We pick up with Mr. Albanese and the trained monkey already in progressInterview, Part Five: Albo Stumbles Asked if his policy would involve a higher reduction target than the government (itself a nonspecific question – reduction from what year’s levels?), Mr Albanese offered the following non-answer We will take
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Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese (Albo) has, for some reason, spoken to Sky so-called News. I want to do an analysis of both his remarks and the interview itself. I have dealt with every aspect of the interview except the last question on Mr. Albanese’s family life, which I consider
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Among the notable cultural events of the last decade, one must count the emergence of the Handmaid’s Tale franchise: the hit television series loosely based on the 1985 dystopian novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, the novel’s return to bestsellerdom as a trade paperback, and The Testaments, Atwood’s 2019 sequel,
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If only the Queen had been in charge of Brexit we may have avoided rolling heads, rolling eyes and years of utter dismay. On Saturday, Buckingham Palace released a statement informing us that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will no longer use their HRH titles.
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Dismiss it as a midnight reverie, if you will, this dream of mine that pictured a Prime Minister more a’feared of squandering Australia’s potential and prosperity than of irritating the ABC and greenish Wets within his own party. With such a vision still fresh, I abandoned the warm fug of
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Steering the ship of state isn’t the easiest experience. Not only is it a matter of always tacking between Scylla and Charybdis. Even senior officers on the bridge — let alone the other ranks — will try to push the tiller different ways. And if that’s not enough the captain, the
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Whenever government Ministers are asked to expand on how we will achieve our emissions reduction targets beyond the “meet and beat” catchphrase, they bring up the $3.5 billion grandiosely named “Climate Solutions Package”.So let’s unpack that packapooticket. “The Government will provide $3.5 billion over 15 years from 2018-19 for a
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The ‘third way’ of being a senior royal – representing the Queen one day, earning serious money the next, was always untenable. When Harry and Meghan first made public their desire to change the status quo they described it as a ‘progressive new role’. Critics, better versed in the workings
read now In the end, it took just over a week for Prince Harry to announce and finalise the terms of his exit from the royal family. The settlement: he and Meghan have agreed to give up their ‘royal highness’ titles . They’ll still be entitled to them, but won’t use them.
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At least 250 threatened species have had their habitat hit by fires. Gena DrayMore than one billion mammals, birds, and reptiles across eastern Australia are estimated to have been affected by the current fire catastrophe. Many animals and plants have been incinerated or suffocated by smoke and ash. Others
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It’s excruciating. My eye rolls are so severe and unstoppable that my eyelids are sore. My forehead is red from my slapping. My right thigh is bruised from my slamming with outrage. My ribs hurt from derisory laughter. All this self-harm is the fault of America’s
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Comedian and podcast host Jamie Kilstein talks to fellow stand-up Paul Provenza about Ricky Gervais’s monologue at the Golden Globes and whether comedy is finally emerging from under a cloud of woke humourlessness. You can listen to more podcasts hosted by Jamie Kilstein here. Share this:
read now By Elizabeth Dangerfield Like so many in Australia at this moment my anxiety about the future has impacted on my mental health. But those who have borne the brunt of these catastrophic fires; those who have lost their homes, property, livestock; those who have been fighting fires for weeks; those who
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By Dr George Venturini At its heart, Australia is a system of representative government. More specifically, Australian parliamentary democracy is a variation of the Westminster system, the system which is characterised by responsible government. The question is: responsible to whom? Both Her Majesty’s Australian Government and Her Majesty Loyal Opposition in
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Not so long ago, I was watching a television climate “expert” talking, as they all do, about “unprecedented warming.” As proof of this he stood, arms outstretched, in one of the vineyards springing up across southern Britain. Look, everyone, the temperatures have risen so much that it is now possible
read now By RosemaryJ36 I have a very dear family member, who subscribes to The Australian, and with whom relations have been heavily stressed in ‘debating’ what I see as a cut and dried issue – climate change. This is part of an email I have just sent: “Throughout the ages, scientists have
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It’s an eight-and-a-half-hour drive from Toronto to Indianapolis. And the route, which takes me through Sarnia, Detroit, Toledo and Fort Wayne, is far from scenic. But Gen Con is the biggest boardgame convention in North America, and there’s no direct flight between the two cities. Which is why, during the
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Over the past five years, there has been a 400 percent rise in referrals to the Tavistock Centre in north London, the only National Health Service (NHS) clinic in Britain that treats children with gender-identity developmental issues. During this period, there also has been an abrupt shift in the composition
read now “This is a bold bet – a moonshot – for Microsoft.” So claimed Brad Smith, Microsoft President, in a Thursday announcement painting a picture of a company that intends to be carbon negative by 2030. “And,” Smith continued, “it will need to be a moonshot for the world.” That vision
read now A couple of days ago I received this message from a Facebook friend: “Hi John, Part of the bloated Dutton budget is spent on this group [AIDR]. Young Peter has been strangely silent of late so may be an appropriate time to highlight his expertise.” A Google search and
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The looks of excitement on our faces was sure evidence that Mr Borham’s idea was met with class approval.It was 1966. Trevor Borham was our class teacher at the Parndana Area School on Kangaroo Island. Mr Borham had instructed us to move all our desks to the back and sides
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DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE! An Aboriginal woman from Victoria is hoping that First Nations people and organisations around the nation will join her university in flying Indigenous flags at half mast, to acknowledge the grief Aboriginal people are feeling
read nowhttps://insidestory.org.au/to-burn-or-not-to-burn-is-not-the-question/During five years of researching the history and politics of Indigenous burning, I have often found myself being pulled back towards debates about prescribed...
