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Tasmania quietly points to our socialist future

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Tasmanian House of Assembly [Edoddridge CC BY SA 3.0]

The election of Michelle O’Byrne as Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly on May 14, 2024 marked a significant departure from parliamentary convention, raising questions about stability, leadership, and media coverage. The decision’s implications are all the result of Premier Jeremy Rockliff’s inaction. Meanwhile, the mainstream media’s response has focused on Rockliff’s inadequacy with barely a mention of Michelle O’Byrne’s role of Speaker.

Are we quietly accepting socialism while ignoring our Westminster traditions?

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

The prolific Michael de Percy has a look at the fiasco that is the Tasmanian parliament’s successful no-confidence motion against the Liberal minority government premier, Jeremy Rockliff. He rightly homes in the Labor speaker, Michelle O’Byrne, disgracefully defying and trashing Westminster convention to break the tie on the motion by voting for it, not against. There’s something rotten in the state of Tasmania, and it’s not just the moribund economy.  Is there any way the rest of Australia can make Tasmania go and join New Zealand? They deserve each other, politically.

My latest opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Tasmania quietly points to our socialist future.

Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance

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Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister, 2017-2023. [Image: CC PDM 1.0]

Jacinda Ardern’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister (2017–23) was lauded globally as a masterclass in empathetic leadership, her image burnished by deft handling of crises like the Christchurch mosque shootings and the early stages of Covid.

The world swooned over her ‘kindness’ and ‘authenticity’, with fawning media elevating her to near-mythic status.

Yet beneath the polished rhetoric and carefully curated narrative lies a stark reality. Ardern’s leadership, when scrutinised, reveals a troubling lack of measurable outcomes. Her policies, draped in inclusive language and moral posturing, often failed to deliver the substance needed to justify the hype.

By 2020, punters were asking whether Jacinda Ardern was just ‘a show pony’.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

And finally, Michael de Percy takes a look back on the legacy of Jacinda Ardern’s ‘inclusive’ and ‘kind’ agenda and whether or not it actually achieved anything meaningful.

In the Morning Double Shot, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Jacinda Ardern’s memoir came out this week. To save you the temptation to part with your hard-earned to read it, Michael de Percy sums Ardern’s leadership up: for all her ‘I feel your pain’ schtick, as New Zealand’s prime minister she didn’t actually achieve very much. Except that is, in the Covid years, when Ardern shut down New Zealand, and turned it into an Antipodean hermit kingdom with a zeal exceeded only by Victoria’s Daniel Andrews. She’s not missed.

My latest article in The Spectator Australia, Jacinda Ardern’s triumph of style over substance.

Key Studies on Jacinda Ardern's Leadership

Research question: What quantitative and qualitative metrics can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Jacinda Ardern's key policy initiatives during her prime ministership?

Below are the key studies on Jacinda Ardern's leadership I reviewed from the academic literature:

Baker, M. G., Kvalsvig, A., & Verrall, A. J. (2020). New Zealand’s COVID‐19 elimination strategy. Medical Journal of Australia, 213(5), 198. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.50735

Beattie, A., & Priestley, R. (2021). Fighting COVID-19 with the team of 5 million: Aotearoa New Zealand government communication during the 2020 lockdown. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100209

Henrickson, M. (2020). Kiwis and COVID-19: The Aotearoa New Zealand Response to the Global Pandemic. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 2(2), 121–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516602620932558

Howden-Chapman, P., Keall, M., Whitwell, K., & Chapman, R. (2020). Evaluating natural experiments to measure the co-benefits of urban policy interventions to reduce carbon emissions in New Zealand. Science of The Total Environment, 700, 134408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134408

Rangiwhetu, L., Pierse, N., Chisholm, E., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2020). Public Housing and Well-Being: Evaluation Frameworks to Influence Policy. Health Education & Behavior, 47(6), 825–835. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120917095

Skilling, P. (2024). The sixth labour government on poverty and inequality: Policy action and political language. Political Science, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2024.2441360

Tyner, K., & Jalalzai, F. (2022). Women prime ministers and COVID‐19: Within‐case examinations of New Zealand and Iceland. Politics & Policy, 50(6), 1076–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12511

One more seat and One Nation joins the majors

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Pauline Hanson's One Nation is now the main conservative party in Australia

The Coalition appears to have abandoned their followers who sweated blood for them over the past 30 years. Further, the minor conservative parties brought about their own demise by trying to play off against one another. Rising from the ashes of the socialist’s recent election victory is One Nation. Soon to approach its thirtieth year, One Nation is now the only real chance for conservatives to hold the Uniparty to account.

