Author aSense
By Maria Popova: The Marginalian In these darkening times, when the powerful and the political class have become utterly corrupted, and indifferent to the concerns of ordinary people, there are, as a kind of counterwave, a significant number of people… Continue Reading →
Rebekah Barnett: Dystopia Down Under This might be the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum’s ‘basket of deplorables’ moment. Hillary Clinton famously applied the slur to half of Donald Trump’s supporters, who she described as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic.” The… Continue Reading →
TOTT NEWS New international ‘legal instrument’ looms. CONSULTATION STAGE The Australian government has released a consultation paper detailing their adherence to a “global accord” on “pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” moving forward. As was the concern, this will come in the form… Continue Reading →
Tanya Dalziell, The University of Western Australia and Paul Genoni, Curtin University The centenary of the birth of Charmian Clift took place on August 30. It came at a time when the renowned Australian writer is, as they say, having… Continue Reading →
Scott Burchill, Deakin University Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has just announced sanctions against a number of institutions in Iran for allegedly oppressing women and girls. The Minister’s media release, dated 13 September, 2023, reads: “On the first anniversary of… Continue Reading →
By Rex Patrick: Michael West Media Paul Keating rightly calls it the “worst deal in all history,” and the Albanese Government intends to use Australian taxpayer’s money to build up the US and UK submarine construction and ship repair industry. Rex… Continue Reading →
Russell Shakespeare is a multi-award winning Australian photographer. His professional work, while at times a fascinating high pressure roller coaster ride, has its decided restrictions. This series explores the artistic side of one of Australia’s most accomplished lensmen. The Commute… Continue Reading →
Simon Goldstein, Australian Catholic University and Peter S. Park, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Artificial intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton made headlines earlier this year when he raised concerns about the capabilities of AI systems. Speaking to CNN journalist Jake Tapper,… Continue Reading →
By Dr Binoy Kampmark: Independent Australia Pursuing legal redress for defamation by AI chatbots like ChatGPT will likely prove fraught. Cometh the new platform, cometh new actions in law, the fragile litigant ever ready to dash off a writ to… Continue Reading →
By Nudge Mieli Boxing coach Nudge Mieli, who came from a martial arts background, started boxing to become more proficient with his hands. “They call boxing the sweet science, and that’s what drew me to it,” Nudge says. “It is… Continue Reading →
By Rex Patrick: Michael West Media Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy Hydro 2.0 project was touted as $2 billion bargain in 2017. It now shapes as a $10 billion abominable snowman. Peering through a Kosciusko/Canberra snow storm of FOI brush-offs, Rex Patrick asks what… Continue Reading →
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra Australians will vote on October 14 to decide whether the Constitution will be changed to include a Voice to Parliament and executive government. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the long-anticipated date to an enthusiastic audience… Continue Reading →
The Indigenous Voice to Parliament aka The Voice is the proposed new advisory group containing separately elected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, perpetually enshrined in the Constitution of Australia, which would “have a responsibility and right to advise the Australian Parliament and Government on national matters of… Continue Reading →
By Brian Toohey: Pearls and Irritations. Government ministers and senior officials are conditioning Australians to become frightened, very frightened. The Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil warns they face a “dystopian future” from cyber-crime, foreign interference and threats to our democracy…. Continue Reading →
Robert Phiddian, Flinders University After seven decades as a visual satirist provoking Australia as it is and might be, Bruce Petty passed away at 93 on April 6 this year. His career as a political cartoonist started with a trip… Continue Reading →
Rebekka Barnett: Dystopian Down Under Misinformation research is a joke, but not in the haha way. Today, I submitted my feedback to the Australian Government on the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023. If passed, the bill will… Continue Reading →
By Rex Patrick: Michael West Media At this week’s Labor Conference Defence Minister Richard Marles distributed a 32 paragraph statement for insertion into the ALP National Platform to explain the Albanese’s Government’s rationale for an incredible $368B of public expenditure… Continue Reading →
By Allan Patience: Pearls and Irritations Hard core supporters of Australia’s alliance with America – in Australia, the USA, and in the UK – were no doubt thrilled by Anthony Albanese’s full-throated defence of the AUKUS deal at the ALP’s… Continue Reading →
By Sonia Hickey: Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog The organisation that has been instrumental in the response to Covid-19, including the push for universal, preliminarily-tested vaccinations by big pharmaceutical companies, has quietly published a report acknowledging the potentially adverse effects of… Continue Reading →
A tourist on seeing the cat sitting outside the incense shop, called him Frank. After frankincense. But the cat took no notice. Having sat on the steps of the shop for ten years, Aziz—for this was his real name —was… Continue Reading →
By Jamie Kirkpatrick, University of Tasmania The photo said it all. On the back of a logging truck, a tree so large it could barely fit. It was cut down in Tasmania’s Florentine Valley, not far from Mount Field, where… Continue Reading →
By Debbie Lerman: Brownstone Institute As previously reported, in the United States, the Covid pandemic response was designed and led by the national security branches of government, not by any public health agency or official. Furthermore, we do not have a public record of… Continue Reading →
Michael Sainsbury: Michael West Media Billionaire mining scion Gina Rinehart, gas fracker Santos, Australia’s number one corporate welfare recipient Qantas, as well as beleaguered taxpayers, bankrolled Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s annual Bush Summit. Starting last Friday in Tamworth, a national… Continue Reading →
Linette Umbrello and Andrew M. Baker, Queensland University of Technology, and Kenny Travouillon, Western Australian Museum You probably know about the Tasmanian devil. You might even know about its smaller, less-famous relative, the spotted-tailed quoll. But these are far from… Continue Reading →
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA SENATE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION COMMITTEE These hearings have been the subject of worldwide news and and so we bring you these edited highlights. For those who have followed it, they mark an historic turning point in… Continue Reading →
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA SENATE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION COMMITTEE These hearings have been the subject of worldwide news and and so we bring you these edited highlights. For those who have followed it, they mark an historic turning point in… Continue Reading →
By Paul Gregoire: Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog Veteran journalist Brian Toohey outlines in 2019’s Secret that US intelligence agents weren’t too keen on then Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam’s mid-1970s questioning of the viability of US government operations at local military installations… Continue Reading →
By David Eric Peacock. Warning: this article contains graphic descriptions of human disfigurement. In 1878, the body of Sergeant Michael Kennedy lay in the bush in Victoria’s Wombat Ranges. He’d been shot by the notorious Ned Kelly gang – but… Continue Reading →
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA SENATE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION COMMITTEE Members in attendance: Senators Antic, Canavan, Grogan, Hanson, O’Sullivan, Payman, Rennick, Roberts and SheldonTerms of Reference for the Inquiry:To inquire into and report on:COVID-19 Vaccination Status (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2022Fair… Continue Reading →
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato The release of the threat assessment by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) is the final piece in a defence and security puzzle that marks a genuine shift towards more open and public discussion… Continue Reading →
From TOTT NEWS The manipulation of the human nervous system through the use of television and computer monitors is a reality in the modern world, according to a number of registered patents. Techniques studied in the 1970s reveal the ability… Continue Reading →
By Rex Patrick: Michael West Media. The spiralling cost of our alliance with the United States goes way beyond the $368B AUKUS deal and joined intelligence and communications facilities. Australia is paying the price of reduced independence, as Rex Patrick reports. The… Continue Reading →