A problem with insightful sayings is that they soon become cliches due to overuse. I was reminded of this last Saturday when the front page of the AFR Weekend ran a story titled “Is This Our Political Future?”. At least there was a question, I suppose. The reference was to a Redbridge Group/Accent Research MRP [...]
It's a time of advancing polls and retreating sneers. Writing in the Australian Financial Review on June 2, election analyst John Black, a former Labor senator for Queensland, had this to say: "On Monday's Redbridge Poll, taken after a federal budget which has slugged small business and investors, the Coalition parties would lose every House [...]
Does increasing support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party, evident in the opinion polls, present long-term problems for the ABC? Obviously, it's too early to say. But there is reason for uncritical supporters of the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster to be concerned. In the past, some opponents of the lack of viewpoint diversity on the ABC [...]
In World Cup football terminology, I would score the recent political contest at the National Press Club in Canberra as Leftist Sneerers 0, Pauline Hanson 3. Ever since Hanson arrived on the political scene in the lead-up to the 1996 federal election, I have always taken the One Nation leader seriously. Sure, in her early [...]
The words monocultural or monoculture are probably not so rare as to appear in an Oxford or Macquarie dictionary of new words. But they will no longer appear in a dictionary of rare words. Not since senator Pauline Hanson addressed the National Press Club in Canberra on June 17. Shortly into her speech, the One [...]
It was May 1, the day after Commissioner Virginia Bell AC SC handed the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Interim Report to the Governor-General, that Senator Malcolm Roberts made the news. The One Nation senator for Queensland was interviewed by online comedian Lisa Jane Spencer for her social media channels. A young (gentile) [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, SATURDAY 16 MAY 2026 It says something about the Liberal Party of Australia that 40 per cent of former leaders in the last 50 years have either quit or become publicly disillusioned with the organisation which made it possible for them to play a prominent role in [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, SATURDAY 23 MAY 2026 As with most clever original sayings, “a week is a long time in politics” has become a cliché. It was first used by British Conservative Party politician Rab Butler during the 1964 British general election. A cliché these days, but a true one [...]
There are about three years left of President Donald J. Trump’s time in the White House. But it is unlikely that he will repeat such an egregious error as the comment he made to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo at Davos in Switzerland late last week. Asked about the NATO alliance, Trump said the United States has [...]
It’s a paradox, for sure. As support for the celebration of Australia Day on January 26 increases, so does the intensity of “invasion day” demonstrations. The recently published Roy Morgan Poll asked this question: “On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Sydney Cove. In your opinion, should January 26 be known as Australia [...]