The Greens are engrossed in their own irrelevance

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The Greens are more interested in trans extremism than protecting the enivironment.

Plurality of thought and action in Korea is part of the political landscape. Last time I was here the protests were about labour union and pro-Palestine issues. Politics in Korea is as diverse as the natural environment.

In Australia, however, free speech is no longer a given in politics. Over the weekend, the Queensland Greens gave co-founder Drew Hutton the boot. Despite support from co-founder Bob Brown and former leader Christine Milne, Hutton’s appeal to the Queensland Greens was rejected, with 75 votes opposing and 23 votes supporting.

The expulsion resulted from Hutton’s Facebook posts back in 2022 that referred to Greens officials in Victoria and New South Wales as ‘authoritarian and antidemocratic’. This was in response to official Greens’ actions to remove members with transgender views the party didn’t like.

As Alexandra Marshall wrote in the Unfiltered newsletter:

The Greens have started to cancel themselves after co-founder Drew Hutton was kicked out after saying the environmental party had turned into an activist cult, or words to that effect. He’s not wrong. You’re more likely to hear the Greens campaigning for trans rights or Palestine than koalas. This is not a problem limited to Australian green groups. All over the West, true environmentalists are walking away from green parties in disgust. There is a gap opening for an environmentally-minded political party – but what will fill it?

My latest in The Specttor Australia, The Greens are engrossed in their own irrelevance.

Is Net Zero environmentally friendly?

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Dr Ken Henry addresses the National Press Club. ‘Of course we need a carbon tax.’

From the National Press Club: This week’s address by Dr Ken Henry, former Secretary of the Treasury, was not a love letter to the government, but a personal plea from a former senior bureaucrat turned environmental crusader. Henry’s address as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF), a registered charity and lobby group, called for reform of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC).

The call was largely based on Professor Graeme Samuel’s recent review of the EPBC Act that recommended the concept of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) be applied on the basis of region-by-region rather than project-by-project.

Alexandra Marshall wrote in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Today we posted our first National Press Club interview. Michael de Percy has been braving Canberra to keep an eye on the little love-in going on between the press and our politicians. This week, Ken Henry came to plead with the government to bring back carbon taxes, strengthen environmental law, and fast-track wind and solar projects. We’ve got the highlights (aka the scariest bits) covered so you can see what’s up next on the nightmare Canberra agenda. It’s on Facebook and Twitter.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Is Net Zero environmentally friendly?

Housing propaganda from your state-owned media

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Jacinta Allan says she is 'helping deliver more options for renters'.

The housing debate has devolved into government overreach and ideological posturing, with policies mismatched to Australian values. Prioritising urban density and renewable energy projects that consume vast tracts of land is a green-left idea that dominates Labor-Greens governments in Australia.

Detached family homes have defined the nation’s way of life since the post-war boom.

When you have room to breathe, you have room to think, but when you are crammed into future slums, you vote Labor-Greens.

This mismatch in values and policy is evident and insidiously promoted in the state-owned media’s coverage.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Okay enough of the ABC’s petty propaganda! For a billion dollars a year, you’d imagine the quality of our so-called ‘impartial’ public broadcaster would be better… Instead, we’ve got the ABC pitting ‘YIMBYs’ and NIMBYs’ against each other in the housing debate.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Housing propaganda from your state-owned media.

The Smart Energy Council’s love letter to Chris Bowen

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I want to... give a big shout out to... Chris Bowen – a highly effective minister.

From the National Press Club: Picture this. A room full of journalists, some scribbling notes, others stifling yawns, as John Grimes, CEO of the Smart Energy Council, takes the stage. His speech is less a policy address and more a love letter to the Labor Party, complete with effusive praise for the ‘highly effective’ Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.

The air is thick with partisanship, and one can almost hear the faint strains of a Labor campaign jingle in the background. It’s a performance so one-sided that even the most ardent Labor supporters are blushing.

That’s what happened today.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Smart Energy Council’s love letter to Chris Bowen.

The Battle of Britain: A boy’s dreams and a family’s legacy

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My great-grandfather called me ‘Baron’, after the Red Baron, indulging my dreams of becoming a fighter pilot.

July 10 marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. While it was far away from Australia, as a lad growing up in 1980s Far North Queensland, my boyhood imagination soared over the skies of 1940 Britain.

