Beautifully written stories on politics, social movements, photography and books

Tag Australian Independent News Sites

Anthropocene: The Age of Humans

The Anthropocene Project is a multidisciplinary body of work by photographer Edward Burtynsky, filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal and cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier. The project’s starting point is the research of the Anthropocene Working Group, an international body of scientists who argue… Continue Reading →

The Myth of Black Opal: Lightning Ridge and the Fiery Guardians of Eternal Love

The picture above was taken in 1909, at the height of what was known as the Three Mile Rush. The bicycle polisher rigged up in the centre of this picture was being used to rub down opal. The commercial potential… Continue Reading →

Fundamental Rights in the Age of Covid: The Best Of Our Archives.

By Professor Augusto Zimmermann The Covid-19 pandemic is a turning point in history. Government measures to fight Covid-19 have deeply affected fundamental rights, particularly freedom of movement, expression, privacy and association. I am delighted to announce the publication of ‘Fundamental… Continue Reading →

Kylie Tennant’s Hut: Bushfires Destroyed the Writing Retreat of an Aussie Literary Icon

By Brigid Magner, RMIT University The Black Summer bushfires may have ended, but the cultural cost has yet to be counted. Thousands of Aboriginal sites were likely destroyed in the 2019 bushfires. But at present, there is no clarity about… Continue Reading →

The Enemies of Freedom Double-down

By TOTT News Vaccination passports may soon be required for Australians to travel interstate, Prime Minster Scott Morrison has announced in an interview. The comments come as vaccine hesitancy continues to grow across the country, with more citizens beginning to… Continue Reading →

Downloading Our Thoughts

By Henry-James Meiring, The University of Queensland Modern transhumanism is the belief that, in the future, science and technology will enable us to transcend our bodily confines. Scientific advances will transform humans and, in the process, eliminate ageing, disease, unnecessary… Continue Reading →

The Covid Pact

By Paul Collits Individual rights, traditionally conceived, exist prior to, and separate from, the State.  Not any more, in the age of Covid and lockdown, all that we previously accepted about government has been discarded.  And we did it.  It… Continue Reading →

J’Accuse! Peddling Government Propaganda, Media Hypes Drums of War

By Brian Toohey: Michael West Media The use of disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks by China and other authoritarian states has rightly attracted much criticism in the mainstream media. However, the US and its democratic allies decades ago pioneered the… Continue Reading →

India’s Coronavirus Emergency Tells A Story Poorly Understood

By Professor Ramesh Thakur: Pearls and Irritations The blanket and punitive travel ban for Australians returning from India is neither justified, nor does it make much sense in the efforts to curb the spreading of the virus. The Indian Coronavirus… Continue Reading →

Katoomba Noir: Australian Gothic

The Photography of Dean Sewell. With John Stapleton. Wherever I have lived I have always documented my own immediate environs. The photograph above is of my front yard. You don’t get any more immediate. There is an old quip about… Continue Reading →

The Defence Portfolio Could Make Or Break Peter Dutton’s Political Career

By Peter J. Dean, University of Western Australia. Defence is always one of the Australian government’s busiest — and most powerful — portfolios. Now, as Peter Dutton takes the helm, this is no exception, and he will have much work… Continue Reading →

Afghanistan: Where Imperial Hubris Goes To Die

By Ramesh Thakur: Australian Strategic Policy Institute. In 2009, as I gazed at the gaping hillside holes in Bamiyan where once two imposing Buddha statues had stood as silent sentinels for more than 1,500 years, two emotions were dominant. The… Continue Reading →

The Illiberalism of Pro-Vaxxer “Liberals”

By Paul Collits One of the less noticed aspects of the Year of Living Covidly has been the birth of strange new alliances and unexpected political fissures to which lockdown policies and lockdown scepticism have given rise.  We now have… Continue Reading →

Australia’s Former Conservative Leader Andrew Peacock Passes As The Party He Once Led Drowns In Scandal

By Paul Collits. Australia’s ruling Coalition of the Liberal and National Parties is now mired in scandal so deep they are facing electoral oblivion. The tremulous leadership of current Prime Minister Scott Morrison is dragging down the conservative brand; and… Continue Reading →

Australian Medical Association Director Wants Employers To Know If Staff Have Been Vaccinated

TOTT News The Australian Medical Association’s Queensland President is calling for a overhaul of privacy laws to give companies the power to see which of their staff have been vaccinated. The call comes as Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout incrementally continues,… Continue Reading →

Morrison’s Minders At The Heart Of His Doldrums

By Jack Waterford: Pearls and Irritations. Perhaps a day will come when the champion rorters, liars, and conscious mis-managers of public resources are before a serious corruption commission and out on their ears. The political and administrative dominance of the… Continue Reading →

