ADDRESS TO THE RECOVERING CONSERVATISM CONFERENCEHOSTED BY THE DANUBE INSTITUTEREFORM CLUB, LONDON E&OE What’s gone wrong with centre-right politics: is it our leaders, or our beliefs; or has the world changed? It’s a bit of each, as I will try to show, but there’s no reason it can’t be fixed. Consider the Reagan, Thatcher, and…
Originally published in the Spectator Australia Most Australians know very little about Morocco because it’s one of those places that rarely makes the news. Not much goes wrong there. In fact, much is going right. It’s peaceful, politically stable, and surprisingly prosperous. And for a Muslim country, it’s been remarkably protective of its Jewish community,…
Originally published as the afterword in ‘Dignity and Prosperity: The Future of Liberal Australia’, edited by David Stevens (Connor Court, 2023) As opposition leader, I often said that the longer the Rudd-Gillard government lasted the better the Howard government would look. But to the authors of these essays, it’s not just the former Labor government…
THE HYATT HOTEL, CANBERRAE&OE While life membership is a way for a political party to say thank you, to those who’ve served it, really, this party should less be thanking me, than I should be thanking you. But for the Liberal Party, I would never have been a member of parliament; never have been a…
E&OE It took me 24 hours by plane, 6 hours by car and 12 hours by train to get here. But I’d gladly do it again and again to salute the Ukrainian heroes who are on the frontline of freedom. For me, Putin’s war on Ukraine has long been personal. At about 515am, on July…
Originally published in The Australian Because Voice supporters are worried that the referendum might fail, they’re now arguing among themselves about whether to water down their proposed change to our system of government. A constitutionally entrenched indigenous Voice that was only to the parliament would certainly be less radical a change. But it would remain…
Originally published in The Australian The Prime Minister’s emotion was understandable last week, talking about the Indigenous voice to parliament, because a better deal for Indigenous people should be a key part of our national project. All of us want to close the outcomes gap between the First Australians and everyone else; and almost all…
Originally published in The Spectator Australia When it comes to the Voice, Anthony Albanese is breaking all the rules for successfully changing the constitution. First, he hasn’t thoroughly explained how the change would work. Second, he hasn’t given both sides of the argument a fair go to make their point. And third, he’s made no…
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald The chief frustration for an ex-prime minister is watching your former colleagues making big decisions without you, especially if you disagree with them. After offering advice in private, the big temptation is to repeat that advice in public on those occasions when it’s not acted upon. Sometimes, this…
Originally published in The Australian As Prime Minister, I regularly affirmed that: climate does change, mankind does make a contribution, and we should do whatever we reasonably can to reduce our emissions. I’d normally add, though, that there was little point reducing emissions in ways that drove up our cost of living or just sent…