In a better world this is the speech our Prime Minister would have delivered long ago. Yes, it's a fantasy, and no, we'll not hear its like in this government's lifetime. But join me nevertheless in conjuring the scene as a leader lays out a fresh and better path to Australia's future

Even the most cursory inspection reveals the integrity of institutions and mores is coming apart. From a failing yet ever more costly education system to defence policies crafted to achieve electoral advantage, rather than national security, the strands of what once held us together are rupturing

It is only a personal observation but it seems to me that the sympathy and sums governments are spending on deradicalisation programmes, Muslim sports and outreach campaigns just aren't working. Indeed, the more indulgences granted, the more pronounced that separatism becomes

As Judeo-Christian belief fades in the West, the ability to appreciate that adherents of another creed still recognise their holy book as the perfect, immutable guide to all of life fades with it. Islam is not Christianity with a beard. Our political leaders need to acknowledge that simple fact

The revelations Muslims are obliged to believe Muhammad received from his heavenly envoy lay out how the faithful must regulate their lives and relations with non-believers. Prominent among them, the obligation to do "good deeds" -- and that is the problem

Section 116 guarantees the right to worship in whatever manner your favoured creed prescribes -- but only so long as beliefs and practices conform with the definition of religion laid down by the High Court. In this regard, Koranic edicts are somewhat problematic

With few exceptions, the pews in many Australian churches were lightly populated this weekend, those empty seats testifying that the faith of our fathers has been bleached pallid by the bright lights of empty amusements and the unmoored vacuity of relativism. A rival faith has no such distractions

The activist agenda to mainstream gayness -- a push represented, to cite but one example, by the odious Safe Schools program -- is a matter of the moment. But what are the consequences of science-assisted reproduction in the longer term? That few seem to know or care is a matter of grave concern

The West's feather-footed leaders tread softly when extolling "moderate" Muslims as the purported antidote to the creed's literalist firebrands and militant extremists. What they lack the courage to acknowledge is that the Qur'an is itself the fountainhead of radicalism