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
In Praise of Drunken Sailors
One of the defining issues in Australia’s federal elections since John Howard’s government was defeated in 2007 is the state of the budget. After its GFC spendathon, Labor under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard chased a surplus. Wayne Swan kept promising its imminent appearance. Alas, it kept disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Swan chronically battered and bruised, politically speaking.
Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison continued the pursuit. And at last, with gasps of relief, it was within Morrison’s grasp. Yikes! It was not meant to be. COVID-19 snatched it away as effectively as it snatched away the presence of mind of the worldwide political class; except, perhaps, for Stefan Löfven, Jair Bolsonaro and Alexander Lukashenko.
The rest suffered COVID derangement syndrome (CDS), characterised by a propensity to inflict national self-harm by closing down viable businesses, throwing people out of work, and keeping healthy young people, even schoolchildren,…
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
