Australia has signed up to another war without debate and without clarity. The costs are already visible, in rising prices, strained supply chains and a deepening entanglement that blurs the line between ally and participant.
Tag: Surveillance
Clarke and Dawe: The Messages That Refused to Disappear
The National Archives orders ABC and SBS journalists to stop their Signal messages from disappearing. The ABC declines to explain how it will protect sources. The SBS is “still working through it.” Nobody is accountable. In the spirit of Clarke and Dawe, Urban Wronski follows the circular buck-passing to its magnificently absurd conclusion.
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MUM’S LOGIN: How Labor’s Social Media Ban Became a Masterclass in Government Theatre
Christmas 2025, and Australia’s teenagers are unwrapping their presents: new VPNs, borrowed parental logins, and AI-generated profile photos. Two weeks into Labor’s world-first social media ban, and it’s already a monument to performative governance. Meanwhile, the minister who should be celebrating is in hiding over travel rorts, and the policy architect has vanished into an expenses scandal. Welcome to government theatre at its finest.
The seeing stones. Australia and its New CIA-Made Friend.
“Pure undistorted truth burns up the world.”Nikolai Berdyaev(Also, apparently, Palantir’s unofficial mission statement.) I. Enter the Magical Spy Orb, Stage Right In Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the palantír was a sort of medieval CCTV camera with attitude. A seeing stone that showed you just enough truth to … Continue reading The seeing stones. Australia and its New CIA-Made Friend.
The War on Dissent: How Western Democracies Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Thought Police
The genius of modern repression is that it doesn’t require jackboots or midnight knocks. It requires bureaucracy. Forms. Watchlists. De-banking. IRS audits. Loss of tax-exempt status. It’s not a gulag; it’s a compliance nightmare. You’re not disappeared; you’re just financially ruined and socially destroyed. Much more civilised.
Urban Wronski Writes 