Originally published in The Australian Ron Boswell (with Joanne Newberry), Not Pretty, but Pretty Effective, Connor Court Publishing, 2023, ISBN: 9781922815859, 319pp Many former MPs write memoirs but few are as readable or as instructive as these reflections from former National Party Senator Ron Boswell, who retired in 2014 after 32 years in harness. For…
26 February 2024 New Delhi, India E&OE For a long time, some outsiders said of India: “it’s a country of great potential – and always will be”. To those sceptics, I declare that modern India remains a country of vast potential but is already a country of great achievement. It’s already the world’s fifth largest…
Remarks to the Legatum Institute, London E&OE Check Against Delivery —— This paper, from AUKUS to CAUKUS, recommending the inclusion of Canada, in the seamless defence research and procurement side of AUKUS, makes enormous sense because it would strengthen the democracies at a critical time. When the British defence minister recently warned that the world…
Originally published in The Times E&OE The prospect of major war is more real than at any time since 1939. We all wish it were otherwise but we urgently need to face up to this. The Russian dictator is starting to win in Ukraine and won’t stop there. The Middle East could explode at any…
Remarks to the Centre for Policy Studies in London E&OE At the start of 2020, for most people in most places, life had never been more free, more fair, more safe, and more rich. It might not have been the broad sunlit uplands of the end of history, but it was the best of times…
Originally published in The National Post Taking place in one of the world’s fossil-fuel hubs, a city sultanate so prodigal in its energy use that it boasts indoor ski slopes in the desert furnace, the just-concluded climate jamboree in Dubai could hardly avoid a note of climate realism. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin…
REMARKS TO JOINT DANUBE INSTITUTE / HERITAGE FOUNDATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION, WASHINGTON DC E&OE Nostalgia for a golden age and lamenting the decline from it is characteristic of conservatives; and that’s not all bad, provided it spurs us to lift our game rather than fold our tents. In the glory days of Reagan and Thatcher, our…
Originally published in The Australian Probably for the first time anywhere an issue of identity politics has been put to the people and, here in Australia, resoundingly rejected. Given that the classic notion of the absolute equality of every human being – regardless of race, religion, gender and culture – is now under sustained assault,…
Originally published in The Australian Whichever way today’s vote goes, the result has to be accepted as a valid expression of the will of the Australian people. If the voice gets up, its critics will have to grit their teeth, accept that voters have endorsed it and do their best to ensure it does more…
Originally published in the West Australian Race-based division has no place in this nation In voting No to this divisive Voice, we’re really saying Yes to constitutional equality and national unity. Everyone wants Aboriginal people to do well and most of us would be happy to see an acknowledgement of Aboriginal people in the Constitution….