Latest Articles
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
The ABC Flips Me the Bird
In the June 2020 issue of Quadrant, I published an article examining the ABC Education website contribution by Bruce Pascoe. In that article, I noted:
Some weeks ago I asked the ABC the following questions: What was the 2019 operating cost of the ABC Education unit? Who heads the unit? How many staff are devoted full time to this endeavour? Who decides what resources are suitable for inclusion in the webpage? What qualifications do they have to carry out this function? What methodology is employed to select resources published and to ensure that they are suitable? What liaison is carried out with various curriculum authorities to ensure that resources conform to their needs? How much was paid to Mr Bruce Pascoe for his contribution on “Aboriginal Agriculture, Technology and Ingenuity”? What process was undertaken to determine that Mr Pascoe’s work was rigorous and suitable for inclusion?
To date I have not yet received a reply from the ABC, but I look forward to sharing it…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins
