Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Politics. Show all posts

Uniparty is out of touch with the realities of growing old

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We’ve lost something of late, but I think AI might just bring it back.

Last month at the National Press Club, Council of the Ageing (COTA) Chair Christopher Pyne laid out the findings of the State of the Older Nation report. Ageism is rife, older Australians feel dismissed, and policy remains stuck in outdated stereotypes. My question to Mr Pyne cut to the heart of it: Why does ageing policy so often feel designed for older people by an elite, progressive bubble rather than with them?

The answer, unfortunately, is that both major parties have lost touch with the lived experience of ageing in modern Australia. They see the grey tsunami coming – the number of Australians aged 65 and over projected to double within decades, the 70-plus cohort up 68 per cent in just 20 years – yet treat it as a budgetary headache or a voting bloc to be placated with press releases, not a profound demographic shift demanding honest, flexible policy.

My latest in The Spectatir Australia, Uniparty is out of touch with the realities of growing old.

Leaked immigration policy debacle a boon for Angus Taylor

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Every now and then, a complete balls-up can work in one’s favour.

The leaked document was prepared with signature blocks for Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Jonathon Duniam, and Shadow Immigration Minister, Senator Paul Scarr.

The tragedy that manifested at Bondi was, in my opinion, due to a two-pronged assault on our country. First, through a sustained domestic attack on Australian values and culture by our own political and cultural institutions, backed by Woke ideology. Second, by the federal and state governments and police by being actively weak on policing antisemitism and radical Islamist activism (which is still going on largely unchecked).

Sometimes in politics it is expedient to leak important documents.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Leaked immigration policy debacle a boon for Angus Taylor.

The secret to Farrer...

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The by-election to replace Sussan Ley is One Nation’s big chance.

According to recent vox pops, voters in Farrer are ‘disillusioned’ with some referring to their elected representative as ‘Lazy Sussan’.

Ley won in a three-cornered contest in 2001 but the Coalition arrangement since then has left it to the Liberals. If the Coalition had any sense, the Liberals would sit out of this one and let the Nationals have a go. But after 25 years, I doubt the Nationals have the support infrastructure they require. Whether Ley’s supporters can suddenly change gear is another story. Which brings me back to One Nation.

On the TV news, a young Indigenous man said he would vote for One Nation. Such a thought would make blue-haired progressives go feral and get a guernsey on ‘Lefties Losing It’.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The secret to Farrer...

Barnaby Joyce passes the pub test

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How much money should the government make off your beer down the pub?

I arrived at Mr Joyce’s office just as the bells were ringing for a division. I was happy about this because I was running a minute late. Gunner time remains an important value. If you get it wrong, well. They don’t call we gunners ‘dropshorts’ for nothing.

Mr Joyce arrived and I backgrounded him on how I’d heard his speech from the gallery. I wanted to hear his views on the alcohol excise and the role he’d played in bringing about the freeze on the excise for the next two years.

‘Were you instrumental?’ I asked.

‘No, I played my part’, he replied.

Mr Joyce explained that One Nation has a policy to abolish the excise on alcohol served at venues. This would not be extended to bottleshops. The idea is about keeping pubs at the centre of community. Mr Joyce reinforced that this is particularly important in one-pub towns in regional and rural Australia.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Barnaby Joyce passes the pub test.

Liberals’ wheels fell off with the hate speech laws

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Sussan Ley called for a special sitting of Parliament, then went in with no idea of what to stand for.

Conservative policies are key to the Liberal Party turning itself around.

But is it too late? With One Nation on the rise, and some two years to go before the next election, this brings me to the straw that broke the camel’s back: the Hate Speech Laws.

The tipping point was Sussan Ley calling for a special sitting of Parliament, then going in with no idea of what to stand for. Only a handful of conservative politicians were brave enough to stand up for conservative principles and oppose these laws.

It is worth remembering that the Liberals brought their problems upon themselves. And it all started with the Hate Speech Laws.

Essentially, Sussan Ley has punished the Nationals for voting the same way as conservative members wanted them to.

If anything, the Liberals should be looking to the Nationals for guidance on standing up for conservative principles.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Liberals’ wheels fell off with the hate speech laws.

RBA interest rate hike: Our plight under Opposition light

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The Prime Minister deflected the question on rampant government spending with Medicare praise.

From the Press Gallery: Below my seat in the press gallery, the Liberal Party sits in Parliament as a shadow government and a shadow of its former self. Sussan Ley’s first question was:

When will the government’s reckless spending end?

Albo rose to his feet to answer as the Opposition called a point of order. Government MPs were shouting ‘time’ in direct conflict with the Speaker’s rules which cut-off Opposition speakers. Instead of spending, Albo spoke about cheaper medicine.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, RBA interest rate hike: Our plight under Opposition light.

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.

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?

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!

    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. 

    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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