What can conservatives do to help One Nation?

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy is encouraged that the surprise Senate gains of One Nation put it in reach of official party status at five seats, and the resources that status brings. But based on the troubled party’s history, and especially how all One Nation senators since 2016 – Malcolm Roberts excepted – have fallen out with their leader and party founder, your scribe remains unconvinced that One Nation is poised or savvy enough to make the breakthrough to make it a strong player in the Canberra parliamentary game. Let’s wait and see.

My latest opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, One more seat and One Nation joins the majors.

Introducing One Nation’s first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten

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Pauline Hanson with One Nation's first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten.

One Nation is officially the most successful conservative minor party following the recent election. Today I spoke with Tyron Whitten, the first One Nation senator to be elected outside of Queensland this election, and asked him a few questions.

My latest interview for The Spectator Australia, Introducing One Nation’s first WA Senator, Tyron Whitten.

"These Greens and Teals live in the concrete jungles of the city ... they’re happy to have all this green energy, but not in their backyard. You know, it doesn’t impact their lives, but let’s cut down some rainforest somewhere in someone else’s backyard."https://t.co/H8PXOVl5zx

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) May 30, 2025

Woke society replicates 1970s mice experiment

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Human studies used to disprove findings from Universe 25 may have been 50 years too early. 

In the 1960s and 70s, the American ethologist and behavioural researcher John B. Calhoun conducted an experiment with mice to better understand the effects of population density on behaviour. The experiment, conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health, was known as Universe 25. It consisted of a predator-free, 9-foot square pen with nesting boxes and unlimited food, water, and nesting materials but limited space.

The results were surprising. Rather than physical density, the more limiting idea of ‘social density’ suggested a bleak future for humans living in urban environments. While Calhoun was controversial for ‘anthropomorphising’ his findings, it shocked me how Universe 25 mirrors what is happening in our increasingly Woke Western world.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Giving politics a break for a moment, there is a great little article from Michael de Percy today in which a mouse experiment from the 60s/70s that might explain why our culture is going so horribly wrong. Its mice even started ‘going Woke’ (well, a mouse version of Woke). The major lesson, beyond the entertainment, is that models and expert consensus do not always correctly predict reality. Given the topic involved is ‘population growth’, this is certainly something that needs more thought.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Woke society replicates 1970s mice experiment.

Labor’s energy crisis ends up on your bill

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Our energy system is in a crisis created by Labor and we're paying for it.

Mr Bowen has proven that governments are the worst at picking winners when it comes to the best technologies for a job (like Rudd and Conroy before him). Bowen’s renewables policy, one that young people really, really want (apparently), is quickly becoming an economic nightmare.

It turns out that the ‘cheapest form of energy’, is actually more expensive than everything else.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

And now for the bad news. Despite Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese making wild promises about cheap energy bills, we found out today that all of our bills are going up. If you’re unfortunate enough to be in New South Wales, it’s really going up. The self-inflicted energy crisis is ending up on your bill and there’s not even a hint of apology or culpability from Bowen.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Labor’s energy crisis ends up on your bill.

Socialism dressed up in the politics of empathy

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We're all just getting along, now, ain't we?

Labor’s ‘values-based capitalism’ and energy policy echo Klaus Schwab’s ‘stakeholder capitalism’ that asks big government and big business to implement Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks. ESG is on the nose and so is ‘nature positive’, but with the Uniparty’s other leader agreeing to whatever Labor says about environmental policy, we’ll get it, and we will love it.

Every new policy and political event push us closer to socialism. Like cancel culture, you cannot debate it because then you are toxic or unkind or some other wimpy label. When you get cancelled or sacked for disagreeing, it is all about ‘empathy’.

Terry Barnes had this to say in the Morning Double Shot newsletter:

Michael de Percy goes hard against the socialism that now penetrates every pore of our major parties’ policies and messaging. I quibble with his ‘socialism dressed up as empathy’ argument, however: in Australia, major party socialism is rampant and it’s naked, not dressed up as anything other than what it is. He could, however, have mentioned Alexander Dubcek’s ‘socialism with a human face’, so we could add that there’s no Australian political leader who comes within a bull’s roar of the courage shown by Czechoslovakia’s Dubcek in 1968.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Socialism dressed up in the politics of empathy.

