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 Voice of a New (and Smaller) Australia
The truth was that Prime Minister Jonesy had never really been interested in First Nations issues. When his advisers told him the Voice was a matter of manners, it seemed fair enough. The referendum went through, pushed by $200 million from his government. Now the Voice MPs had him over a barrel. They were demanding 10 per cent Indigenous staff for the new submarines, which was impossible. As a result, the Bill could not pass.
“Why didn’t someone explain this to me?” Jonesy asked his chief of staff. “I will be a laughing stock in Washington and London.”
“Paris and Beijing too,” the advisor added. It was his job to be honest with the PM.
“They’re supposed to be on our side,” Jonesy said.
On top of that, the Voice MPs wanted some other alarming things. Houses with air-conditioning for every First Nation person sounded reasonable in the Northern Territory, but 70 per cent of them were being built in Sydney and Melbourne. Same for late model 4WDs. Cabinet had…
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
