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

Malcolm Turnbull has caved to the conservative rump of his party on Safe Schools
A failure of nerve
Last week MP George Christensen crowed that, as a result of the protests of himself and his fellow knuckle-draggers, as Bill Shorten called them, the Safe Schools...
 
In politics, perception is all-important
Rumours
I first heard the scuttlebutt about Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin more than two years ago. As with all rumours, it was handed on to me by what I was assured was an impeccable...
 
Patrick Dodson’s appointment to the senate is a welcome development
More please
A declaration of interest – and one of great pleasure. I have known and admired Patrick Dodson for more than 30 years. I have talked, dined and socialized with him, and at...
 
The senate voting reforms should be welcomed by all parties
Unrepresentative still
Democracy, said Winston Churchill, is the worst system of government – except for all the other ones. And he was right: democracy can be slow, inefficient and infuriating to...
 
George Pell’s defenders have no cause to complain of his treatment
Pell and damnation
Pity poor, persecuted Cardinal George Pell. Australia’s premier primate, a prince of the church and a grandee of the Vatican, the personal representative of the supreme pontiff...
 
The eccentric Barnaby Joyce revives a tradition of maddie Nationals leaders
Vision quest
Our new deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has a simple credo channeled from Paul Keating: “You’ve got to have vision. People who have vision are maddies.” And indeed all...
 
Malcolm Turnbull should stop using trade unions for political theatre
Nobody’s business but the TURC’s
If the government is serious about reconstituting the Australian Building and Construction Commission – the tough cop on the beat to combat the “louts, thugs, bullies, thieves,...
 
This Australia Day gave hints that we are moving in the right direction
Reasons to celebrate
I have always been equivocal about our national holiday – Australia Day, or, as our Indigenous citizens call it, the Day of Mourning, Invasion Day, or, more recently and more...
 
The NSW Liberal preselections are causing havoc within the party
Decisions, decisions
The Liberals, we know, love democracy. As apostles of free enterprise they embrace freedom, transparency, competition; they abhor the dead hand of socialism and central control...
 
The Greens leader is at odds with his party on the risks of GMO crops
Di Natale vs the Greens
Richard di Natale is the parliamentary leader of the Greens, and he is also a trained scientist. He is not the first in the position; the party’s founding father, Bob Brown, is...
 
Sexism is already making a strong showing in Australia in 2016
New year, same old story
The silly season has produced some silly people – or, to put it more bluntly, some oafs, yahoos and dickheads. The most obvious, and the easiest to dismiss, is the self-styled...
 
Malcolm Turnbull needs to aim his disruptors at a different target
A new kind of innovation
It is a bit downbeat to have to report that Malcolm Turnbull’s great innovation blockbuster has not been received with the enthusiasm and optimism the prime minister feels it...
 
The North Sydney by-election result is bad news for Malcolm Turnbull
A swing and a miss
It wasn’t quite the Christmas present Malcolm Turnbull had hoped for or expected. After all, the polling elves had told him that he had been really, really nice, so he thought...
 
The shadow of the Slipper affair still hangs over Mal Brough
Brough and ready
It is hard to believe now, but there was a time when Mal Brough was considered prime-ministerial material. It never came to anything, but in the dying days of the government of...
 
Critics of a Muslim political party are misguided
Divisive ideas
The formation of the Australian Muslim Party to give a political voice to the Islamic community has produced a predictable backlash, especially from the conservatives. Andrew...
 
How do you solve a problem like Bill Shorten?
Labor’s dilemma
A committed and well-informed Labor supporter confided to me last week that he was most disappointed that Bill Shorten had been cleared by the Trades Union Royal Commission of any...
 
Bill Shorten’s Pacific jaunt exposed the limits of Labor’s climate ambition
Tropic blunder
We know that Bill Shorten had a stint in the Pacific islands. We could hardly have avoided the TV footage of him wearing, apparently, a grass tiara while stumbling around in what...
 
The prime minister’s argument for coal only goes so far
The coal story
At least Malcolm Turnbull has brought us back to Earth – although in one sense he remains defiantly under it. Coal is still essential, a vital part of the world’s energy supply...
 

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