Victoria’s basket-case a harbinger for Albo’s Australia

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Lots of free stuff in Victoria's budget by first female Treasurer

The Victorian government’s ‘Budget at a Glance’ website mentions the word ‘free’ 37 times in relation to the cost-of-living package.

Victorian teenagers will get year-round free public transport anywhere in the state. Not just to get to school, but to go anywhere and at any time. At a cost of $320 million, this will no doubt inculcate a sense of entitlement in our youth.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Oh… And Victoria has reminded everyone how utterly devoid of sanity their Treasury is by publishing their Budget. As Dight Canning writes, they are financially and morally bankrupt. There’s only really two people to blame, Treasurers Jaclyn Symes and Tim Pallas. Michael de Percy agrees, writing, ‘All of this ‘free stuff’ seems to come at quite the cost. Victoria’s net debt is projected to reach $194 billion, with interest payments at $7.6 billion in 2025-26, jumping to $10.6 billion in 2028-29.’

My commentary on the Victorian Budget in The Spectator Australia, Victoria’s basket-case a harbinger for Albo’s Australia.

I hate to say it, but the Nats need to split

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David Littleproud has decided to split the Nationals from the Coalition. My prophetic article below.

The wets in the Liberal Party have gone full Woke. They have destroyed the most successful political party in Australian history. If the Liberals had held true to Sir Robert’s vision for the Forgotten People, the Liberal Party would not have forgotten them like the United Australia Party did in 1940s.

The fractured conservative vote of the last election would not have occurred to the same extent if the Liberal Party had spoken to its base. I don’t care what self-professed psephologists say, there were so many of my conservative colleagues who wanted to punish the Liberal Party for abandoning them that, against all my hoping, the election outcome was a fait accompli.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

The Liberal Party seems to be having some sort of mid-life identity crisis, talking about going off to ‘rediscover’ itself in the wilderness of opposition. Under the leadership of Sussan Ley, the blue ribbon that held Australian conservatism together isn’t quite sure what it stands for, if it stands for anything, except it doesn’t like any of the policies put forward by its (former) Coalition partner. That would be the partner that performed better than it did at the federal election. It’s no wonder the Nationals are fed up and walked off in a huff. Sure, the Liberals will be free to snaffle up all the Shadow Cabinet seats and draft whatever Labor-lite, Tealish policies it likes, but it will also be free to make a real mess of itself as it puts the revered ‘values’ statement in the shredder.

My prophetic article in The Spectator Australia, I hate to say it, but the Nats need to split.

It’s time to kick up a stink

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Left wing clowns complain and disrupt all the time. Now it's our turn.

Conservatives should become activists for their cause

If there’s one thing the left are good at, it’s in kicking up a stink when they don’t get their way. Now it’s our turn.

It’s clear the Coalition have abandoned conservatives. They’ll be joining Labor in the energy vandalism that is driving up prices. Chris Bowen has emerged from under his rock and he’ll be moralising about all the grifters he’s enabling. The NSW Liberals will love it.

Conservatives need to get their activism credentials up and running. If they don’t like being activists, then they need to put their money where their mouths are.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy’s Flat White article, highlighting how bleak the world now is for Australians of a conservative disposition, also raises another reality that we on the right of centre must confront. The political axis has moved decidedly left, and the Left’s ideologues, activists and agitators are now the Establishment, and we the radical outsiders. How we retake the citadel needs to focus us not just for the next three years, but the next three decades. We are right, they are wrong – but they control most of the means of communication, education, and socialisation. Acknowledging this reality is not a call to surrender: it’s an exhortation to rise and fight, with both our heads and our hearts!

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, It’s time to kick up a stink.

The Great Liberal Split of 2025

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Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price were the Liberal Party's last hope.

Today will go down in history as the beginning of the end for the Liberals. Why would you bother voting for them when you can just vote Labor? At least Labor wins elections.

This has nothing to do with gender, and it is all about the dysfunctional NSW Liberals. Indeed, Angus Taylor might be in serious trouble if the last exclusive in the Daily Telegraph is anything to go by.

