Australians all let us regret, for we were weak and blind

Senator James Paterson delivering the Tom Hughes Oration on Tuesday 14 October 2025.

James Paterson’s speech is a good start, but the Liberals need contemporary solutions, not old habits.

With Labor abusing power through slashed opposition resources and opaque governance, the Liberals have a moral duty to oppose effectively, lest Australia succumb to a ‘Victorianisation’ of entrenched left-wing dominance.

The culture wars, consisting of battles over identity politics, rewriting history, and developing idiotic societal norms, are no sideshow. The culture wars are central to the fray.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Michael de Percy weighs in on James Paterson’s rousing speech. ‘Paterson’s speech urged the Liberal Party to end its ‘apology tour’, resolve internal divisions, and recommit to its core values.’ But then Michael cautions, ‘We can pretend all we like that we can use ideas from the 1990s to fix 2020s problems, but such naïve thinking defies all sense of history.’

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Senior Liberal James Paterson – the federal parliamentary Liberals’ best and most consistent performer by a long chalk (not that I’ll get a Christmas card from him for saying so) has laid out a decent prescription for the beleaguered party to get its proverbial together. Michael de Percy, however, rejects the Paterson plan outright. He views Paterson’s prescription as anachronistic and unfit for purpose for the uncertain times of the 2020s, as the Liberal party itself remains anchored the mindsets of the 1980s to early 2000s. John Howard’s broad church is dead, says de Percy, whereas Paterson still assumes it is alive. I’d like to have a lively discussion on this with Michael over a few beers, for I think Paterson generally is right. What do you think?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Australians all let us regret, for we were weak and blind.

James Paterson’s speech urged the Liberal Party to end its ‘apology tour’, resolve internal divisions, and recommit to its core values.

I am not convinced that the fusion of classical liberalism and conservatism is what is needed today.

The broad church is dead and the right… pic.twitter.com/JLGnop49d9

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 15, 2025

Trump triumphs as hostages freed while peace-haters howl

President Donald J. Trump, the deal-maker extraordinaire.

In a stunning diplomatic coup, the remaining living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have finally been released, marking an important step towards de-escalating the Middle East’s interminable conflict. And who do we have to thank? None other than President Donald J. Trump, the deal-maker extraordinaire. 

Instead of welcoming the hostages’ freedom and the nascent peace deal, they’re decrying it as a ‘betrayal’ of the Palestinian cause. Ludicrous doesn’t begin to cover it.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy knows who the biggest hero of the day is: Donald Trump. Like or loathe him, only someone with the titanic self-belief and aggressive personality of Trump could drive both Hamas and Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu into a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could actually hold. Not that the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists will ever accept their bête noir has delivered what they have always claimed to have wanted since the atrocities of 7 October. Well, stuff ‘em.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Trump triumphs as hostages freed while peace-haters howl.

Amid the celebrations in Tel Aviv and sighs of relief worldwide, a bizarre chorus of dissent echoes from Australia.

Australia’s pro-Palestinian activists, the perennial marchers with their keffiyehs and chants of, ‘From the river to the sea!’ are enraged.

Article |… pic.twitter.com/KsVfBJElrT

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 13, 2025

Time for a rethink of car manufacturing in Australia

Andrew Hastie is right, we should build things again.

Amid the post-Cold War euphoria from the 1990s onward, globalisation’s architects like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and even John Howard, preached the ‘commercial peace’ thesis. Open borders, supply chains snaking across continents, and WTO rules would bind nations in mutual prosperity, rendering war obsolete. Australia, ever the eager disciple, signed free trade pacts from Singapore to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), slashing tariffs and welcoming Chinese investment in our ports and mines.

It worked, economically. GDP boomed, jobs flowed, and our ‘mixed economy’, or the pragmatic blend of coordinated and competitive capitalism that Stilwell had so deftly mapped out, thrived.

But geopolitics has a rude habit of upending theory.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Time for a rethink of car manufacturing in Australia.

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "Andrew Hastie’s recent call to resurrect Australia’s car-making industry is far from radical."

Hastie, one of the few Liberals demonstrating any sense of policy and whose China warnings deserve applause, argues for reviving Holden and Ford assembly lines to… pic.twitter.com/THyT040O0j

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 11, 2025

Are we really that gullible?

The media is spinning narratives. When threats are made, it matters to the press who makes them.

If Britain is the harbinger, Australia is the echo chamber, amplifying elite delusions while the rest of us foot the bill.

But if rising cost of electricity is a slow-burn outrage, the media’s selective outrage on security threats is a full-throated farce. Consider the horror that unfolded in Manchester on October 2, during Yom Kippur no less.

Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old who was reported to be on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape, allegedly rammed his car into worshippers outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, then stabbed a security guard to death.

Two Jewish lives snuffed out in minutes of terror.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Are we really that gullible?

When threats are made, it matters to the press who makes them.

Some stories are elevated, even inflated. Others are buried or nudged quietly out of sight with inconvenient details omitted.

It is the difference between front-page outrage and an anonymised footnote.

Article |… pic.twitter.com/tQmNuWQPRB

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 6, 2025

This isn’t progress, it’s punishment

Modern communism is destroying True Blue Australia.

In the shadow of our sunburnt country, an insidious force is at work, dismantling the very fabric of what it means to be Australian.

It’s not the bushfires or the floods that threaten our identity. Those are the battles we’ve always fought and won.

No, the real enemy is the creeping tide of modern communism, disguised as progressive virtue and unchecked mass immigration, that seeks to erase our unique cultural heritage in favour of a homogenised, globalist grey.

From the demolition of our Federation houses to the silencing of political opinion, and now the swamping of our suburbs with endless arrivals, this ideology doesn’t just hate Australia, it loathes the rugged individualism that built it.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, This isn’t progress, it’s punishment.

HERE COMES COMMUNISM

From the demolition of our Federation houses to the silencing of political opinion, and the swamping of our suburbs with endless arrivals, this ideology doesn’t just hate Australia, it loathes the rugged individualism that built it.https://t.co/J2HXGFOyv7

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 4, 2025

Here comes Andrew Hastie!

Is this the calm before a leadership storm? Hastie calls it quits on Sussan Ley's Shadow Cabinet.

Andrew Hastie has made a move that will go down in the history books of the Liberal Party of Australia.

In the cutthroat arena of Australian politics, where ambition often masquerades as principle, Andrew Hastie’s resignation from the Coalition Shadow Cabinet stands out as a rare act of authenticity. In a candid email to his constituents this week, the MP from Western Australia detailed his early-morning call to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, stepping down from the Shadow Home Affairs role because he could no longer stomach the gag order on immigration – a portfolio cornerstone he was barred from shaping or even discussing.

Hastie’s dilemma is painfully clear. Ley’s letter demanded Shadow Cabinet solidarity, binding him to party lines without a seat at the policy table.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Here I was, about to sign off for Friday evening, when Andrew Hastie came out with the mother of all jump scares. He has quit Shadow Cabinet – thrown shade at Sussan Ley’s migration position – and joined the serious conservative talented amassing on the backbench. The Moderates will spend the weekend freaking out about the imminent threat of a leadership challenge.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

On Friday evening, Andrew Hastie announced his resignation from Sussan Ley’s motley frontbench, creating excitement amongst conservatives who knows the Liberal party has badly lost its way, and is heading to irrelevance unless it changes. Hastie quit over his being shut out of immigration policy despite it being part of his Home Affairs portfolio, but he’s also made it clear he wants to speak out on net zero and other issues, and is unafraid to rock the Liberal boat to effect a changed direction. Michael de Percy and Alexandra Marshall in today’s selection are delighted with Hastie’s drawing lines in Ley’s Labor-lite sand, as does Minny Jackson.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Here comes Andrew Hastie!

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "Andrew Hastie has made a move that will go down in the history books of the Liberal Party of Australia."https://t.co/tYvOQsc9OZ

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 3, 2025

An open letter to President Trump

America once saved Australia. I am asking you to please rescue Australia once more.

Dear President Trump,

I write to you as an Australian citizen deeply concerned about the dangerous direction of our government under our leftist Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Labor’s decision to formally recognise Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly is not only a betrayal of our ally, Israel, but a reckless capitulation that emboldens terrorists like Hamas.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Trump is playing with Albanese’s fragile mind, and he knows it: not on the list one day, booked in for an October Oval Office dressing down – er, visit – the next. What can they talk about? In the form of an open letter to the President, Michael de Percy has a few suggestions, while warning him about our Janus of a PM.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, An open letter to President Trump.

Michael de Percy has asked Donald Trump to save Australia from Albanese's government.

That might be tricky, because Albanese doesn't appear to have an invitation ... again.https://t.co/j3vpvlTSzO

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) September 23, 2025

CPAC Australia 2025: A conservative awakening

Eliza and I with Senator Hanson in front of the One Nation ‘Please Explain’ pinball machine

In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah, CPAC Australia was held in Brisbane over the weekend of 20-21 September.

