Poor old Albo. Labor leader Anthony Albanese seems like a decent enough bloke, it’s just his politics that are lousy – and he’s trying to lead a party that doesn’t know if it’s beer-drinking Arthur or latte-sipping Martha. Except that Labor’s traditional base have already worked
China’s punishing trade war against Australia, in open retaliation for the Morrison government’s backing of an independent international investigation into the origins of the Wuhan virus, is but one face of the reality of dealing with a bullying communist dictatorship. Just as China openly told New Zealand to
The great risk of asymmetrical warfare is that the seemingly more powerful side – usually a nation-state and its regular armed forces – are actually at a severe disadvantage. This is especially true of liberal democracies, whose armed forces are held rigidly to the rules of war, but intensely scrutinised – not least
Labor MP Anne Aly touts herself as a “counter-terrorism academic” and “de-radicalisation expert”. Leaving aside that her academic qualifications are in literature and media, it might better be asked: show us the jihadis she’s “de-radicalised”. Perhaps Junaid Thorne, for whom she provided a letter of support when he was
Johannes Leak’s cartoon summed it all: as PM Scott Morrison declares, “I will never compromise Australian values by caving in to China’s bullying”, opposition leader Anthony Albanese jumps in, waving a Chinese flag: “I will!” For too long, the Labor party, like too many in high places in
Freedom for Faith mercatornet.com The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 will have a terrible chilling effect on the provision of counselling and support for vulnerable people wrestling with their sexuality In the most aggressive action ever taken by an Australian government to attack freedom of religion,
Chongyi Feng University of Technology Sydney As the diplomatic fallout continues over the digitally altered war crimes tweet sent by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, earlier this week, it’s important to note this inflammatory and offensive post is not an isolated case. Zhao and other Chinese officials
New Zealand can consider itself warned – and put in its place. When Jacinda Ardern issued a rebuke – however mild – to the Chinese regime over its use of a faked Twitter image to smear Australia, it was a welcome change in direction from a leader who has been more besotted by
The phrase “useful idiots” may be of uncertain provenance but its applicability is rarely in doubt. Oxford defines the term as referring to someone “naive and susceptible to manipulation for propaganda or…similarly manipulable for political purposes”, especially by totalitarian regimes. Not for nothing was it first applied to the
While China’s tweeting of a fake image of an Australian soldier killing a child is grabbing headlines – for all the wrong reasons – around the world, it scarcely exceeds the bastardy being meted out to Australia’s soldiers by military brass at home. The Brereton Report, which found evidence of
China is now showing its true face to the world: a brutal bully, too gutless to pick a fight with the biggest kid in the playground, so it tries to shove around someone smaller. For decades, the communist state has tried to soft-soap a gullible world that it’s a
The Morrison government is facing multiple challenges, both domestic and foreign. Some are “events”, as Harold MacMillan might put it, such as responding to the Wuhan plague and mostly state government actions like lockdowns. But many others are direct attacks from left-wing enemies. But while the Chinese communist regime tries
When is the Morrison government going to learn the lesson that repeatedly has beaten it over the head? Turning teal is not a vote-winner. Coalition voters want a party that offers a clear alternative to the Labor-Green watermelon monster. Nothing should have hammered home that lesson more brutally than the
As China escalates its war of trade and words against Australia, the Morrison government has won the unequivocal support of its key ally, the United States. For now, anyway. Another key ally, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is taking a rare risk of angering the communist giant by raising
Beijing is clearly feeling under pressure, as it ramps up its trade and diplomatic attacks on Australia to near-hysterical levels. China has apparently singled out Australia as its post-COVID whipping-boy, not least for Australian PM Scott Morrison’s determination to force an international investigation to get behind China’s non-stop
One of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern history is that of bitterest enemies becoming fast allies within less than a century. The depth of the enmity between Australia and Japan in WWII cannot be overstated. The treatment of Allied POWs in Japanese camps is legendary for its brutality. For