Conservatives are now starved for choice. There is a clear divide between One Nation and Gerard Rennick supporters. Calls for a conservative unity ticket are misguided – the Liberal Party was that very unity ticket that conservatives are now dreaming of.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

I don’t know about you, but I’m electioned out. So, today’s related comments are brief. Sussan Ley beat Angus Taylor for the Liberal leadership yesterday by not much. She is the first female Liberal federal leader: good for her. But her leadership debut was underwhelming, and her quarter-century as an MP doesn’t reveal what absolute convictions she holds. I give her till Christmas next year – at the latest – to shape up the Liberals and get some real centre-right policy out there to prove to anti-Labor voters there’s hope. Otherwise, Taylor and the ambitious likes of hyper-confident Tim Wilson will be breathing hard down her neck. Then again, the thing about having low expectations about someone is that can clear them fairly easily. I doubt she can do even that, but Michael de Percy is even more blunt about her election and what it means.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, The Great Liberal Split of 2025.

Reform Oz? One Nation or bust

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I think I am done with the Uniparty

The success of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is dominating conservative thinking in Australia. Some see Gerard Rennick as the leader of such a movement, but with his pending defeat by One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts in the Senate, Rennick has been unable to do what Pauline Hanson did after she was disendorsed by the Liberal Party in 1996.

If there is any chance of a Reform Oz party, it would be via One Nation, but it couldn’t do so with the moniker ‘Pauline Hanson’s One Nation’.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Reform Oz? One Nation or bust.

Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest

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Canavan was a missed opportunity for the Nationals.

The National Party had a chance to give conservatives a sense of dignity by electing Matt Canavan as their new leader. Instead, we will get more of the same. This will embolden the Liberal left (I can’t believe such a term even exists) against Angus Taylor and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. The worst outcome will be a Sussan Ley-Tim Wilson win tomorrow. I think that will spell the end of the Coalition as we know it.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Bunfight at the OK Tearooms. Yes, that was an episode of The Goodies. But it could just as well be the Liberal party room this morning, when leadership contenders Angus Taylor and Sussan Ley may as well shoot clotted cream and tomato sauce at each other, as neither have any real policy ideas. As stated yesterday, I have no confidence whatsoever in either of them to bind party wounds, start on developing costed and funded sensible centre-right policy nor, indeed, drag the Liberals back to the sensible centre-right zone where most voters tend to congregate if they have a viable choice. Michael de Percy shares my pessimism about Ley at least, especially after Matt Canavan went down to David Littleproud in yesterday’s leadership ballot for the Nationals. My expectation is Ley will just have the numbers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Wilson, having ruled out a leadership tilt because ‘it’s not my time’ (ie, ‘I don’t have the numbers’) pops up as Ley’s deputy, defeating Jacinta Price. The ultra-ambitious Wilson will hitch himself to a dud if he does that, but that’s his call.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

That dream was a dying gasp, nothing more, from a Coalition that has spent all of its time and money listening to people who want it to lose. Sometimes it’s tempting to believe that the Coalition doesn’t want to win. I’ve heard that repeated by our readers. That, like their Victorian state counterparts, they enjoy being curled up in the corner of Parliament like cats with no responsibility and endless free meals. I’m not so sure I believe that anymore. Rather, perhaps the situation is more serious, and the federal Coalition believe their ideas are good and that victory lies in chasing voters to the left. If they win they reach socialism first, they can form government. But who would that be a victory for?

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Littleproud paves the way for Ley-Wilson Wokefest. 

The Great Reset

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Matt Canavan at CPAC 2024.

All hell broke loose on Friday afternoon as the frustrated Liberal and National parties announced separate leadership challenges that will be settled early next week. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s defection appears to have been the catalyst for the leadership implosion.

With Dan Tehan ruling himself out of the leadership race, Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor will go head-to-head at a party meeting on Tuesday next week. Taylor announced his tilt at the leadership on Friday afternoon. Price is expected to run as Taylor’s deputy.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Great Reset.

Factions killed Liberal broad church

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The same factions that lost the 2022 election are back in strength. In my opinion, the Liberals are done.

Formalised factions are commonly associated with socialist political parties. Marx viewed religion as the opiate of the masses. No wonder whoever dreamt up formalising factions for the Liberal Party is responsible for killing the broad church.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

They absolutely need to get some fresh direction or these will be the last three years of their Coalition.

My election coverage in The Spectator Australia, Factions killed Liberal broad church.

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