One of the most overused words in modern parlance is "excited". So it came as no surprise when ABC news director Justin Stevens said he was "excited about being able to produce additional high-impact, premium news documentary programs to complement the ABC's strong factual slate". There is no doubt, as ABC chair Kim Williams has [...]
University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott appeared before Senate estimates on September 20 last year to discuss the Commission of Inquiry into Anti-Semitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024. He was asked by Liberal Party senator Sarah Henderson if he had failed Jewish students on his campus. Scott replied: "Yes, I have failed them and the university has [...]
Around the time that he was elected the 43rd US president, George W. Bush was reported to have said about his many critics: "They misunderestimated me." The quote is cited in Jacob Weisberg's George W. Bushisms and has never been denied. Bush was known for his tangled speech. But in this instance he was correct. [...]
Until the Sussan Ley-led Liberal Party and the David Littleproud-led Nationals attempted a kiss-and-makeup pause, which took place around lunchtime on Thursday, both parties were heading for a lose-lose outcome. The fact is the previous leaders of both entities understood more than a century ago that the political conservatives in metropolitan areas had to collaborate [...]
This column is fond of the saying that it's unwise to make political predictions, especially about the future. Writing in The Saturday Paper on May 3, the morning of the election, well-regarded historian and former Labor Party minister Barry Jones commented: "The likeliest result on May 3 will be a small majority for Labor but [...]
Listening to the ABC's Radio National Late Night Live on Monday was very much a deja vu experience in which everyone essentially agreed with everyone else in a left-of-centre way. But, also, it was an occasion in which the death of the Liberal Party of Australia was again predicted. David Marr was the presenter and [...]
Fifty years ago, unbeknown to himself, Gough Whitlam was in the final year of his prime ministership. He had led Labor to electoral victory on December 2, 1972, after the Coalition had been in office since December 1949. But Whitlam was dismissed by governor-general Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975, when Labor could not [...]
Last Wednesday, the front page of The Daily Telegraph carried the heading "Legend Lost on Gen Z" with the subheading declaring "only 23 per cent of young feel strongly about Anzac Day". Turn to page 4 and the news was even more depressing. David Mills wrote that only one in six members of Gen Z [...]
For Christians and those who are sympathetic to the Christian faith, Good Friday represents the death of Jesus Christ and Easter Sunday his resurrection from the dead. To an increasing number of sneering secularists in the West, it is an occasion for protest and resentment. Already Australia Day is under attack from invariably well-off individuals [...]
It was ABC TV Australian Story's big story of the year – though it did not make it to air. Independent or non-government schools have been in operation in Australia since the late 19th century. Initially they were primarily Catholic institutions with a few schools run by other Christian denominations. In recent years independent schools [...]