So much hype. Such little content. Cory Bernardi’s speech in the Senate on Tuesday announcing his decision to resign from the Liberal Party and become an independent senator, representing a political movement called the Australian Conservatives, created much media attention. In part, this reflects the fact that the Coalition does not have a majority in [...]
On Monday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will commence three weeks of public hearings concerning Case Study 50. This involves an inquiry into the policies and procedures of Catholic Church authorities in relation to child protection and child safety standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse. It is [...]
Not so long ago, when Western democracies were Judeo-Christian in disposition, sermons were delivered on Sundays for the predominant Christian congregations and a day earlier for the smaller Jewish gatherings. The decline of Christianity in the West has been accompanied by the rise of other religions. However, the tendency to sermonise has been embraced by [...]
The malleability of language is evident in the rapidly changing meaning of fake news. In its early manifestation, the term was used, primarily by the Left, to describe the process by which “news” was invented or fabricated to facilitate online clicks and the revenue they engender. For example, the (false) story, in the lead-up to [...]
Victoria Police’s honour roll in Melbourne is just a short walk from Federation Square and down St Kilda Road. It contains the list of all members who died on duty. Included are Michael Kennedy, Thomas Lonigan and Michael Scanlan, who were murdered at Stringybark Creek on October 18, 1878 by the Kelly Gang. Kennedy, 36, [...]
The year 2017, like its predecessor, seems destined to be one of memorable anniversaries. There are centenaries such as the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front, along with the Russian Revolution of November 1917 in which Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks came to power. But first there is the 50th anniversary of the [...]
As any useful prophet would have predicted for the Year of the Monkey, 2016 saw much exaggeration, false memories, self-regard and flawed soothsaying. January. Fairfax Media’s Adam Gartrell kicks off the year prophesising “a comfortable victory” for Malcolm Turnbull in a September election. The poll was held in July and the Coalition won narrowly. Gartrell [...]
This week’s terrorist attack on Berlin reminds us that no Western city is immune from the assault of radical Islamists. In recent times, there have been terrorist murders in Paris, Brussels, Orlando, Nice and now Berlin. And Melbourne narrowly escaped a similar fate around April-May last year. On December 7, Justice Lex Lasry handed down [...]
I am a financial member of the Australian Republican Movement. Due to a prior commitment, I will not be present tonight when the Prime Minister addresses the ARM’s 25th anniversary dinner at the University of Sydney. Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to break bread with the ARM has attracted some, but not much, criticism from within conservative [...]
The term post-truth has been around for a couple of decades, during which time it has had several meanings. However, it exploded into common parlance following the Oxford English Dictionary’s decision to name it the 2016 word of the year. The OED defines post-truth as an adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective [...]
