Tag Archives
THE NAKED CITY – LORDS OF THE FLIES
It was hardly earth shattering news, especially during a pandemic and with border closures right around the country. Nevertheless we learnt last week that the renegade Principality of Hutt River in WA was renouncing its independence and after 50 years of political isolation rejoining the Commonwealth. Following a long time tussle with the ATO the […]
THE NAKED CITY – TOPPLING THE TYRANTS
I have never been big on statues and even less big on really big statues, like the towering monoliths of the Kim dynasty in North Korea. Closer to home the statues of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Captain Cook and the various colonial figures that dot our city strike me as the ghosts of the past, […]
Independents’ success offers silver lining
BY MERRILL WITT The newly elected Prime Minister Scott Morrison credited the “quiet Australians” for the Coalition's surprising election win. But the campaign to dislodge Independent Kerryn Phelps from the formerly safe Liberal seat of Wentworth was anything but quiet. In the final few days leading up to last Saturday’s election, Wentworth voters were bombarded […]
Coalition keeps the house
By ALLISON HORE As the final results roll in for last weekend’s federal election, a clear Lower House win has been delivered to the Coalition, despite all polling in the lead up suggesting it would be a Labor win. Across the country, four Labor seats were turned over to the Liberal party, and only one […]
That sinking feeling…
BY PETER HEHIR The banner below the Sunday Telegraph masthead screams “YOU DECIDE. SPECIAL EDITION”. Yeah right… Shorten has been torpedoed. And News Corp and the right-wing media had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with polluting the hearts and minds of the voting public. Given the extent of fact distortion in the media, the misrepresentation […]
Can Kerryn cure our democracy?
BY MERRILL WITT Wentworth MP Dr Kerryn Phelps has given the electorate some very good reasons for keeping the Independent in the House of Representatives. In the six months since winning the traditionally safe Liberal seat - a remarkable feat that robbed the Morrison Government of its majority - Phelps has shown the advantages of doing […]
Protection for the Victorian ring
By Peter Hehir With the pro developer NSW Government refreshed following their narrow win in the recent election, we can now expect a renewed attack on the historic suburbs that ring the CBD. Thanks to the Greater Sydney Commission, the legislation exists to increase the density of these historic and visually attractive precincts by 35%. […]
THE NAKED CITY – THE PARANOIA AUSTRALIAN PARTY (PAP!)
Scaremongering has always been a part of the political process but has reached an even more insidious level in recent years with the manipulation of social media like Facebook, US style attack adverts and politicians fanning the flames of paranoia. Donald Trump has made a fine art of it with his blatant appeal to a […]
THE NAKED CITY – 2019: A GRAB BAG OF PREDICTIONS!
Appearing on the Jack Parr Tonight show in March of 1963, the flamboyant American psychic Criswell predicted “President Kennedy will not run for re-election in 1964, because of something that will happen to him in November 1963”. It was one of the few times that the ‘Amazing Criswell’ actually got anything right but throughout his […]
THE NAKED CITY – TO SIR WITH LOVE
Damm – what do you have to do to get yourself an Order Of Australia award or a similar gong, routinely distributed on Australia Day or the Queen’s Birthday weekend? This year I self-nominated again and even went to the trouble of including a ‘complimentary’ $50 note with my application. Only joking of course but […]