The Great White Father has arrived the far flung atolls of the Pacific. And, like the missionaries before him Scott Morrison is delivering the bringing of the light — a gospel of hope and salvation.
Well, up to a point. Boiled down, his message is that if they are worried about the rising waters, they should sandbag the foreshores and move to higher ground if there is any, because he is not going to do anything substantial to help. (more…)
The Conservative Political Action Conference held in Sydney last weekend should not be dismissed lightly. It must be dismissed heavily, so here goes.
The elite reactionaries gathered in their luxury hotel not to celebrate, but to moan. The parade of paranoid plutocrats complained that their traditional privileges were being challenged – their hitherto untrammelled power was under threat. (more…)
Scott Morrison is not too keen on history.When it comes to politics – or at least the politics of the Liberal Party, which to him is all that matters – history began with his election as Prime Minister. Everything that happened before then, and especially in the three years before then, is utterly irrelevant – it should, must, be forgiven and forgotten. (more…)
In the far north east of Arnhem land, a line has been drawn in the sand.
As part of the great Garma festival, two of the most important and revered leaders of Indigenous Australia have made it clear that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is not negotiable. (more…)
Newspoll has emerged from its grotto and ScoMo’s troops are cheering. The honeymoon has kicked in, and how.
Their messiah has given them a convincing cushion, one that should maintain them in comfort for many months, if not years. Forget those constant predictions of doom and gloom that their bible warned of in the past – those were all wrong. This time the truth has been revealed. Break out the bubbly. (more…)
Shock, horror – there is a suspicion that Australia’s biggest and most profitable casinos may not be squeaky clean. And by the way, there have been reports that the pope is a catholic and that two plus two makes four. (more…)
One, two, three, four
Keeping faith’s a dreadful bore.
Five, six, seven, eight
Tap the mat, capitulate.
This, it appears, is Labor’s new tribal chant. And needless to say, it is less
of a battle cry than a muted whimper. (more…)
Once again, the cultural warriors of the right are caught in a conflict of loathing. They would love to see Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne embarrassed and humiliated – they were supporters of the arch fiend Turnbull, renegades from the Miraculous Morrison and his band of angels. They deserve to be cast into the nethermost pit, along with the other unbelievers and blasphemers. (more…)
The private health insurance funds have effectively been on notice for 50 years, since the time of the moon landing. (more…)
I sometimes think I was the only one who was not gobsmacked.
On that day fifty years ago when mankind kicked the moon, I was working in the Canberra press gallery, keeping an eye on the television for the news, but never doubting the outcome. (more…)
Scott Morrison really likes quiet Australians – as quiet as possible. So it was really no surprise that his response to his minister, Ken Wyatt’s modest and tentative proposal to consider reviving an Indigenous Voice through the Uluru Statement from the Heart was simple and direct: bloody well shut up and do what you are told. (more…)
The muffled roar of applause last week was coming from Scott Morrison and the coalition, cheering,, of all things, the Supreme Court of Victoria. Justice Peter Riordan reserved his decision over the maverick union leader John Setka’s appeal to block Anthony Albanese’s attempt to expel him from the Labor Party. (more…)
Last week Anthony Albanese passed his first test – at least the one the magisterial examiners of The Australian devised for him. He had retreated, gloated the paper – caved, rolled over to the majesty of the ScoMo mandate.
By agreeing to pass the enormity of the coalition tax package, he had acknowledged the verdict of hard-working Australians. and it follows, as dogs return to their vomit, that any other bright ideas Scott Morrison can come up with must be obeyed with similar capitulation. (more…)
Scott Morrison has a new obsession – the budget surplus.
In spite of his assurances to the contrary, this has not actually been delivered, and there are growing doubts that it will be – the storm clouds, the head winds of which the prime minister and his treasurer confusingly warn us, could well blow it away. (more…)
Last week Scott Morrison spelled out what he called his economic policy.
But, as usual, it was little more than a series of motherhood slogans about the need for more productivity, less regulation, and a spot of union bashing for good measure—nothing new, nothing of real substance, much like the prime minister himself. (more…)
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the graveyard, the exhumations have resumed. (more…)
It took just a month after the election for the miraculous Morrison mob to dial back up to peak crazy. (more…)
About sixty years ago, as an undergraduate of Sydney University, I met a flat earther on the campus. (more…)
If John Setka did not exist, the coalition would have invented him. But fortunately he does exist, so it’s just a matter of slapping on a few bells and whistles, dimming the lights and tuning up the spooky music, and hey presto! The abrasive trade unionist is transformed into the demon prince, a bogey man designed to scare small children and gullible swinging voters.
Bob Hawke’s widow Blanche d’Alpuget summed it up best: his was a life triumphantly well lived. The state memorial service last week sent the silver bodgie off in grand style. It was a fitting celebration of a remarkable leader. (more…)
Our Prime Minister assures us that the AFP raids of last week had absolutely nothing to do with him. Well, of course not – he and his government are never responsible for anything. (more…)
The Israel Folau saga is finally moving to the tribunals – first to the Fair Work Commission, and if that does not produce a result, on the Federal Court and perhaps beyond. (more…)
It’s an old line, but a good one and unfortunately usually a true one: the front benches of parliament are top heavy with lightweights. (more…)
There was little to enthuse about Scott Morrison’s second ministry.
The first one wasn’t too flash either, but with the exodus of Christopher Pyne, Kelly O’Dwyer and Mitch Fifield, the collective IQ has fallen still further. Bringing back Arthur Sinodinos would have helped, but he preferred a comfortable posting to the other side of the world. (more…)
It didn’t take long for the hubris to kick in.
Before the dust was settled, an exultant Liberal was reported ass gloating: “We just campaigned on a strong economy – we’ve got a mandate to do anything!” Well, anything – or nothing. (more…)
With his political death, Tony Abbott achieved something he had never managed or even attempted in his political life: bipartisanship. (more…)
Bob Hawke did not suffer from false modesty.
He always knew he was the smartest person in the room – and, unlike many egoists, he was usually right, which is saying something, given the stellar ministry over which he presided for most of is time as prime minister. (more…)
History, declared Henry Ford, is bunk. And last Saturday, the Australian electorate agreed.
Rather than punishing the coalition punishment for nearly six years of civil war, policy inertia, dysfunction and backstabbing, the voters rewarded them. (more…)
Scott Morrison’s launch was, ironically, the last of the big set pieces. The remaining mad (and largely irrelevant) days will be scrabbling over a few marginal seats in which the vast majority of those who have not already voted will have already made up their minds. (more…)
It was in 1975 that the Murdoch bias finally pushed the dictatorial mogul’s journalists jacked up, and went on strike. (more…)