The Battle of Britain wasn’t just history to me. It was an obsession. Fuelled by Paul Brickhill’s Reach for the Sky and my hero-worship of Sir Douglas Bader, Airfix models of Hurricanes, Spitfires, Me-109s, and Me-110s filled my bedroom, each plastic kit a tribute to the RAF’s defiance.

Now in my 50s, that fascination endures, reinvigorated by a recently discovered family connection to another wartime theatre and a career that brought me tantalisingly close to my boyhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Today marks 85 years since the Battle of Britain. Michael de Percy writes, ‘The Battle of Britain, fought from July to October 1940, was far from dull. Hitler’s Luftwaffe aimed to crush the RAF, clearing the skies for an invasion of Britain. Outnumbered, the RAF’s pilots in Hurricanes and Spitfires, often barely out of their teens, fought back with ferocity. Churchill’s ‘The Few’ speech captured their sacrifice: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”’

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Battle of Britain: A boy’s dreams and a family’s legacy.

Hey Albo, cop this mate. With love, The Don

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Albo picked a fight with The Don. It's not a smart move.

As Albo continues to ignore the only nation and ally that has spilt blood in the defence of our continent, the stakes have just been raised.

President Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Australian-manufactured pharmaceuticals to 200 per cent and copper to 20 per cent. These two items were previously in a tariff-free zone. Not anymore.

While ‘Handsome Boy’ Albo is busy schmoozing up to his ideological mate in Beijing, ‘The Don’ has sent a clear message that ca no longer be ignored.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Hey Albo, cop this mate. With love, The Don.

Disloyal far-left breakaways are coming for Labor

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A new far-left party could disrupt Labor’s hold on key seats

Jeremy Corbyn’s new far-left party poses a significant threat to Starmer’s Labour government by risking a split in the left vote, a danger illustrated by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1980s.

In Australia, Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, while currently dominant, faces similar vulnerabilities as left-wing criticism grows. Although Australia’s preferential system offers some protection, a new far-left party could disrupt Labor’s hold on key seats and influence policy through the Senate.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

There is a reason the ‘right’ is rising (and the left is splintering off into new movements). It is a desperate attempt to salvage a desperate situation.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Disloyal far-left breakaways are coming for Labor.

Albo ‘turned a corner’ and got us stuck on a roundabout

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If you keep turning corner, you go round in circles.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s incessant claim that Australia has ‘turned a corner’ is wearing thin. Like a motorist stuck on a roundabout, his government seems to be going in circles, with no clear exit in sight.

In key policy areas, Albo’s turned the corner and run into a group of Pulp Fiction characters. The Gimp has been woken up from his election campaign slumber and has doubled down on Zed (aka green hydrogen).

But Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo ‘turned a corner’ and got us stuck on a roundabout.

Two Against One with Rowan Dean and Michael Danby

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The World According to Rowan Dean, Sky News Australia, 4 July 2025.

Discussing a potential Aussie Farage and a Reform Australia Party and how Albo's first meeting with President Trump will go on "The World According to Rowan Dean" tonight.

Bowen’s hydrogen mirage has vanished

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Green hydrogen. Going, going, gone!

The hydrogen economy, once heralded as the future of clean energy, is unravelling as I write. A few years back, I argued that hydrogen’s promise was overshadowed by practical and economic barriers. Despite the buzz, its high production costs, inefficient storage, and logistical challenges make it a poor fit for widespread adoption.

Everybody knew this except renewables zealots, especially Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.

And just like that, the mirage has vanished.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Green Hydrogen was meant to be the ‘great hope’ for the decarbonisation utopia – and yet it always sounded convoluted, expensive, and dodgy. If it had not been for the involvement of public money, it is difficult to imagine anyone dabbling in this folly. The one question everyone is asking, as another ten-odd billion dollars vanishes, is why aren’t there any repercussions for the ministers involved in the failure? How can all this money just – die?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Bowen’s hydrogen mirage has vanished.

It’s time for a Reform Australia Party

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While Reform UK has shown the way, the Liberal Party has gone astray.

Populism has been defined as an approach to politics that pits a champion of the commonfolk against elites. Right-wing populism has often been regarded as anti-expert, anti-intellectual, and anti-globalisation. A major challenge for populist leaders has been a lack of vision. In the short term, populist leaders can be against things, but this it makes it harder to be for something in the long run.

