En Passant

A jury found Cardinal George Pell guilty of child sexual abuse in December last year I write in Independent Australia. Pell was found guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four charges of committing indecent acts with a child, or in their presence. after five weeks of hearings and three and a half days of […]

By John Passant | 25 February 2019, 7:00am |  Independent Australia It was Julie Bishop’s farewell. She was Australia’s first female Foreign Minister but what were her achievements in the role? Cosying up to Saudi Arabia and its war crimes in Yemen? Keeping our lapdogs in Nauru and Papua New Guinea well fed? Downplaying on the global […]

You can buy signed copies of my new book of poetry ‘Whose Broken is This? and other poems’ via the Independent Australia online shop.

Bill Shorten has backflipped on Medevac for refugees and asylum seekers imprisoned without charge on Manus Island and Nauru. Last week, Labor supported the Bill to bring sick people from these two concentration camps to Australia, but watered it down to limit its application to those already on the two islands. Then this Tuesday, the […]

By John Passant | 20 February 2019, 7:00am |  Independent Australia From travel rorts to Paladin, to union raids and the Banking RC, hiding is what the Morrison Government is about, writes Canberra correspondent John Passant. Need a holiday? Contact Matty Cormann Travel. Book your adventure, give us your credit card details and we’ll forget to charge you. Terms and conditions apply. […]

The Paladin Group is a small company with a shack on Kangaroo Island – until last week – as its head office. After all the media interest, as well as a PO Box in Singapore, Paladin now has an office in Canberra. The phone might even work. According to its website, Paladin is ‘… a leading provider of project support services in the Asia-Pacific.’ These […]

By John Passant | 18 February 2019, 7:00am |  The defeat of the Government on the Medivac Bill is the potential precursor to its defeat in the upcoming election, writes Canberra correspondent John Passant. Last week in Parliament (12 February) the Government was defeated on the ‘Medical Evacuations Bill‘ and Question Time became the “longest in history” to avoid debate on a […]

The defeat of the Government on the Medevac Bill is the potential precursor to its defeat in the upcoming election, writes Canberra correspondent John Passant. Click here to read the whole article

Thursday in Parliament House was another momentous day. The Prime Minister tabled the 11th  Closing the Gap report in Parliament in the morning. It showed that far from improving, the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are going backwards compared to the rest of us. Last year we were on track to meet 3 […]

The Banking Royal Commission: Business as usual for the Big FourWith the release of the Banking Royal Commission report, it seems the banks have come out unscathed due to political protection, writes John Passant in Independent Australia. Click here to read the whole article in Independent Australia.