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‘No Vaccine Mandates?’ – Pull the other one.
This week, former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, in the jargon of the media, sat down with Sky News journalist, Sharri Markson. Though the interview covered a range of subjects, there was only one area that interested me: vaccine mandates. In the interview, Morrison asserted that he and his Government never supported widespread vaccine mandates. Neither,…
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The death of “old Australia”? Perhaps that’s premature.
‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,’ is a well known quote from Mark Twain. This quote came to mind while reading Craig Emerson’s column – Why Australia Day will just die of old age – in Monday’s edition of the Australian Financial Review. Emerson’s column argues that the Grim Reaper of demographics is stalking…
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Flag flying on Australia Day
On Australia Day I fly the national flag from our front balcony. From both directions along our street it can be seen. Never once have I thought this action is a political statement. Until now. Australians tend to shy away from overt displays of politics. Yes, we vote; that is a given in a compulsory…
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No State Funeral for Cardinal Pell
The first State Funerals in Australia honoured the explorers Robert Burke and William Wills in Melbourne in 1863 after their attempt to cross the continent from south to north ended in failure. Today, State Funerals in Australia more often recognise statesmanship (politicians), and the more human level of endeavour than was the case in the…
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A new Winslow Boy case
The Brittany Higgins sexual assault case – now aborted – has left in legal limbo the accused, Bruce Lehrmann. This is unacceptable in a country that has the common law doctrine of innocent until proven guilty at the heart of its justice system. Lehrmann’s current difficulties remind me of another case. Though of very different…
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A new appreciation of our culture and heritage? I think so!
The death of Queen Elizabeth II and the beginning of the reign of King Charles III has been a revelation. Five million Australians watched the Queen’s funeral. Many more would have viewed the ongoing, multiple television station coverage of reporters on the ground everywhere it mattered over the full ten days of mourning. A Roy…
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“The Fixer”
Over the past few days excerpts from Simon Benson’s and Geoff Chambers’ new book, Plagued, have appeared in the media. (Admission: I have only read the first excerpt, which appeared in the Weekend Australian, but since then through the media more details have emerged.) What initially struck me about this first report was the reason…
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An Independent Review
Yesterday, the new federal health minister, Mark Butler, announced a government inquiry with Jane Halton in charge into the Australian Government covid-19 vaccine contracts, pricing and existing supplies of vaccines. This inquiry, he advised, will be a forward looking review: a “where to from here” examination of what will be needed in the next 12-18…
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KnowingHiding where the bodies are buriedMoving to a “post pandemic world,” two Australian states – Queensland and Western Australia – have made two of their most senior pandemic response public servants – QLD’s former CHO Jeanette Young and W.A.’s Commissioner of Police, State Emergency Co-ordinator and previously its Vaccine Commander, Chris Dawson – their respective state’s new vice-regal appointees. In…
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It’s Hiding in Plain Sight.
On Saturday, the Marshall Government went the way of the dodo with a significant swing to Labor on the 2pp. Interestingly, both Liberal and Labor commenters, Nicolle Flint (Lib-SA) and Amanda Rishworth (Lab-SA), on the Sky News post election analysis agreed with each other that it was the loss of the V8 Supercars to Adelaide…