From standing ovations to fiery speeches, it was a gathering that reaffirmed the conservative movement’s pulse in Australia. But amid the stellar lineup of speakers, one figure stood out as the undeniable highlight: Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Her presence not only electrified the room but also signalled her potential as a future Prime Minister – a bold, unifying force for a nation weary of Woke policies and economic folly.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

CPAC went off without a hitch over the weekend, with the stand-out crowd winners being Jacinta Price and Pauline Hanson – the latter of which announced the beloved Please Explain! cartoon series will be released as a feature length movie on Australia Day.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, CPAC Australia 2025: A conservative awakening.

Labor ruins 125-year-old Anzac tradition

This isn’t just a budget trim, it exposes Labor for having no interest in defending the nation’s soul.

Clad in their distinctive uniforms, these Salvation Army officers, known colloquially as Sally Men, provided hot brews – tea, coffee, biscuits, and often a listening ear to soldiers far from home. It was during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 that their role truly embedded itself in the Anzac legend. Amid the mud, blood, and ceaseless artillery, the Sally Man was a beacon of humanity, reminding our troops that someone back home cared.

This tradition, stretching back to the Boer War era around 1900, has endured through two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and countless peacekeeping missions. It’s not hyperbole to say it’s woven into the fabric of Australian identity, much like the slouch hat or the rising sun badge.

Fast forward to 2025, and the Albanese government’s latest federal budget has quietly axed funding for the Salvation Army’s military support programs, including the frontline Sally Man initiatives. Buried in the fine print of defence allocations, this estimated $1.5 million annual cut will force the Salvos to scale back their presence in barracks, on exercises, and during deployments.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Labor ruins 125-year-old Anzac tradition.

A Conservative Manifesto to rescue Australia from Albo

Now’s the time for conservative Australians to shake a leg.

The once-formidable Liberal Party, now a defunct shell of its former self, is ideologically adrift and electorally diminished, and appears content to nod along with Labor’s agenda, offering little more than token resistance.

Beneath the rhetoric of unity and fairness lies a stark reality. Our nation’s conservatives are fractured, leaderless, and in desperate need of a unifying force.

It is time to rally around a bold conservative manifesto, one that repurposes the remnants of the Liberal Party as a launchpad to challenge this creeping authoritarianism and restore Australia’s economic vitality.

Alexander Marshall wrote in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Maybe the Liberal Party should take Michael de Percy’s advice and embark on a Conservative Manifesto to re-establish the beliefs and principles which will lead the party forward.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, A Conservative Manifesto to rescue Australia from Albo.

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "It is time to rally around a bold conservative manifesto, one that repurposes the remnants of the Liberal Party as a launchpad to challenge this creeping authoritarianism and restore Australia’s economic vitality."https://t.co/NqxrhmCluJ

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) September 19, 2025

Remembering Robert Redford, the man who lit up my youth

Redford as The Great Waldo Pepper, a daredevil aviator chasing glory in the skies after the Great War.

This week, Robert Redford, that golden-haired icon of American cinema, quietly slipped away at age 89, the same age my grandfather passed a few years ago.

Redford passed peacefully at his Sundance retreat in the Utah mountains. The man who embodied the rugged individualism of the West, played the heist, and soared through the skies on screen, now rests among the peaks he so fiercely protected. It’s a fitting end for a life that was anything but ordinary, a life that provided the soundtrack and scenery to my coming of age.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

The golden era of Hollywood has lost one of its most dearly loved stars. Robert Redford slipped away at 89. As Michael de Percy writes, ‘Redford passed peacefully at his Sundance retreat in the Utah mountains. The man who embodied the rugged individualism of the West, played the heist, and soared through the skies on screen, now rests among the peaks he so fiercely protected. It’s a fitting end for a life that was anything but ordinary, a life that provided the soundtrack and scenery to my coming of age.’

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy reveals a romantic streak in his otherwise ruthless political persona – although Redford’s politics and Michael’s would be polar opposites. As an actor and director, Redford made great films although, as Christopher Tookey points out in his appreciation, he didn’t fancy himself a great actor. Too many well-known people of the 60s and 70s are popping their clogs this year, but let’s make one thing clear as many of us mourn our lost youth through them: they died, not passed, or passed away. Why is it, in an age where social media brutalises the public discourse, everyone now says dead people ‘pass away’, not ‘die’?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Remembering Robert Redford, the man who lit up my youth.

Charlie Kirk's Assassination #NoMore Double Standards

It's time to start the #NoMore movement. No more double standards. No more two-tier policing.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk in the United States this week has sent shock waves around the world. Why did a young man ruin his life by taking the life of another? 

One of the things that I think we need to seriously look at now is our education system and how our education system, which has moved further and further to the left, is now arguing progressive points of view. 

We heard Black Lives Matter and the Me Too movement and we saw the extremes that these went to. 

Rather than riots in the United States, what we've seen as a result of Charlie Kirk's assassination have been prayer vigils. 

