I received a letter this week that had been sent to the parent of a 10-year-old schoolboy and signed by the deputy principal of Cottesloe Primary School, Perth. The letter requested her permission to send a letter, allegedly written by her son, to Julie Bishop regarding the UN climate talks.
Case of the inconceivable
Struggle Street, the erroneously labelled “poverty porn” SBS documentary about the shocking lives of three families in Sydney’s Mount Druitt, was confronting viewing. The series was as good as a Ken Loach, whose Cathy Come Home (1966) depicted homelessness in England.
Is Netanyahu the only one alive to the threat of Iran
ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the US congress last week was the most powerful I have had the privilege of hearing from any leader at any time. Maybe he overegged it; he is, after all, facing election. But Netanyahu and many fellow Israelis believe the threat from a nuclear-armed Iran is real and imminent.
Go for a debt deal
Bill Shorten should take a long hard look at Labor leaders Luke Foley in NSW, Premier Daniel Andrews in Victoria and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland. None has a plan to pay down debt, none has money to spend, and each has wrong plans to enhance productivity.
It shouldn’t be too hard to explain why spending must slow
In 1996, when Pauline Hanson was asked on 60 Minutes if she was xenophobic, she replied: “Please explain?” It was an intelligent question from a poorly read person to a smart-arse journalist.
There was no government in waiting in broke Queensland
The real result from the Queensland election is that drovers’ dogs will occupy the Treasury benches for the foreseeable future. There was no government in waiting, just a bunch of kids waiting their turn.
Activists should pay taxes
The High Court decision 'overturns 90 years of Australian law, swinging the pendulum quite to the other end, in that it recognises that engaging in public debate is a public benefit in itself'.
Queensland’s assets are too important to trust to the government
Next year’s State Election is shaping as a referendum on the LNP Government’s privatisation agenda. But as well as asking whether they want state assets leased, voters should also ask whether last century’s government ownership model is still the best way to deliver services.
Say no to the coal killers
Convicted killer, now Anglican priest, Evan Pederick is the perfect poster boy for the fossil fuel divestment campaign. The convicted and self-confessed terrorist has been taken into the bosom of the Anglican Church and joined forces with other churches to divest their institutions of investments in fossil fuels (and some minerals).
No place for medieval practice in our society
Some conservative Muslims treat women as chattels.
Some conservative Muslims struggle in a liberal society and sometimes, especially among young men, contempt for the host society bubbles to the surface.
So why do liberals cry for religious freedom when that freedom leads to the treatment of women as second-class citizens and emboldens young men? I, for one, will not defend another’s right to be illiberal.
