The most explosive court case in recent Australian history has ended with a spectacular squib from the accuser. All charges against the accused have been dropped, essentially because the accuser is refusing to return to court to give evidence. This follows the failure of rushed attempts to change the law
It hasn’t taken Jordan Peterson long to upset the self-righteous and censorious, on his current visit to Australia. Like all of us who’ve taken a plane flight lately, Peterson found himself enduring the fatuous drivel of an in-flight “welcome to country”. Unlike the rest of us, the good
The Greens must have thought they’d hit the jackpot with Lidia Thorpe: a strident, militant leftist, a woman, and an “Indigenous”? If only she was gay or disabled, they’d have swept their intersectional bingo card clean. Instead, it turns out to be very much a case of buyer’
If Anthony Albanese learned anything from Australia’s 1999 Republic referendum, it’s clearly: Don’t tell them what you’re really up to. The best thing John Howard ever did was to force the Republicans to ‘fess up to the Australian people exactly what they were up to. Confronted
I’ve never voted National in my life — after all, you need to have a big hat and a farm to do that, right? On the other hand, I’ve lived in the country most of my life. (By way of explanation for BFD readers, the Nationals in Australia shouldn’
When you talk to the left, does it ever feel as if you’re talking to a visitor from another planet? A planet where lockdowns saved us all from the Black Plague, where socialism has never failed because “real socialism” has never been tried, and where the world stands on
In a great little scene from Australian film, Idiot Box, protagonists Mick and Kev cross a pedestrian overpass above an arterial packed with rush-hour traffic. Mick wonders about all the people in all the cars: “Where do you reckon they’re goin’?”. Kev glances over and sagely observes: “Fuck ‘em”
You know, there was a time when I might have voted for the Greens. Then I grew up. (Which explains the Greens’ obsession with lowering the voting age: exploit the young and ignorant while they can. Until then, they’ll just exploit the adult and ignorant.) But even after I
The Australia I used to know had an indulgent tolerance for harmless larrikins, whackers and eccentrics. “Shitposting”, as we call it in today’s internet world, is such an Australian tradition that the “Aussie Shitposter” became its own meme. But the Australia I used to know is long gone. In
Well, there it is: the news that absolutely no-one expected. Shocking. Unforeseen. Totally unpredictable. No-one, but no-one, warned that this could ever, possibly happen. A Central Australian regional council servicing nine remote Aboriginal communities has laid bare the impacts it has observed since long-term alcohol bans were lifted in the
If, as some polls are beginning to whisper, the unthinkable happens this Saturday and Victorians finally break free of the Cult of Dan, one person who should be very, very worried is Jacinda Ardern. What on Earth does a state election in Australia have to do with next year’s
How do societies slide into totalitarianism? One step at a time. You don’t go to bed one night in an open, free country and wake up the next morning to find yourself under constant surveillance with jackbooted thugs banging on your door and all your civil liberties stripped away.
Rebekah Barnett brownstone.org Rebekah Barnett writes for Dystopian Down Under. She holds a BA (Hons First Class) in Communications. After 963 days in a State of Emergency (SoE), Western Australia is finally returned to some semblance of normalcy on the 4th of November with the SoE finally expiring. However,
For months, the near-universal consensus has been that this week’s Victorian state election is Labor’s to lose. Even after the world’s longest lockdowns and Australia’s worst Covid performance, the statewide Stockholm Syndrome has apparently been cast-iron. Anyone who’s visited the state and witnessed the robotic
Predicting election outcomes is nearly always a surefire way to make a fool of yourself. Remember the absolute confidence of Clinton supporters in 2016? Or the hubris of Trump supporters four years later? So, allow me to make a fool of myself by tentatively suggesting that this weekend’s Victorian