So for the conservative movement, a tragedy, but at the same time, we really need to start looking at what causes university students to behave this way. And I blame our education system. I think our education system has made it okay, much like the two-tier policing we've witnessed in the United Kingdom, and we're starting to see that in Australia as well. 

Two-tier policing, where leftist progressive causes are okay and conservative causes are not, represents the double standard that we're now starting to see in social and political commentary. It was okay for some to make light or even make fun of or rejoice and celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 

We saw this in particular with the incoming president of the Oxford Union in the United Kingdom. Repeatedly we hear that freedom of speech is sacrosanct. However, this only applies to the left. Anything that's said by the right is determined to be hate speech. 

Now there are extremes and I'm not arguing for extremes on either side but we need to have a much more centrist approach to this and this has been part of the great conversation and the great contest of ideas that is a hallmark of liberal democracy. 

The problem with moving too far to the left is that we're leaving behind liberal democracy and we're getting ever closer to socialism. 

Two-tier policing is a result of the double standard that is being applied. And we see this in particular with the assassination of Charlie Kirk. 

In the United Kingdom, you can lose your position for misgendering somebody, but for laughing about the assassination of somebody else. These are people in positions of responsibility. If this had happened in the private sector, there would have been outcry. 

However, when it happens in the education system, it's okay because the system looks after itself. 

Our education system has been overtaken by progressive ideas, but not just progressive ideas, but extreme leftist ideas. And this needs to change. 

It's time to start the #NoMore movement. No more assassinations. No more double standards. No more two-tier policing. No more putting up with criminal activity. It's time that our country got back on track.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk points to the radicalisation of our education system. I'm calling for #NoMore double standards. pic.twitter.com/qFkBM6RJFc

— Dr Michael de Percy (@FlaneurPolitiq) September 14, 2025

Gallipoli Scholarship gives Anzac kids a fighting chance

The audience was brought to tears on numerous occasions. Not through laughter, but pride and humility.

In an era where military service is seen by some as anti-peace and anti-humane, I was struck by the positive nature of the Gallipoli Club and the recipients of the Gallipoli Scholarship Foundation. To hear from two recipients of the scholarship, both direct descendants of working-class Anzacs, was a poignant reminder not to discount Australian youth when it comes to matters of national pride. We often assume our youth do not have the same patriotic fervour but having taught more than 20,000 young Australians over the years, and after listening to the Gallipoli Scholars, you will be pleased to know that patriotism is not dead but rather hiding in a closet.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Gallipoli Scholarship gives Anzac kids a fighting chance.

This emotional element of youthful sacrifice underscores Australia’s military history. It is often disregarded by contemporary political narratives.

It made me wonder if our youth would behave with such valour if in a similar situation today.https://t.co/p2vPdmcWKv

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) September 12, 2025

It’s time to end union stranglehold on industry super funds

Paul Schroder at the National Press Club: Super funds are not a government 'piggy bank'.

Government interference in investment decisions would be a ‘disaster’ for members, he argued, and here Schroder hits the nail on the head. Super funds must remain independent, focused on delivering returns to everyday Australians rather than bending to Canberra’s whims. His vision of super as an ‘engine room’ for national prosperity – investing in housing, energy transitions, and infrastructure on a risk-adjusted basis – is at least workable, provided it’s not dictated from above.

Yet, for all his talk of modernisation and adapting to ‘changes in society’, Schroder’s address curiously sidestepped the most glaring anachronism in the room: AustralianSuper’s own governance structure.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, It’s time to end union stranglehold on industry super funds.

Super isn’t a piggybank for politicians. But nor should it be a slush fund for union agendas. If we’re to reimagine prosperity, as he urges, let’s start by modernising the boards that control $4.3 trillion of Australian’s hopes and dreams for the future.https://t.co/xL4fJLBsXz

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) September 5, 2025

Malcolm Roberts calls for an inquiry into immigration policy

One Nation are the only party questioning the impact of immigration on our economy during the crisis. 

Senator Roberts has called for a straightforward parliamentary inquiry into the impacts of mass immigration on housing prices, rentals, wages, infrastructure (such as schools, roads, and hospitals), and social cohesion.

He has invited submissions from all sides, stating that if data shows immigration as a strength, Australians should see it.

Otherwise, our immigration policy needs re-evaluation.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Malcolm Roberts calls for an inquiry into immigration policy.

One Nation is the cat 🐱 set loose among the pigeons 🪶 with unhinged outrage following Roberts' sensible call for an inquiry into mass migration.

"When a political party cops more than its fair share of mud-slinging, they’re probably on the money."https://t.co/9KEufKnlh1

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) September 4, 2025