By this author
Bad education
blog
The new Education Minister has been the subject of some rigorous schoolyard bullying this week, as his plan to reintroduce a cap on university places has been met with a resounding chorus of ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire.’ Just two months ago, …
Looking for Lasseter’s lost treasure
Mark Twain observed in 1897 that Australian history “does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies; and all of a fresh new sort, no mouldy old stale ones”. That same year, Harold Lasseter, a 17-year-old horseman en route from …
It’s time to stop the... shipping news
blog
Those of us who rolled our eyes or flung our remotes at the television screen whenever Tony Abbott made his earnest, impassioned campaign-winning promise that “We. Will. Stop. The. Boats.” were rewarded with a healthy dose of smug satisfaction …
Snag votes
blog
ABC’s Vote Compass has already provided some insight into what’s in the hearts and minds of the voters in the country’s key political battlegrounds, but what will be in their stomachs on polling day? The answer is handily provided by …
Campaign Week 3: Kissing booth
blog
Three weeks of campaigning down, two to go, and there’s already enough material for a photo gallery of ‘Tony Abbott’s kisses and misses on the election trail.’ For a few anxious days there, it didn’t seem as though we’d …
Campaign Week 2: The Debate Team, Buddy Rojek and Sexual Education
blog
The Debate Team After a brief moment of delusion, it was apparent that the Leadership Debate was not going to be a discussion between two party leaders who would hold each other to account. And startlingly enough, it wasn’t the …
Campaign Week 1: Stephanie Banister, Jaymes Diaz and the class of 2013
blog
Religion, or “I can see Islam from my house!” During an interview staged in One Nation “poster child” Stephanie Banister’s backyard on Wednesday night, the Rankin candidate outlined her views for the benefit …
Fairfax’s obituary pages
blog
News Corporation delightedly broke the news this week that Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood declined to run a print ad campaign for a book published by News Corporation, chronicling the decline of Fairfax. Within this elaborate brain-twister lies an …
Big Clive’s big dinosaurs
blog
This week, Clive Palmer received approval to create another expensive tribute to a mid-90s blockbuster film he apparently hasn’t seen the ending to. This time, the billionaire is building the world’s largest dinosaur park. The Sunshine Coast …
Campaigning for class president: KRudd and the youth vote
blog
A few hours after being reinstated as Labor’s leader, Kevin Rudd began his bid to reclaim the youth vote. In his comeback speech he spoke about looking forward to his “rock around the country,” and said it was time for the youth to re-engage …
Queensland hushes up whistleblowers
blog
“The CMC will also no longer be used and abused for personal or political gain after it was found that it was being flooded with trivial, vexatious or misdirected complaints,” Queensland’s attorney general said yesterday when announcing …
Shades of grey
Julia Gillard
On Wednesday night a freshly deposed prime minister offered more insight into the problems that plagued her term in office than 3 years of opinion pieces and editorials combined. “The reaction to being the first female prime minister does not explain …
The Thinking Person’s Prime Minister
Tony Abbott
When I stumbled upon an article in The Age yesterday titled ‘Abbott, the thinking person’s prime minister,’ it did get me thinking. First, when I read the disclaimer at the end of the piece stating that the author is a former …
