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