Originally published in the Australian, 23 February 2018 One thing I am not going to cop is gratuitous criticism from ministers who are only in government because I led them there. It is the prime minister’s right to choose his ministerial team and, given some of the policies of this government, I’m happy to serve…
Australian politics is at a low ebb for many reasons but one is our tendency to tell other people how to do their jobs rather than to get on with our own. A classic instance was the Queensland premier’s recent demand for a national approach to anti-bullying in schools. But unlike Queensland, the federal government does not…
Originally published in The Australian, 1 February 2018 One of the current government’s great successes has been border protection policy. Given the scale of the people smuggling that had developed under the former Labor government, not even the original architects of border protection, John Howard and Philip Ruddock, thought it could be done. But very…
Originally published in The Australian, 22 January 2018 “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” asks the John Cleese character in the classic film Life of Brian. It’s worth asking the same question…
Originally published in The Australian, 20 November 2017 It is never easy to talk to someone about death, even in the abstract, but it’s especially daunting to raise it in the context of “what happens after you’re gone”; and if it involves a vast sum of money, it’s all so much the harder, seeming both ghoulish…
Originally published in The Australian, 14 November 2017 Whichever way it goes, the supporters of marriage between a man and a woman can be proud of their campaign. With polls showing support for same-sex marriage as high as 70 per cent just two months ago, the No campaign has done a fine job reminding people of…
Originally published in the Spectator Australia, 10 November 2017 The other week I was trying to elicit some interest in politics from a dozen country schoolkids. Eventually, I managed to coax a single question out of them. It wasn’t the standard query of teenagers forced to think beyond their usual interests. There were no teacher-pleasing…
One night a couple of weeks back I attended two separate meetings, of different organisations, both with an interest in public life: the first had about 50 people, mostly over 60, pessimistic about the next election; the second, over 100 people, mostly under 30, optimistic about their ability to make a difference. It might not…
Thank you for giving me the same platform that you’ve previously given to fellow Australians John Howard and George Pell. I will strive to be worthy of their example and their friendship; to offer a common sense way through the climate conflict; and, also, to place this particular issue in the broader search for practical…
Originally published in the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun, 28 September 2017 No one wants to seem harsh towards gay friends and family members which is why most people’s initial inclination was to say “yes” to same sex marriage. But that’s starting to change as more and more of us realise that this issue…