Next Saturday is the 50th anniversary of the Malcolm Fraser-led Coalition’s victory over the Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam. It was a stunning result, just over four weeks after Fraser had been sworn in as a caretaker prime minister following the dismissal of the Whitlam government by governor-general Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975. [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2025 The most disturbing political photos of the year so far took place in Alaska on Friday, August 15 (local time). There was United States President Donald J. Trump standing and clapping for Russian Vladimir Putin as he walked up the red carpet to [...]
It was very much a “home ground” event when last Wednesday Hugh Marks addressed the National Press Club in Canberra for the first time as managing director and editor-in-chief of the ABC. The Canberra Press Gallery contains but a few political conservatives. Most Canberra-based journalists regard themselves as what, in private, they would term as [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2025 There are a few surprises in Tony Abbott’s recently released Australia: A History (HarperCollins, 2025) which, according to reports, is already undergoing a reprint. The written word is supplemented by a three-part Sky News documentary of the same name. First, the publication received [...]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s successful meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington DC this week demonstrates that the modern-day Labor Party is better at base politics than the modern Liberal Party. Albanese’s media coverage was supportive at best and sympathetic at worst. After all, he had a positive story to tell involving Trump’s apparent support [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN – SATURDAY 11 OCTOBER 2025 On Monday October 9, 2023 I watched the opponents of Israel’s right to exist within secure borders march down Phillip Street en route to the Sydney Opera House. It was a noisy affair with much chanting and beating of drums. This was [...]
COMMENT BY GERARD HENDERSON FOR THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN – SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER 2025 For evidence that the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster is out of touch and all but devoid of viewpoint diversity, look no further than the ABC’s senior management. The ABC Board is appointed by the government – with the exception of managing director and [...]
It’s a brave Labor Party parliamentarian and self-declared “progressive” who admits to being “on the same side of an argument as Alan Jones” — on occasions at least. But that’s what Clare O’Neil, the Labor MP for Hotham in southeast Melbourne, told the John Curtin Research Centre on Thursday. O’Neil has not embraced the fan [...]
At the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster, it appears to be a case of in with the new, out with the old and bury the dead. Ita Buttrose, who became ABC chairwoman in February, is a distinct improvement on her predecessors James Spigelman and Justin Milne. She is more willing to accept that the public broadcaster is [...]