Clive Bibby: Stating the Obvious

Recent episodes of Australian Fox nighttime “talk shows” have discussed the probable outcome of the next General Election - now likely to be called within days of the RB interest rate cut announced this week.

As a political junkie, I found it interesting that most seasoned political commentators - even those who oppose the current government, are suggesting the most likely outcome being a minority Labour Government with support from the Greens.

Viv Forbes: How the Big End of Town Gambled and Lost

Australia’s Big End of Town gambled heavily in the Voice referendum - and lost.

Only the Nanny “State” (Canberra) voted “Yes”. But their horse ran last in every other state and territory and now has to be put down.

This costly ($400M) and divisive exercise showed that Australians do not want politicians meddling with their federal constitution. We have learned to distrust proposals supported by big government, big business, trade unions, woke celebrities and the ABC. And the more we heard of this racist proposal, the less we liked it.

David Hughes: What is ‘Indigenous policy’?

We increasingly use ‘catch all’ terms such as ‘Women’s Policy’, ‘Youth Policy’ and ‘Indigenous Policy’, when in reality most areas of public policy impact these groups.

A rising star in the Australian Federal parliament, Zoe McKenzie expressed her frustration the other week at the use of the term ‘Women’s Policy’. She has a point: it is far too simplistic (and even demeaning) to package up childcare measures and women's workforce participation measures and think you have ticked a box to satisfy female voters. In reality, most women care just as much about tax policy as men, and fathers care just as much about childcare subsidies as mothers.

Clive Bibby: Ignoring the obvious is not a plan

Those amongst us who are fixated with the threat of climate change and apportioning blame to those who are deemed to be responsible for our greenhouse gas emotions would do well to have a look at a debate on climate change that was recently screened on Australian TV.

It included amongst its guests two former Prime Ministers, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, who appeared incapable of learning the lessons from their own time in politics when they both experienced disastrous losses in support as a result of promoting climate change policies that were unacceptable to the bulk of the Australian electorate - in fact these policies ultimately lead to both men being removed from the office of Prime Minister.

Karl du Fresne: The Canberra elite's visceral loathing for Pauline Hanson

I first wrote about Pauline Hanson in 1997. She was then a newly elected Australian MP whom the liberal media – indeed most of the Australian political establishment – openly despised.

Hanson had been selected as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1996 elections but was dis-endorsed because the party was embarrassed by her opposition to special government assistance for Aborigines. She won the Queensland seat of Oxley anyway, despite it being an Australian Labor Party stronghold, and went on to form the One Nation Party.

Journalists and commentators made much of the fact that she had previously owned a fish and chip shop. She was seen as bigoted and uneducated and therefore not worthy of a seat in the Australian parliament. It didn’t seem to occur to her detractors that the bigoted and ignorant, in a democracy, are as entitled to representation as anyone.

Viv Forbes from Australia: Wake Up Australia!

As Australia’s industrial capacity declines, Australia is becoming green and defenceless.

History holds lessons.

Back in Dec 1941, Japan suddenly attacked the huge US Naval base at Pearl Harbour. Three days later, two “invincible” British warships, “Repulse” and “Prince of Wales” were sunk by Japanese planes off Malaya. Soon Japanese armies were rampaging through Asia towards Australia. By Feb 1942, the British fortress of Singapore surrendered and Japanese bombs were falling on Darwin. By Sept 1942 the Japanese army had slashed their way down the Kokoda Track and could see the lights of Port Moresby. They were looking across Torres Strait to Australia. At that time, most of our trained soldiers were fighting Rommel in North Africa or in Japanese prison camps.

Viv Forbes from Australia: Engineering the Emissions Target Depression

The Climate Change Authority wants Australians to cut their production of carbon dioxide to 19% below 2000 levels by the year 2020.

The climate boffins should employ a demographer before they set such unrealistic goals. The population of Australia in 2000 was about 19 million and it is now 23 million. By 2020 it will probably be over 25 million.

If Australia’s production of carbon dioxide was merely frozen at the 2000 level, that would require a 24% reduction per head of population by 2020. If we add to that a real reduction in total emissions of 19% by 2020, emissions per capita would need to fall by 39% in just 6 years. 

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: Marriage – What’s Love Got To Do With It?

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

What’s love but a second-hand emotion?

... What’s love but a sweet old-fashioned notion? – Tina Turner 1993

In the aftermath of the Australian High Court ruling last week that same-sex marriage (SSM) law enacted by the ACT was invalid, all the usual arguments for and against SSM were trotted out by the opposing camps, and as usual were given plenty of airing by the media. Not that anything new was said as far as I could tell, but it gave us all the opportunity to reflect on the issue and our own positions on it. In the course of these musings, two things struck me.

Kevin Donnelly: The education debate heats up as the Australian election looms

In the lead-up to the 2007 election the opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, argued that if elected he would champion an education revolution directed at raising standards and making Australian students more internationally competitive.

Six years later the Australian Council for Educational Research's analysis of national and international test results prove what a failure this Labor government has been under Julia Gillard and Rudd. Finally, the penny has dropped and the education establishment is admitting that our students, especially talented ones, underperform and that something urgent needs to be done.

Kevin Donnelly: History curriculum sacrifices Western values at the altar of political correctness

Most of the debate about Julia Gillard's national crusade in education centres on school funding and how the government intends to respond to the report chaired by Sydney businessman David Gonski. The existing model expires at the end of the year and the government is scrambling to decide on an alternative by the April meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.