It’s one of the best known exchanges in the history of Australian cinema. In the 1994 film Muriel’s Wedding, the character Bill Heslop (played by Bill Hunter) is having an affair with Deidre Chambers (Gennie Nevinson). A planned assignation at the Chinese restaurant has a seemingly surprised Chambers declaring: “Bill!” Whereupon Bill replies: “Deidre Chambers [...]
There was a time, not so long ago, when history was concerned with the past. And so historians and others argued about what had happened in earlier times to get to agreed facts and, then, how to interpret them. Not any more, alas. The put-down that someone or other is on “the wrong side of [...]
Right now the Liberal Party of Australia is in its most deleterious position since 1946. The situation is growing bleaker because of the likelihood that the so-called teal independents will challenge the Liberal Party in some seats in the Victorian election in November, and the difficulties being experienced by the Liberals in NSW ahead of [...]
Three decades have passed since American political scientist Francis Fukuyama published his influential book The End of History and the Last Man. It was a reworking of an article titled “The End of History?” that he published in the northern spring 1989 edition of The National Interest. For some reason, Fukuyama’s question mark did not [...]
It’s destined to be one of the most significant mea culpas in the first quarter of the 21st century. The reference is to the column in The New York Times on July 26 by Bret Stephens. Stephens began by confessing to readers about “the worst line” he ever wrote “as a pundit”. It was this [...]
GERARD HENDERSON’S MEDIA WATCH DOG ISSUE – NO. 598 29 July 2022 * * * * Stop Press – News Breakfast manages to secure an appearance by a News Breakfast producer; Nine’s CBD sneers at Senator Price; Chris Kenny’s “ABC Exposed” a success with one qualification Can You Bear It? – Phil Coorey notices that the Insiderspanel are all in agreement; AFR’s Rear [...]
Some judges, among others, are known to grit their teeth. But it is a rare occasion when a member of the judiciary announces a decision “regrettably and with gritted teeth”. Yet these words were used at the conclusion of Chief Justice Lucy McCallum’s judgment in R v Lehrmann (No 3) in the ACT Supreme Court [...]
Elections come and go, but the Australian left continues to regard the ABC as its property and is of the view that no one should interfere with ABC journalists who run the organisation like a staff collective. Take the recent controversy concerning the ABC board’s intention to establish an ombudsman position to improve the taxpayer-funded public [...]
The important political news of the week is that Anthony Albanese has led Labor to a majority in the House of Representatives. A narrow majority of 77 out of 151 seats, but a majority nevertheless. It’s equivalent to the result attained by the Coalition in 2019 and one better than its margin in 2016. Primarily [...]
Without question, last Saturday’s election represented the greatest change in the Australian political system since the emergence of the two-party system in the years after Federation in 1901. It so happens that this could go hand-in-hand with one of the greatest challenges the Australian economy has faced in recent times. Namely, the possibility of a [...]