Category: Australian Politics, Surveillance and Privacy, Technology and Ethics, Civil Liberties, Government Transparency, Corporate Power, National Security, Opinion, Longform

“Landscape 16:9 editorial illustration, a stark stage scene: a lone podium with a brass plaque reading ‘ROYAL COMMISSION’, intense white spotlights cutting through haze, heavy dark curtains slightly parted behind. On the floor, scattered torn newspaper headline strips with blurred unreadable text, suggesting an outrage cycle. In the background, a subtle translucent adhesive/glue sheen binding papers together as a metaphor for ‘social cohesion’. A distant crowd rendered as dark anonymous silhouettes. Serious, investigative tone, high contrast, muted blues and greys, minimal red accents, cinematic lighting, no caricature, no logos, no readable text except ‘ROYAL COMMISSION’.”

Kill Bill 2.0: Media, Moral Panic, and the Politics of Self‑Righteous Anger

January 9, 2026 · Leave a comment ·

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.

The Month in Room 315: Bondi’s Killers, Davao’s Hotel Curtains, and the Australian Art of Calling a Blind Spot ‘Unavoidable’

January 2, 2026 · 6 Comments ·

After the Bondi Beach massacre, Australia reached again for its familiar sedatives: the “lone wolf” narrative and a distant foreign setting to absorb the blame. But behind the rhetoric lies a deeper pattern — local radicalisation, institutional triage, and a political culture addicted to comfort over accountability.

When Antisemitism Becomes a Political Weapon

December 20, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

n the wake of Bondi, grief is being channelled into a dangerous misdiagnosis: that Jewish safety requires conflation, censorship, and punitive power. This essay argues for a public health approach to violent extremism, warns against collapsing Judaism into Israeli state policy, and shows how selective vigilance and entrenched Islamophobia undermine prevention and make everyone less safe.

Cold concrete and sodium amber -toned image of flowers and candles placed quietly near a beach at dusk, symbolising remembrance and reflection.

Bondi Massacre: When Disinformation Buries State Failure

December 18, 2025 · 3 Comments ·

Fifteen people were killed at Bondi. Within hours, myth replaced scrutiny, and foreign threat narratives buried domestic failure. This is how disinformation, political opportunism, and institutional evasion turned tragedy into spectacle; and why the real danger remains unaddressed.

Billion Dollar Balcony Part 2: A Failure to Protect

December 17, 2025 · 3 Comments ·

Australia’s intelligence agencies had the data, the powers and the warnings. What they lacked was the capacity, or the incentive, to act. Part 2 examines how lawful firearms, foreign travel to militant regions and prior extremist scrutiny failed to trigger intervention before fifteen people were killed at Bondi. Surveillance was abundant. Prevention was absent.

The Billion-Dollar Balcony: ASIO’s Sovereignty Failure

December 16, 2025 · 5 Comments ·

When another nation’s intelligence operatives are called in to assist with a domestic security catastrophe, the admission is plain: our billion-dollar spymasters cannot clean up their own mess. The Bondi massacre exposes not just intelligence failure, but the hollowing out of Australian sovereignty itself. ASIO’s budget exceeds $700 million annually, yet perpetrators “known to authorities” strike with impunity while the surveillance state watches from elsewhere.

The seeing stones. Australia and its New CIA-Made Friend.

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025 · 2 Comments ·

“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.

Urban Wronski Writes

New, fearless, fresh and original Australian political comment, satire and more.