Incomprehensible: Unfolding Catastrophe Part X

By John Stapleton He could feel the interest gathering; there to be used and reused and discarded, a threat that could neither be eliminated nor controlled. He was trying to make alliances, there in that place, there in those hours,… Continue Reading →

Incomplete Strategy and Niche Contributions — Australia Leaves Afghanistan After 20 Years

By John Blaxland, Australian National University. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared Australia will withdraw its remaining 80 troops from Afghanistan by September, marking the end of its longest involvement in a war. This follows President Joe Biden announcing the… Continue Reading →

A Culture Of Corruption Is Engulfing The Australian Government

By Jenny Hocking: Pearls and Irritations A culture of corruption is engulfing the Morrison government. It’s not just the endless graft and largesse – the million-dollar contracts to Liberal linked companies, the generously (mis)allocated ‘grants’ to coalition seats, the personal… Continue Reading →

Collateral Crucifixion – Pressuring for Julian Assange’s Release!

By Sabine Bock: Pressenza international Press Agency With the title “Collateral Crucifixion”, the artist duo Captain Borderline has completed this motif as a giant maximum Assange mural in Berlin on a complete house facade directly in front of the Willy… Continue Reading →

Government Considers Forcing Australians to Provide ID to Use Social Media

Australian authorities will consider a radical measure to ‘prevent online bullying and trolling’, requiring all users of social media to provide 100 points of ID before use. Experts say the proposal would involve serious privacy risks for internet users, who… Continue Reading →

Parliament House Has Become A Cesspool and Morrison is Blocking The Drain

By Martin Hirst: Independent Australia The rancidness of our Liberal Party Government, with its recent sex scandals and accusations of rape, starts from the very top and seeps down. DO YOU REMEMBER a couple of weeks ago when one of… Continue Reading →

A Ship of Fools: Unfolding Catastrophe Part VII

Very early on in the Covid drama the country’s commentators were straight out of the box slamming the government for mismanagement. There was no rallying behind the flag. From leading independent news site Crikey a story titled Ship of Fools: … Continue Reading →

Technofascism: The Historical Roots of the Modern Scientific Elite

By T.J. Coles: TOTT News Big Tech’s ever-expanding ability to shape public opinion and control freedom of speech stems directly from the rise of futurism and technocratic ideals in the early 20th century. Whoever controls the information we see or… Continue Reading →

Scotty’s Jab

By Paul Collits The Covid vaccines have been hailed as the world’s route out of lockdown and associated measures.  Not so fast, as we now are coming to realise.  The inept Morrison Government should be held to far higher standards… Continue Reading →

Scott Morrison: The Elephant In The Room. Best of the Archives.

The single most fascinating thing about Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is: He Shows No Guilt. Not a shred of remorse at having thrown millions of people onto welfare thanks to his absurd misreading of the Covid Scare. Not for… Continue Reading →

Ode to Australian Tennis Legend Margaret Court

By Paul Collits Margaret Court has brought on the ire of the diversity brigade because as a fundamentalist Christian she is opposed to gay marriage. Ms Court has been promoted from an Officer of the Order of Australia to a… Continue Reading →

Morrison Drafts Laws to Placate Murdoch, as Google Threatens to Pull the Plug

By Paul Gregoire: Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. Since the advent of the internet, data has increasingly risen in worth to the point that these days it’s the most valuable resource on the planet. Over that same time frame, consumers have become increasingly… Continue Reading →

Conspiracy Theory and Its Discontents

By Paul Collits The charge of being a conspiracy theorist is now poison.  A conversation killer. Unfortunately, many dissenters from the State’s line on many issues, not just Covid, are cowed by the charge.  It is a trick. The charge… Continue Reading →

Australia: The Most Oppressive of all Western Democracies

Best of the Archives. By Alison Broinowski with Pearls & Irritations. When there’s a concerted attack on the interests of the Australian mainstream media they will rise in joint defence of journalists’ freedom. But they are slow to support five… Continue Reading →

Noam Chomsky on the Plight of Assange: “The Complicity of Many Governments”

The Best of 2020. By Paul Gregoire: Sydney Criminal Lawyers Blog. British Judge Vanessa Baraitser is currently deliberating on whether Australian journalist Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States, as he’s currently being remanded in her country on American espionage… Continue Reading →

First Do No Harm: UK Scientists and Health Professionals Plead With Their Government. The Best of 2020.

Are you becoming more and more concerned about the impact of lockdowns and a narrative of fear on the overall health and wellbeing of the nation, and in particular on children? Are you seeing more patients with deterioration in their… Continue Reading →

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