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Sunday 25 March 2018

Today's Thoughtcrime: What Senator Penny Wong argued before Australia's 2007 election


Senator Penny Wong

Here is my latest article for the British magazine The Salisbury Review (Autumn, 2018 edition):


On November 15, 2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) announced a 61.6% ‘Yes’ response to the survey question ‘Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?’ South Australian Labor Senator Penny Wong, a self-identified lesbian and the titular head of the ‘Yes’ campaign, broke down in tears at the announcement of the news: ‘To all Australians, thank you for standing up for fairness and equality.’ Technically speaking, of course, only 48.2% of eligible voters stood up for ‘fairness and equality’, given that more than 20% of people on the electoral roll failed to respond to the survey. But that’s to be churlish. It is also to ignore the point that the ‘Yes’ crusade triumphed despite gay marriage having been, until recently, a fringe concern. What changed?                      

Friday 9 March 2018

"We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea!"



At some point many every fair-minded person is going to have to face the truth that the Obama Doctrine (America apologises...) had little upside and that the Trump Doctrine (America First) is pretty good in the main. Here is my take on this, from the perspective of the Middle East at least, published back in July 2017: http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2017/07/trump-versus-obama-middle-east/