This was not the first time I marched at a Walk for Life, but it was the first time I attended with my wife, who volunteers at a pregnancy support centre, and who is expecting our first child (Tada!), whom we call Lil’ Chillun. Having my own unborn baby present
Independent Commentary > Spectator Australia >
Australia’s current Prime Minister has suggested that Commonwealth Parliaments should go four years between elections, instead of the current three. As it says in the Daily Mail: Three-year term limits for federal MPs are too short, the Prime Minister says, but he admits changes to time spent in Parliament are
Over the weekend, the Melbourne media were full of fevered speculation that a challenge to struggling Victorian Liberal and Coalition Leader, John Pesutto, could be mounted as early as this Tuesday, but certainly in the coming weeks or months. All that’s missing is a declared challenger. Pesutto’s rival, Shadow Police
On March 13, 2024, Greta Thunberg was dragged away from blocking the Swedish Parliament entrance for a second day. She was among 40 or so people protesting the ‘political inaction’ over climate change. (If only that were true, I sigh…) She’s been at it since even before her embarrassingly hammy
As expected, following a three day ‘vote’, Vladimir Putin has once again crowned himself president of Russia. As of 9 a.m. Moscow time, according to the central electoral commission, 99.7 per cent of ballot papers had been counted with Putin claiming 87 per cent of the vote – higher than
When Photogate, or Kategate, or whatever we end up calling it, first became news, I remember taking one look at social media and thinking: you people have lost your damn minds. An anodyne photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children was issued to the press agencies by Kensington
Despite the additional billions invested over the last 30 years, countless educational enquiries and reports, several national reform agreements, and the introduction of national literacy and numeracy tests at years 3, 5, 7, and 9 plus a national curriculum, education standards continue to go down the gurgler. Australia’s ranking in
World Tatyana Kekic Peter Nikitin, a pro-democracy activist, holds a Russian flag with writing reading ‘Putin is not Russia’ outside a polling station in Belgrade (Getty Images)
Queensland held its local council elections Saturday, which would normally be a big yawn outside the Sunshine State, except for two reasons: Brisbane City Council is now the largest government held by the Liberal Party in Australia, and there were two state by-elections held concurrently that yielded unexpectedly bad results
‘Don’t mention the war!’ Remember that? Today, war seems nearly all that European leaders want to talk about. The prospect of conflict with Russia is real, and a confrontation seems increasingly likely. That’s why Europe’s political leaders are beginning to discuss, in frank and sometimes alarming tones, the ways their
At a recent event I met and had a long chat with a retired economist who, in his professional career, specialised in providing advice on how to formulate taxation policy in Australia. He’d worked in Canberra’s public service and then set up a consultancy to do similar work but at
Every year, like clockwork, the grievance industry works itself into a righteous fury over the annual Employer Census results compiled by the Workplace Gender Equity Agency (WGEA). English Playwright William Congreve’s 17th Century line, ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ serves as an apt description of the confected outrage
This was not the first time I marched at a Walk for Life, but it was the first time I attended with my wife, who volunteers at a pregnancy support centre, and who is expecting our first child (Tada!), whom we call Lil’ Chillun. Having my own unborn baby present
Australia’s current Prime Minister has suggested that Commonwealth Parliaments should go four years between elections, instead of the current three. As it says in the Daily Mail: Three-year term limits for federal MPs are too short, the Prime Minister says, but he admits changes to time spent in Parliament are
Over the weekend, the Melbourne media were full of fevered speculation that a challenge to struggling Victorian Liberal and Coalition Leader, John Pesutto, could be mounted as early as this Tuesday, but certainly in the coming weeks or months. All that’s missing is a declared challenger. Pesutto’s rival, Shadow Police
On March 13, 2024, Greta Thunberg was dragged away from blocking the Swedish Parliament entrance for a second day. She was among 40 or so people protesting the ‘political inaction’ over climate change. (If only that were true, I sigh…) She’s been at it since even before her embarrassingly hammy
As expected, following a three day ‘vote’, Vladimir Putin has once again crowned himself president of Russia. As of 9 a.m. Moscow time, according to the central electoral commission, 99.7 per cent of ballot papers had been counted with Putin claiming 87 per cent of the vote – higher than
When Photogate, or Kategate, or whatever we end up calling it, first became news, I remember taking one look at social media and thinking: you people have lost your damn minds. An anodyne photograph of the Princess of Wales and her children was issued to the press agencies by Kensington
Despite the additional billions invested over the last 30 years, countless educational enquiries and reports, several national reform agreements, and the introduction of national literacy and numeracy tests at years 3, 5, 7, and 9 plus a national curriculum, education standards continue to go down the gurgler. Australia’s ranking in
World Tatyana Kekic Peter Nikitin, a pro-democracy activist, holds a Russian flag with writing reading ‘Putin is not Russia’ outside a polling station in Belgrade (Getty Images)
Queensland held its local council elections Saturday, which would normally be a big yawn outside the Sunshine State, except for two reasons: Brisbane City Council is now the largest government held by the Liberal Party in Australia, and there were two state by-elections held concurrently that yielded unexpectedly bad results
‘Don’t mention the war!’ Remember that? Today, war seems nearly all that European leaders want to talk about. The prospect of conflict with Russia is real, and a confrontation seems increasingly likely. That’s why Europe’s political leaders are beginning to discuss, in frank and sometimes alarming tones, the ways their
At a recent event I met and had a long chat with a retired economist who, in his professional career, specialised in providing advice on how to formulate taxation policy in Australia. He’d worked in Canberra’s public service and then set up a consultancy to do similar work but at
Every year, like clockwork, the grievance industry works itself into a righteous fury over the annual Employer Census results compiled by the Workplace Gender Equity Agency (WGEA). English Playwright William Congreve’s 17th Century line, ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ serves as an apt description of the confected outrage