As lawyer and author Luke Goodrich observes in his new book 'Free to Believe', rights are not gifts of the government to be granted or removed at the whim of politicians and judges. Rather, the State is morally obliged to defend them with vigour, rather than merely indulging them

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They look human, sound like it too. But when you say something with which they disagree, it's not rational argument that ensues but shrieking, howling invective and the demand that you be silenced once and for all. Having principles is a liability these days, which is why so many won't stand by them

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My father saw Donald Bradman as calculating and ruthless, characteristics he deplored, and some of this has rubbed off on me. I am not a Bradman worshipper, although I acknowledge the supreme skills that saw him time and again render impotent a world-class bowling attack

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We have had permanent revolution ever since Gorton, then Whitlam, revolutionised the Australian policy making process. Modern public service departments are the marketing arms of venal, careerist politicians on the make, populated by public relations graduates. Don't expect that to change

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If there is someone to blame for the ‘student achievement crisis’, we should not be looking to parents, teachers, schools or the children themselves. Education policy, the culprit, is failing our children at every turn, not least in its determination to hold in contempt the benefits of play

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The Murray-Darling Basin was transformed by irrigation and hard work into the national breadbasket. Today it is undergoing another transformation, this one orchestrated by green hysteria, government decree and political cowardice

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The US decisions to transfer the US embassy to Jerusalem and disregard the settlements as illegal are acts of supreme political realism. More than that, they could give the Palestinians the freedom to throw off the shackles of the delusion that they can defeat Israel and negotiate a real peace

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We've poured further billions of dollars into our schools and the result, as the latest PISA results attest, is gold-plated failure. A crisis now, it is a catastrophe in the making as kids who can't add, spell or analyse enter the workforce. There is, however, a two-pronged remedy: vouchers, plus a return to true federalism

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Paramount leader for life, Xi Jinping is reverting to the model of Stalin, Hitler and Mao, seeking to resurrect the essential lawlessness and instability of twentieth century totalitarianism. The notion so fondly held in the West of the Middle Kingdom embracing liberalism is melting before our eyes

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Climateers have gathered in Madrid to talk up the end of the world and how best to strip non-believers of scepticism and, most of all, their money. This year, going by the ABC's sources, the planet's armageddon moment has passed, or is looming, or upon us right this instant. Whatever. But do hand over the cash

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