Category blog
By John Stapleton Every lie has a trigger point when it unravels. In Australia, it is the arrest of a pregnant woman in front of her two children because she had dared to put up a Facebook post in support… Continue Reading →
By Gregory Moore from the University of Melbourne With massive fronds creating a luxuriously green canopy in the understory of Australian forests, tree ferns are a familiar sight on many long drives or bushwalks. But how much do you really… Continue Reading →
By Sonia Hickey and Ugur Nedim In times of uncertainty, people place enormous trust in leaders. And right now, many Australians have placed unwavering faith in the state, territory and federal governments to make sensible decisions to fight the coronavirus… Continue Reading →
Dear Premier, We, the undersigned, are senior medical practitioners of various specialities who practice in Victoria and are deeply concerned with the Victorian government’s management of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral pandemic as a public health issue. The purpose of this… Continue Reading →
By Paul Gregoire Using COVID-19 as an excuse, we’ve witnessed repeated instances of over-policing, with heavy-handed tactics repeatedly making headlines. “What we have seen in the last six months, in particular, is a ramping up of police hostility towards peaceful… Continue Reading →
By Dr Tess Ryan At traumatic times like these, taking time to observe and connect with others can be healing, writes Dr Tess Ryan, as part of the occasional #CroakeyEXPLORE series. My mind is where I am trapped; rooms of thought,… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton Many books by foreigners about Thailand include romantic or dissolute tales of alcoholism or substance abuse in the enervating heat; accompanied by a colourful caste of local prostitutes, gangsters and police, with virtually all the characters on… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton The debate over Australia’s harsh lockdowns has turned. From the beginning the cognoscenti, if you wish to call them that, did not climb on board, much less rally behind the flag. But the masses thought otherwise. Anyone… Continue Reading →
By Bruce Webber, CSIRO, Barry J Conn, University of Sydney and Rodrigo Camara Leret, University of Zurich Scientists have been interested in the flora of New Guinea since the 17th century, but formal knowledge of the tropical island’s diversity has… Continue Reading →
By Michael West If it’s good enough for tennis stars and entertainers, it’s good enough for multinational tax avoiders and consultants. Michael West addresses the Senate Inquiry into Finance and Public Administration. This is an edited version of the opening statement to… Continue Reading →
Reviewed by John West The US/China relationship — arguably the most important in the world — is on a downward spiral. The authors of Superpower Showdown describe it as a “romance gone bad.” We often read reviews claiming that a new book… Continue Reading →
Roxana Diamond, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by… Continue Reading →
The Interview: By John Stapleton Only a few short years ago the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the country’s leading Sunni Muslim organisation, was drenched in controversy, day after dismal day. The Federation, reported to be sitting on more than… Continue Reading →
By Sally Breen, Griffith University I live in what was one of the noisiest city precincts, pre-pandemic, in the country — Surfers Paradise — golden lit, white noise jewel of the Gold Coast. The pandemonium vibe both natural and man-made,… Continue Reading →
By Dr Guy Campbell We are facing a lethal and unpredictable enemy that is impossible to completely eradicate, which means that most of us will at some point be immunised with COVID-19 either from natural spread or immunisation. Living with… Continue Reading →
By Terrence O’Brien and Robert Carling. Centre for Independent Studies. Current policies against Covid are unsustainably costly to jobs and living standards. They produce downsides for other health outcomes, such that the net impact on health over time is becoming… Continue Reading →
By Mark Mordue When I think about rock ‘n’ roll and my life trying to write about it, my trying to get inside rock ‘n’ roll through words and stories, it seems to me all I ever cared about was… Continue Reading →
By Gisela Kaplan, University of New England Can one form a friendship with a magpie – even when adult males are protecting their nests during the swooping season? The short answer is: “Yes, one can” – although science has just… Continue Reading →
By Dr Sarah Russell with Michael West Media The deaths of 80 elderly people are imminent as a result of COVID-19 spreading through private aged care homes. Aged care behemoths were granted an extra $200m to cope with the pandemic… Continue Reading →
By Duncan Graham with Pearls and Irritations Thou woldest han oure labour al for noght. The hye god, that al this world hath wrough Seith that the workman worthy is his hyre. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Summoner’s Tale. What fools we journalists are… Continue Reading →
By Elisa deCourcy and Martyn Jolly of the Australian National University It is little wonder the life of Hemi Pōmare has attracted the attention of writers and film makers. Kidnapped in the early 1840s, passed from person to person, displayed… Continue Reading →
By Emile Dirks and Dr James Leibold. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The Chinese Government is building the world’s largest police-run DNA database in close cooperation with key industry partners across the globe. Yet, unlike the managers of other forensic… Continue Reading →
From TOTT News. Wearing a mask in public has been made compulsory for all individuals in ‘coronavirus-hit’ Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, despite no evidence the technique is effective. Masks have traditionally played an important role in occult rituals, and in… Continue Reading →
By Professor Augusto Zimmerman. Augusto Zimmerman has been one of the few Australian academics to speak out boldly about the dysfunction in the nation’s family law and child support systems. He does so from a position of strength, being a… Continue Reading →
By Jodi Rowley, Australian Museum Curator This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore the project here and… Continue Reading →
TOTT News: New online Task Force will Target Critical Thinkers The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will establish a new taskforce to counter “online disinformation campaigns”, in a bid to further clamp down on social media activities. The move… Continue Reading →
By Gregory Moore, University of Melbourne If you fondly remember May Gibbs’s Gumnut Baby stories about the adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, you may also remember the villainous Big Bad Banksia Men (perhaps you’re still having nightmares about them). But… Continue Reading →
By John Patykowski, Deakin University Grass trees (genus Xanthorrhoea) look like they were imagined by Dr Seuss. An unmistakable tuft of wiry, grass-like leaves atop a blackened, fire-charred trunk. Of all the wonderfully unique plants in Australia, surely grass trees… Continue Reading →
The 6×6 Global Talent Program from the World Press Photo Foundation recognises six visual storytellers from six global regions, to highlight talent from around the world and present stories with diverse perspectives. Launched in 2018, the initiative completed its first cycle last… Continue Reading →
By Marcus Reubenstein with Michael West Media Funded by the Department of Defence, the Australia Strategic Policy Institute collects millions more as it drives the “China threat” narrative. As Marcus Reubenstein reports, while ASPI is the media’s go-to experts for public comment,… Continue Reading →
By Jonathan Benjamin, Flinders University; Geoff Bailey, University of York; Jo McDonald, University of Western Australia; Michael O’Leary, University of Western Australia and Sean Ulm, James Cook University For most of the human history of Australia, sea levels were much… Continue Reading →
By John Stapleton Walter ‘Whacky’ Douglas looked like he was having a fine old time when he was arrested and deported from Thailand in 2014. Douglas, known as “The Tartan Pimpernel” and once described as one of Britain’s ten wealthiest… Continue Reading →