The real story about Australia’s national cabinet is that no such constitutional entity exists. Australia does not have a national cabinet today and it never has had a national government in the past. In view of this, the Morrison government has done remarkably well in giving the impression of greater unity in the nation than [...]
John Hyde, the one-time Liberal Party member for Moore in Perth, once told a story about the decline of morale among his colleagues during Malcolm Fraser’s third term as prime minister. As the 1983 election drew near, Fraser asked his colleagues for new ideas that the Coalition could take to the electorate. As Hyde reported, [...]
It’s just over three weeks since ABC television Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour proudly tweeted that “the brilliant duo” — presenter Sarah Ferguson and producer Tony Jones — had been dispatched to the US “to cover Trump’s American carnage”. The announcement came as some surprise. For starters, on my count the ABC has three [...]
It was a week in which Australian national politics moved quickly. The lead story in this paper last Saturday was Greg Brown’s exclusive that Scott Morrison has indicated that Australia will work towards net-zero emissions but is in no rush to sign up to a target to achieve this by 2050. For a while, it [...]
On ABC TV’s One Plus One on Monday, presenter Stan Grant introduced his guest Kodie Bedford with the following words: “She was a journalist, she’s a writer, she’s a storyteller – just don’t call her an Aboriginal storyteller.” Bedford’s first play Cursed! has just completed a season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney. Born in [...]
It was the incorrect answer to a politically correct question. On Wednesday, ABC Radio National Breakfast presenter Sally Sara interviewed New York-based Anti-Defamation League vice-president Greg Ehrie. The ADL is a leading anti-hate organisation, profoundly opposed to white supremacist groups and other extreme domestic ideologies. Discussion turned on the decision of Twitter and Facebook to [...]
Let’s hear it for the aunts and uncles of recent memory. If Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has her way they are destined to be termed a “parent’s sibling”. On New Year’s Day, Pelosi introduced a resolution into the house setting out rules for the 117th congress. Section two includes [...]
It’s always foolish to make new year predictions — and much the same can be said of new year resolutions. The former invariably turn into false prophecy, the latter frequently fail in the implementation stage. What can be said of 2021 fairly safely is that Australia faces its most uncertain future for seven decades. In [...]
Whatever happened to 2020, the Year of the Rat? Which, in this time of identity consciousness, is perhaps better termed the Year of the Rat, the Mouse and other Small Rodents. Alas, what was destined to be a time of plenty fuelled by optimism became an occasion of drought, fire, flood and pandemic-initiated (toilet roll) [...]
On Wednesday night ABC Online ran this heading: “Judge in George Pell appeal case to preside over inquiry into Afghanistan war crime allegations”. The reference was to the decision by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to appoint judge Mark Weinberg QC as special inspector of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan inquiry. Now, Weinberg is one [...]
