Every January 26, Australia throws itself a birthday party. Tens of thousands of First Nations people turn up with a message: this house was never yours.
Category: australian-politics
Falling Upwards: Labor’s Quiet Reward for Failure
Greg Moriarty’s Washington posting exposes a Canberra culture where failure is rewarded and whistleblowers are punished. From Robodebt to Witness K and Labor’s new hate speech laws, this essay tracks how power protects itself while the “fair go” withers.
The Hollow Crown: Australia’s Liberal Party and the Contest for a World That No Longer Exists
The Liberal Party’s leadership circus isn’t just about who wins—it’s about whether Australia can afford the show at all. From Angus Taylor’s Cayman-stained ledgers to Andrew Hastie’s heretical protectionism, the contest for the Liberal crown reveals a party—and a country—grappling with a world order in freefall. Part 1 of a 2-part analysis.
A Dead Parrot
The Liberal Party isn’t just dying—it’s a corpse on life support, clinging to 18 seats as One Nation surges and the Teal wave reshapes Australian politics forever. In this forensic analysis, David Tyler dissects the party’s collapse through the lens of Goldstein’s razor-thin 2025 election—a pyrrhic victory for Tim Wilson that exposed the Liberals’ systemic irrelevance on climate, inequality, and governance. With Roy Morgan polling at 24% and the Nationals in open revolt, is this the end of the road for a party that’s lost the cities, abandoned the margins, and alienated the future?
Kill Bill 2.0: Media, Moral Panic, and the Politics of Self‑Righteous Anger
Albanese’s Royal Commission may yield clarity — even some justice — but it can’t cleanse the bad faith of its birth. In a media economy addicted to conflict and an Opposition desperate for a demolition job, the PM is condemned whether he resists or concedes. And “social cohesion” risks becoming the Goddess Araldite: bonding by suppression, not democracy by dissent.
“There’s a reflex in Australian politics that turns grief into ladder-climbing. After Bondi, the chorus demanding a Royal Commission has become compulsory. But the nation is being sold catharsis when what’s needed is law—and what’s on offer is legally hobbled theatre.”
Labor’s Bondi Backflip: When Fear Trumps Justice
Anthony Albanese’s surrender to a Bondi Royal Commission reveals a political system that prioritises spectacle over justice. But as diverse communities unite to demand real accountability, the question isn’t whether Albanese folded—it’s whether Australia will let the powerful turn tragedy into theatre. A systemic analysis of fear, failure, and the fightback
Bypassing the Murdoch Machine; How Labor Can Win the Narrative War
Labor can’t bypass the Murdoch machine while simultaneously feeding it. Part Three exposes the Ley-Advance axis—and Labor’s own complicity. From independent media to digital warfare, here’s how Albanese could win the narrative war. If he has the courage.
How Labor Can Fight Back. Lessons from Whitlam, Keating, and the Greens
Anthony Albanese’s government is under siege—but history shows Labor can fight back. From Whitlam’s boldness to Keating’s fire and the Greens’ grassroots power, survival demands courage. Here’s how.
AI: The Emperor’s New Algorithm, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Recognise the Same Old Con
After billions in development, Microsoft quietly slashed expectations for Copilot, its AI wonderchild that can’t reliably perform basic tasks. The pattern is grimly familiar: massive investment chasing promised returns that never appear, followed by market correction when reality intrudes. But this bubble comes with a uniquely toxic twist—AI’s environmental cost accelerates the very climate crisis it claims it will solve.
Data centers now gulp enough water annually to supply hundreds of families while generating marketing copy riddled with errors. Training GPT-3 alone evaporated 700,000 liters of clean freshwater. Meanwhile, Australia’s Albanese government subsidizes data center expansion while manufacturing collapses, emissions targets slip through accounting tricks, and workers face automation without security.
The millenarian faith in AI’s salvation delays the unglamorous work we actually need: rapid decarbonization, public investment in resilience, and democratic reform to counter corporate capture. Time to stop waiting for miracles.
Urban Wronski Writes 