Australian men are defecting to One Nation in record numbers. This isn’t hardship—it’s status dislocation marketed as political rescue. Meet Kevin.
Author: urbanwronski
Urban Wronski is an Australian free-lance writer whose work appears regularly in The Independent Australia, The Tasmanian Times and also in The Australian Independent Media Network. He has also been published in Guardian Australia.
An acute observer and analyst Urban continues to advocate for a just, tolerant and compassionate society.
Mockery of Democracy: Now Brought to You by Sportsbet
Tasmania is being forced to build a billion-dollar AFL stadium it cannot afford and will not own. Two viability studies warned against it, but the AFL made the stadium a condition of entry to the league. Public debt will fund private profit while Tasmanians inherit the bill for a dozen games a year.
CAUGHT IN THE CRUNCH: The Surveillance State Comes to Your Local Supermarket
Walk into any Coles outlet today and you’re not just buying milk. You’re feeding a surveillance machine processing 10 billion rows of data through Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies. In early 2024, Coles signed a deal to deploy Palantir’s “Foundry” platform across more than 840 stores, analysing every transaction, every worker’s movement, every shift allocation. Workers across Victoria are monitored, with one shelf-stacker in Ballarat saying: “The computer knows where I am before my manager does.”
Labor’s Betrayal of Environmental Justice, a response to Bob Brown.
Anthony Albanese has perfected the political sleight-of-hand that turns protection into permission. Bob Brown’s forensic analysis reveals Labor’s environmental legislation as corporate capitulation.
The Moral Hazard of Being US Deputy-Sheriff
Australian officials watched as US missiles struck Venezuelan fishermen. Eleven died. It was legal, Washington insists. But Australia is not just an observer—we have ADF personnel embedded in US commands, we host Pine Gap targeting facilities, and we help aim weapons we never authorised and cannot refuse. AUKUS binds us more tightly than any alliance since 1945. The question is whether we’ve traded sovereignty for security theatre. And whether a second strike on drowning men will finally be the line we refuse to cross.
Australia’s New Censorship Is Voluntary — and That’s Why It’s Dangerous
No jackboots needed. Australia imports Britain’s polite censorship: journalists “voluntarily” self-silence on national security. FOI docs reveal the blueprint. Is democracy disappearing under manners?
Stand By Your Ban: A Post-Truth Reflection
Welcome to Post-Truth Australia, where the lies have become so brazen they’ve stopped pretending to be anything else. The Coalition’s “Net Zero Heroes” want to dig up every tonne of coal in the country. Tasmania’s preparing a modern potlatch ceremony – ceremonially bankrupting itself with a stadium that’ll cost billions while the AFL chips in $15 million. And our Communications Minister stands firm on a social media ban that wouldn’t work in an iron lung. It’s mythomania at industrial scale, and as Hemingway knew: we go broke gradually, then suddenly.
Ban It and They’ll Thank Us Later: Labor’s Teen Social Media Panic
While Finland invests twenty years teaching its children to think critically about media, Australia reaches for symbolic gestures and declares them progress. Within days, a new law regulating social media will take effect; one already destined to fail in its stated aim of protecting young … Continue reading Ban It and They’ll Thank Us Later: Labor’s Teen Social Media Panic
Part Four: “When ‘Historic Reform’ Means Managed Decline”
The final instalment: Did Labor’s environmental reform stop the degradation, or just slow it down enough to look serious while keeping the machinery of destruction functional? We measure the bill against Samuel’s recommendations, synthesise what every independent expert told us, and reveal the four-step pattern of how to manage environmental decline while calling it protection. This is policy capture in a democracy, not through corruption or conspiracy, but through the mundane mechanics of political calculation where industry interests outweigh both scientific advice and majority voter preference.
The Climate Silence. And What Actual Environmental Commitment Looks Like
Australia’s new environment law makes it illegal to consider climate change when approving coal and gas projects. Not an oversight. Not a gap to fix later. Explicit prohibition. This is what corporate capture looks like—and what genuine environmental commitment would require instead.
Urban Wronski Writes 