Australian politics, society & culture

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Mungo MacCallum

Mungo MacCallum is a political journalist and commentator. His books include Run Johnny Run, Poll Dancing, and Punch and Judy. Visit his blog, The View from Billinudgel.

Articles by this author

The Coalition’s record on native title is nothing to be proud of
Waiting for an apology
It was pleasing to hear Tony Abbott speak glowingly on Eddie Mabo when he visited the warrior’s grave on Mer last week. Abbott praised the pioneering breakthrough on native...
 
Australian military involvement in the middle east is all about politics at home
Bombs over Raqqa
From the fastnesses of the island of Mer in the Torres Strait, Tony Abbott assures us that he will carefully consider the American request for Australia to extend its bombing...
 
Tony Abbott’s opposition to same-sex marriage is based on nothing more solid than his feelings
Cowards of conscience
The parliament should own this issue, the prime minister said back in May – well, not any longer. Now the people must own this issue. But that’s not exactly right either. The...
 
Will the Productivity Commission let employers loose to pillage?
The law of the jungle
The business community, most of the Abbott government and all the rest of the hard right are very pissed off by the Productivity Commission. The Commission was to be their...
 
Adam Goodes may return to the footy field this weekend, but racism in Australia will not disappear
Time to assimilate
Unlike our unaccountably timid prime minister, let’s not pussyfoot around with the booing of Adam Goodes. It is not simply about the man. There have been many players booed on...
 
Tony Abbott is trying to con the states on tax reform
Leaders in retreat
It must have been hugely gratifying for Tony Abbott to have ended last week’s Council of Australian Governments leaders’ retreat (somewhat inappropriately held at Sydney’s...
 
What’s wrong with a child talking about politics?
Child’s play
The right-wing commentariat has a new sledgehammer to belt the ABC with: a 10-year-old child. Last week, Ashton Platt, a precocious student, said on Q&A that he had been...
 
Tony Abbott’s Q&A saga continues
Playing the ban
Tony Abbott has got it the wrong way around. He seems to think that he is offering the ABC a favour by allowing, under strict conditions, some of his ministers to appear on some...
 
If conservatives are distracted by same-sex marriage, perhaps they should get it out of the way with a vote
Distractions
“Same-sex marriage is just another distraction,” scream the conservatives distractedly. Well, if it is, why don’t they just shut up about it?  The answer is because they...
 
Zaky Mallah and the Qanda quandary
Scenes from a culture war
Beyond all the yelling, bluster, hysteria and bullshit, the point about Tony Abbott and Zaky Mallah is that the two are basically in furious agreement. In happier times they would...
 
The Pope’s encyclical raises questions that Tony Abbott can’t dodge forever
Render unto Caesar
The Pope’s encyclical on climate change has produced the predictable shruggings-off and dismissals from the conservatives, even among his most devout supporters. It was not an...
 
The Queen’s Birthday holiday and its honours are relics we’d be better off without
Knocking back the bling
Once more we have had to endure the archaic farce of the yearly Queen’s Birthday Honours List, and surely in 2015 enough is enough. It is time to consign this outdated ritual to...
 
Tony Abbott is more pig-headed than prime-ministerial on marriage equality
Time to vote and move along
Tony Abbott wants parliament to own the debate over marriage equality. What a good idea, and so simple! Just bring it on. Once the motion has been introduced, it becomes the...
 
Tony Abbott’s refusal to fix super rorts for the rich is sheer folly
Super stumble
So Tony Abbott has embarked on another unworkable pledge: there will be no changes to superannuation. Not now, not during the next election, presumably not ever. This is not...
 
Bill Shorten’s budget reply is pie in the sky
Vision or mirage?
Last week’s budget was a policy hole in the air. There was neither economic coherence nor vision – nothing more than a big-taxing, big-spending extravaganza which will be, and...
 
Richard Di Natale will bring the Greens to the mainland, if not quite the mainstream
Escape from Tasmania
The Sex Party finally succumbed to supporters’ droop last week; it has been deregistered by the electoral commission through sheer lack of interest. It thus joins a long line of...
 
The Bali executions are already taking a back seat to affairs of state
After the killings, the politics
Even before the bodies of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had been repatriated to their grieving parents, the politicians were indulging in an undignified scramble to bury them...
 
What’s behind Bjorn Lomborg’s job at the University of WA?
Consensus reality
The adjunct professor–designate of the new “consensus centre” at the University of Western Australia, Bjorn Lomborg, is not a climatologist. His training was in the oxymoronic...
 

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