Margaret Cunneen SC Launching Gerard Henderson’s Cardinal Pell, The Media Pile-On & Collective Guilt
https://youtu.be/mKEK2BinJlQ
LAUNCH OF CARDINAL GEORGE PELL, THE MEDIA PILE-ON & COLLECTIVE GUILT
On Tuesday 7 December, barrister and senior counsel Margaret Cunneen SC launched Gerard Henderson’s Cardinal Pell, The Media Pile-on and Collective Guilt which, Margaret Cunneen’s words, “is a meticulous chronology which draws together all the stakeholders, as they would call themselves, in the attempted destruction of Cardinal George Pell. As Gerard illustrates so eloquently, they [...]
You can take it from Menzies – divided, the Liberals will fall
Looking at the state of the Liberal Party and the Nationals in Parliament House right now, it seems that their parliamentarians are undertaking a general rehearsal for the end of the (political) world as they know it, to somewhat rephrase an old saying. As a result, it will be an extraordinary achievement if Scott Morrison [...]
Media Watch is progressively losing the plot
Believe it or not, Howard Kurtz’s MediaBuzz program on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel in the US (it airs on Foxtel in Australia) is fair and balanced – whereas Paul Barry’s weekly ABC TV Media Watch program is devoid of pluralism. Before going to Fox News, Kurtz hosted CNN’s media criticism program Reliable Sources. Prior [...]
Texts, lies and leading questions: a matter of context
The term fascist used to have real meaning. It applied to Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship that prevailed in Italy from the March on Rome in October 1922 until the man who liked to be called Il Duce was overthrown in July 1943. The word liar used to be applied to someone who said something false with [...]
ICAC’s ‘hat-trick’ of lynchings must not be extended
The concept that a book cannot be judged by its cover is a cliche of long standing. However, in democratic societies at least, it has been accepted that the scope of an organisation can be ascertained by its title. Not so the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. As the recent public hearings in ICAC’s Operation Keppel demonstrate, [...]
Emissions schism exposes Nationals’ innate vulnerability
The one-time British prime minister Harold Wilson is perhaps best remembered for having said, apparently in 1964, that a week is a long time in politics. Over half a century later, a day is a long time in politics. Just over a week ago, there was considerable talk about whether Scott Morrison would represent Australia at [...]
Royal heir chances his arm in our domestic politics
Where’s the Australian Republic Movement when it might be relevant? There was no sign of the normally loquacious Peter FitzSimons, the ARM’s chairman, after Prince Charles gave his interview with BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt last Monday (London time). Strolling through the gardens of the royal family’s estate in Balmoral, the Prince of Wales saw [...]
Premier Perrottet is so much more than just his faith
It seems that the advent of Dominic Perrottet as Premier of NSW has placed Nine newspapers between The Rock and a contemporary sectarian hard place. How else to explain the article by Stephanie Dowrick (aka The Reverend Stephanie Dowrick) in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Monday? Dowrick’s piece – which was titled [...]
Beware radical left behind ‘Voices of’ independents
Some Australians may regard it as amazing that Laura Tingle remains as the chief political correspondent for ABC television’s 7.30 program with regular appearances on Insiders, despite having accused the Scott Morrison-led Coalition of “ideological bastardry” in a late-night tweet not so long ago. For her part, Tingle told 7.30 viewers on Wednesday that former [...]