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At one point in Keating, a series of interviews aired on the ABC in 2015, talk turned to the big tariff reductions introduced by the Hawke and Keating governments and continued through the Howard years. As Paul Keating described it to interviewer Kerry O’Brien, these and other reforms gave Australian
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anti-austeritySusan PriceIssue 1249Francepensionsanti-government protestsJanuary 17, 2020On January 14–17, fresh strikes and demonstrations took place across France. According to media reports, several French ports were blocked by a 72-hour strike by members of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), as part of the ongoing mass transportation strikes over Prime Minister Emanuel Macron’s attacks on the
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anti-austerityJohn MullenIssue 1249Francepensionsanti-government protestsJanuary 17, 2020Millions of people on the streets around France on January 9 and 11 showed the determination of the movement to defend pensions. As well as transport workers, teachers and refinery workers — some of whom have been on strike continuously for over a month and others
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ClimateYaji SpencerIssue 1249AustraliaParramattaJanuary 17, 2020Local residents and climate activists, including a large contingent of young people, marched through Parramatta on January 14 calling for serious action on climate change. Rally co-organiser Katrina James told the 600-strong crowd: “It’s really heartening to see young people have turned out to really have their
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anti-government protestFarhang Jahanpour (translator)Issue 1249IranUS aggression against IranJanuary 17, 2020The following statement, translated by Farhang Jahanpour, was issued by students taking part in a protest at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran on January 12. The protest followed the downing of Ukraine Flight 752 by Iranian Air Defence Unit anti-aircraft
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anti-warSteve SweeneyIssue 1249Irananti-government protestsUS aggression against IranJanuary 17, 2020IRANIAN authorities blocked internet access on January 14, with pressure continuing to mount on the theocratic regime as student protests calling for a new revolution swept the country. According to the internet-tracking organisation NetBlocks, Iran experienced an outage at 5.25pm local time with
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DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE! The political firestorm lit by Barnaby Joyce and fanned by the Government and conservative media commentators around ‘Greens’ preventing hazard reduction burns has obviously been well and truly debunked (and extinguished). But prescribed burns won’t
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A primary school in East Gippsland was burnt down in the current bushfire crisis. While Premier Daniel Andrews immediately committed to rebuilding the school as it was, media reported the local CFA captain didn’t want it rebuilt. Screen Shot from abc.net.au. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-15/bushfire-destroys-clifton-creek-primary-school-gippsland/11860490 Public support for rebuilding in the
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It was my first time at this library. I’d come to escape the heavy smoke and my old draughty apartment. Approaching the service desk upon arrival, I admit to looking deliberately pathetic in the hopes of avoiding a laborious sign-up process to access the wi-fi. I only wanted somewhere I
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Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) are one of the rarest pinnipeds in the world and they are declining. Jarrod Hodgson, CC BY-NDAustralian sea lions are in trouble. Their population has never recovered from the impact of the commercial sealing that occurred mainly in the 19th century. Low-lying rock islands
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DON’T MISS ANYTHING! ONE CLICK TO GET NEW MATILDA DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX, FREE! Pauline Hanson has been getting a free pass by mainstream media for far too long, writes Nico Bell. Pauline Hanson has learnt nothing. With the recent bushfire crisis and the outpouring of evidence, from the
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia have had their say on a new national agreement on Closing the Gap. The Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) has been working with the Council of Australian Governments to develop the 10-year agreement. Aboriginal and
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