01 April 2026 Published on Substack Speech notes from an address to the Danube Institute’s Family Formation and Future Conference E&OE —— Perhaps because it’s a small country, that can’t just think about itself, Hungary excels in hosting big picture discussion; and what could be bigger than population policy, and whether replacing-with-migrants, the babies the-West-won’t-have,…
23 Feb 2026 Published on Substack Speech notes from the address to the Advance Australia Conference E&OE —— In my recent book, I declare that Australia is best described as one indissoluble federal Commonwealth under the Crown, with an indigenous heritage, a British foundation, and an immigrant character – and that’s because modern Australia was…
05 February 2026 Published on Substack E&OE —— As the world’s 14th largest economy, Australia can hardly be America’s most powerful or most important ally, but we have been its most reliable one. Ever since US troops went into action for the first time on the Western Front, on 4 July 1918, at the battle…
11 December 2025 Published on Substack E&OE —— It’s impossible to do justice to the life of Sir David Smith, whom we honour tonight, without considering the Whitlam dismissal, with which he will always be linked, the 50th anniversary of which has just passed. Some of the most watched footage in our history has the…
4 December 2025 Location Published E&OE —— It’s good that we’re meeting here in Washington, where the main conservative party is not just in office but in power. And what’s not to like about building the wall, two genders only, making government more efficient, and drill baby drill? Yet elsewhere in the Anglosphere, it’s not…
Speech notes from Anne Henderson’s Paul Hasluck Monograph Launch 11 November 2025 E&OE —— This slim but immensely readable and sharply drawn life of Sir Paul Hasluck is Anne Henderson’s latest luminous contribution to our understanding of Australia’s public life, following earlier works such as her biographies of Dame Enid and Joe Lyons (perhaps our…
24 September 2025 Published on Substack E&OE —— It’s wonderful to be here in Brisbane! It’s wonderful to be with so many people who love our country and want it to be better. Like me, I am sure that you believe that this is the best country in the world. Our job is to keep…
30 July 2025 Published in The Australian St John’s Anglican Church, Ashfield E&OE —— With John Stone, whom we honour and mourn, it’s hard to find any sphere in which he did not excel. He was a brilliant student. He was outstanding at sport. He was the 1951 West Australian Rhodes Scholar. He swiftly rose…
Speech notes from the address to the ACETCA Gala Dinner 27 June 2025 E&OE —— It’s good to be here, marking ten years since the Abbott government finalised the landmark trade deal between Australia and China, thanks to the prodigious work of Andrew Robb, our best ever trade minister. And also to celebrate the contribution…
21 April 2025 Published in the Australian Speech notes for the address to the Conservative Breakfast Club in Brisbane —— I used to think that 1975 was the most consequential election in our history because Whitlam’s was our worst-ever government and because voters had to ratify the governor-general’s decision to dismiss him. But this election…
