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
Brian Harradine, the Honourable Independent
It’s good that Brian Harradine’s life is being remembered, and his work brought enduringly to the attention of the many who should be interested, through Keith Harvey’s crisply written and well researched monograph. A fine man and a great servant of Tasmania deserves no less, especially as he represented an important political and cultural tradition, and—as a balance-of-power senator—had more impact on our parliament and its laws than just about any other backbencher so far.
This review appears in the latest Quadrant.
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Harradine was a serious Catholic, who briefly studied for the religious life, and who came deeply under the influence of the National Civic Council, though possibly more its union mainstay, John Maynes, than its moving spirit, B.A. Santamaria; and consequently—despite for a time being a member of the breakaway Democratic Labor Party—became a leading union official in Tasmania.
Soon enough, he joined the ALP; and, before he was…
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
