The Search for the Palace Letters is a remarkable documentary that follows the story of Professor Jenny Hocking, the historian who took on an epic legal battle against the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth II in a landmark legal battle – and won. Aired on ABC earlier this week, you can view the documentary Continue reading »
Government
It is time for Albanese to take the public into his confidence. He has an instinct for secretiveness that almost matches that of Scott Morrison. If the sacked secretary of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, had planned to appeal or seek judicial review of his sacking, he has probably now run out of time. That deprives Continue reading »
The dismissal of Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Queen Elizabeth’s Vice-Regal representative, Sir John Kerr, was an extraordinary event. For almost fifty years a debate has raged about why the Governor-General took the unprecedented action he did on 11 November 1975. This five-part series puts a spotlight on the on the external events that Continue reading »
In recent years a growing number of Australians have lost confidence in their system of governance, but few journalists and political theory academics have suggested alternatives. If Australia is to improve its governance system and its democracy, it should look to European alternatives. The Australian system of governance is usually described as “Westminster”. This includes Continue reading »
Instead of thinking through and independently acting in Australia’s best interests, Prime Minister Albanese has followed in the footsteps of his discredited predecessors and outsourced defence and foreign policy to the US. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is a provincial man with a strong social conscience. He understands issues of health, education and infrastructure and Continue reading »
“He who laughs has not yet heard the terrible tidings…”. A collection of stories from the late, great, veteran political reporter Mungo MacCallum: Australia’s true journalistic believer. MUNGO MACCALLUM. The patience of our first nation, while remarkable, is not inexhaustible. MUNGO MACCALLUM. Cook and the continuing culture wars. MUNGO MACCALLUM. In the Continue reading »
Under Australia’s Constitution, the people of Australia have no way of binding the parliaments and governments they elect to be loyal to them. This is because once parliaments and governments are elected the members must take an oath that obliges them to give their loyalty solely to a foreign monarch who has no reciprocal obligation Continue reading »
In the wake of the prosecution of David McBride something has emerged about our Constitution that should give every Australian cause for serious concern, this being that the oath taken by both our armed forces and our parliamentarians is one which obliges them solely to be loyal to a foreign monarch, not to the Australian Continue reading »
…our list is a genuine plea for you to bring us a greatly improved integrity-related system that addresses all the shortcomings in the current arrangements. Dear Santa, I am writing this wish list on behalf of the vast majority of Victorians. Please don’t think we are being greedy as that is not our intention. Rather, Continue reading »
A recent submission to a Senate inquiry by the Centre for Public Integrity claimed that in the decade to 2023 companies making political donations “were 2.49 times more likely to win procurement contracts than non-donors”, and that the value of contracts won by donor companies was on average 4.4 times the value of contracts won Continue reading »