Independent blogs
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Australia’s Bulwark against Populism Is Cracking
Rebekah Barnett: Brownstone Institute he right-wing populist wave that broke over much of the democratic world with Brexit and the first Trump presidency in 2016 barely lapped at Australia’s shores. The island nation’s compulsory, preferential voting system and...
How to Sell a Genocide: The Double Standards of Reporting on Gaza
Jeff Sparrow, The University of Melbourne When the University of Queensland Press cancelled the publication of Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money’s book Bila: A River Cycle because of a blog post by its illustrator, 60 UQP contributors signed a letter of protest. Some declared...
Australian political commentator Paul Collits, with Cafe Locked Out. How Did We Get Here.
With Paul Collits. His Substack is called Political Science. Collits, being a somewhat cerebral lad, describes himself as a freelance writer and independent scholar and researcher, with interests in politics, public policy, philosophy, economics and education. To...
Blind Submission To Authority Is Caused By Bad Parenting
Reading by Tim Foley: Blind submission to authority is the result of propaganda and indoctrination, but it’s also the result of bad parenting. Raising kids who aren’t allowed to say no to you is raising adults who don’t think anyone should be allowed to oppose
Human Life Is So Much Harder Than It Needs To Be
Reading by Tim Foley: We make it so hard for ourselves, this human experience. Like it would be hard enough just being born into mortal bodies that have to experience pain and get sick and deteriorate and die. That alone would be more than enough
New Issue Of JOHNSTONE: The Empire’s War On Anti-War
The new issue of JOHNSTONE is now available to order in print or download as a pay-what-you-want e-book version. This issue features a painting of Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. The western empire is targeting antiwar activist group Code Pink with increasing aggression as US officials fabricate incidents of assault
JOIN ME ON OCTOBER 5 FOR A ‘WALK IN THE SPIRIT’ AROUND ULURU
Five years ago on my 90th birthday I walked with 50 friends along an old rail corridor in the Brisbane River Valley from my old hometown of Linville to Moore and back again, a distance of 14 kilometres. I completed the walk in three hours and raised $35000 for Dorcas...
ITS TIME TO BUILD COMMUNITIES NOT DIVIDED BY RELIGION.
WALK WITH THE SPIRIT is a page-turning novel about people – Christian, Muslim, Jew, Confucian, Indigenous, LGBTI, Atheist – who try to create a caring and sharing and generous society in the Queensland City of Rockhampton despite the current international war in which...
HAVE SOLD 126 TICKETS TO LAUNCH OF ‘WALK IN THE SPIRIT’. ROOM CAPACITY IS 140. WILL BE DELIGHTED IF YOU ARE ONE OF FINAL 14.
The launch of WALK IN THE SPIRIT is on Friday 27 March at Noon at the Royal on the Park in Alice Street Brisbane. The 126 who have bought tickets have paid 95 dollars each for a special Uluru Burger with a drink and coffee, as well as a signed book, with the surplus...
Metaphor, Risk, and Responsibility in Language around Reconciliation
Public reconciliation discourse relies heavily on metaphor to mobilise participation and signal ethical commitment. Phrases such as “closing the gap”, “walking together” and “bridge-building” frame reconciliation through ideas of movement, repair and shared responsibility. So why are we now seeing gambling-derived language, specifically the phrase “go all in”? Gambling metaphors
We’re like Texas I can tell…
On Queensland Day, I thought it might be interesting to compare how we’re travelling relative to a couple of US States – California (which we are told we are much alike) and Texas (which I think we should try to be more alike).Direct comparisons are never really all that helpful
Why the Enhanced Games offer of $US10 million to break Usain Bolt’s 100m world record in 2027 is unlikely to succeed
After the recent Enhanced Games (23 May 2026) where no 100m runner got anywhere near Usan Bolt’s world record of 9.58 (+0.9 metres per second), with Fred Kerley winning with a time of 9.97 well outside his personal best of 9.76, investors for the games have sought to revitalise interest
License to inflate: the One Nation surge and political astrology
It sounds like an acute sewerage burst, but as much political commentary rests on the tired cliché, we see the language of liquid velocity apply to parties that suddenly emerge in the polls as portentously relevant to watchers and news cyclists. They “surge” away, giving hacks and pundits room to
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Discarding human rights for the sake of Israel
The Albanese government frequently presents Australia as a defender of international law, human rights and the so-called rules-based international order. But when allegations involve one of Australia’s closest allies, those principles appear increasingly difficult to uphold.This week, we examine serious allegations made by Australian citizens who were detained by Israeli
AUKUS: The $368 billion submarine mirage
AUKUS was sold to Australians as a transformational defence agreement that would deliver a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and strengthen the nation’s security for decades to come. But nearly five years after the deal was announced, the questions are mounting while all the answers remain elusive.With Defence Minister Richard Marles
The anti-corruption commission that never arrived
Has the National Anti-Corruption Commission ever lived up to its promise? Less than three years after it was created, the answer has to be a resounding no. The resignation of NACC Commissioner Paul Brereton has become more than just an issue about him – it’s reopened those basic questions about