Sussan Ley respects, reflects, and represents… others

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.

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "While Ms Ley may be likeable and competent, and undoubtedly an effective leader, she ‘respects, reflects, and represents’ everyone except those of us who once upon a time would have sweated blood for Menzies’ Liberal Party."https://t.co/olPo4n2fxS

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) June 25, 2025

Digital nanny deep state

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant appears to be both policy-maker and regulator.

A majority of politicians support the role of the eSafety Commissioner. It is couched in terms of protecting children but is dripping with unintended consequences that echo the excesses of government control during the pandemic. The pandemic is even used as an excuse for the importance of the social media ban, because apparently forcing kids to stay at home for months on end isn’t healthy and it drove them to social media.

Rather than encourage sports and healthy lifestyles, our government turns to a ban on social media.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Digital nanny deep state.

A majority of politicians support the role of the eSafety Commissioner. 🫤

It is couched in terms of protecting children but is dripping with unintended consequences that echo the excesses of government control during the pandemic.https://t.co/edbclfleGp

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) June 24, 2025

Albo disconnects from Trump’s defining moment

Albo exercised his right to disconnect during a generation-defining moment in geopolitics.

While Albo was ‘disconnected’, President Trump saved the world from the ‘Axis of Resistance’ and ensured world peace for at least the next three years. There will be no nuclear weapons for terrorists any time soon.

Like the first Gulf War was to Gen X, President Trump’s strike against Iran is a defining moment of a new era in global politics. Only Australia’s Gen Whatever wouldn’t know it if it punched them in the face. That’s because Australia’s state-owned media, like our Prime Minister, is disconnected from reality.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall wrote:

Michael de Percy has criticised the slowness with which our political class has approached the entire situation. Weekends do not apply to world-changing events. As he wrote, ‘Like the first Gulf War was to Gen X, President Trump’s strike against Iran is a defining moment of a new era in global politics.’ And defining moments demand attention. Why Penny Wong has decided to use her social media accounts as a travel advisory board is anyone’s guess.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo disconnects from Trump’s defining moment.