While Reform UK has shown the way, the Liberal Party has gone astray. It’s time for a Reform Australia Party.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Michael de Percy asks when and if Australia can muster the forces of conservative politics and create its own ‘Reform’ movement. Elon Musk spent the day demanding a ‘third party’ for American politics after renewing his scuffle with US President Donald Trump. Musk isn’t happy about the savage cuts to renewable energy and EVs, but Michael makes a larger point about the need for a genuine opposition party – not for rich businessmen or politicians – but for the people.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy makes the case for a Nigel Farage spin-off party in Australia. In terms of Reform UK and its agenda, that is a consummation devoutly to be wished, whether in a – pardon the pun – reformed Liberal party or not. But Farage, for all his media stunting and blokey braggadocio, has the brains and political nous to be a prime minister: there is nobody on the Australian centre-right, whether in the Liberals or populist minor parties, who has the intelligence, common touch, charisma, appealing beliefs and hunger to win that Farage has. Until an Australian Farage eventually emerges (if he does at all), de Percy will have to keep dreaming, alas.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, It’s time for a Reform Australia Party.

Climate change strikes Canberra

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Cold winters in the Canberra region? Quelle surprise!

Like a GBU-57 bunker buster, global warming turned into global boiling and then suddenly turned into weather so cold it burst pipes in Canberra schools. Using the expression that has now been put into text by our esteemed Editor-in-Chief, it must be CLIIIIIIMATE CHAAAAAAAANGE!!!

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Are you cold? Apparently burst icy pipes in Canberra are a sign of the global warming apocalypse. Don’t question it.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Lastly, Michael de Percy has an annoyance du jour. Canberra and its surrounding regions lately have been experiencing their severest cold weather for a while (but has it reached the regular minus 9s of my early 80s uni days at the ANU?), But no, the official explanation in the Stalinist Republic of the Molonglo is man-made climate change, and that rightly annoys Dr de Percy.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Climate change strikes Canberra.

Tony Burke’s detention inaction

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Tony Burke surrounded by supporters on the night of the 2025 Federal Election.

The Albanese government’s refusal to detain dangerous criminals, citing legal barriers, is a shameful abdication of responsibility.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s claim that the NZYQ cohort – former immigration detainees with alleged serious criminal convictions – cannot be held under preventative detention laws is not just weak, it is my view that it also endangers Australian citizens.

In a new low, this decision prioritises legal technicalities over public safety, exposing a government unfit to protect its citizens.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Speaking of trouble, Michael de Percy took aim at Tony Burke for his apparent weakness regarding foreign criminals released into the Australian community. 

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Tony Burke’s detention inaction.

Trump's US Army parade, strikes on Iran, and Labor's weak response

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Back on Spectator TV Australia with Alexandra Marshall, 27 June 2025.

 Discussing President Trump's 250th Anniversary Parade for the US Army, the US strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, and the weak response from PM Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Sussan Ley respects, reflects, and represents… others

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The address began with an acknowledgement of country, and it all went downhill from there.

From the National Press Club: It’s difficult not to like Sussan Ley. I discovered she was in front of me as we entered the Press Club and I felt her presence before I noticed who she was. I remember attending a Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Energy event at Parliament House when the air was sucked out of the room and I turned around to see Peter Dutton. Ms Ley has similar impact, and she certainly lit up the room. She clearly has the ticker to be the leader of a federal parliamentary party. She spoke about her personal journey as a woman in Australian politics, and it’s hard not to want her to do well. But the Australians Ms Ley ‘respects, reflects, and represents’ (as she says) are not my people.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Yesterday, Liberal leader Sussan Ley addressed the National Press Club. Simply by doing so, she declared she is the anti-Peter Dutton, given Dutton never appeared there as leader. But in truth, Ley was not appearing as Liberal leader: she was appearing as leader of the Liberals’ moderate faction, the intellectual milksops and namby-pambies who want to regain political credibility by catering to the cross-dressers, people who think Edmund Burke is a berk and Mill is a millstone, and people who idolise Greta Thunberg as a great moral thinker of our time. From the moment Ley started her speech with the chattering classes’ required obeisance to our spiritual overlords, any sensible conservative – and less sensible ones too – now know Ley has contempt for then, what they believe in, and timeless ideals they cherish which matter in a civil society. Yet, dear readers, she is still the best the pathetic federal Liberals can offer. It’s awful. Michael de Percy was there, and filed his report. His last paragraph says it all.

My latest article in The Spectator Australia, Sussan Ley respects, reflects, and represents… others.

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