Writer
Tony Smith
Dr Tony Smith is a former political science academic with interests in elections, parliament and political ethics.
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Children drumming in Gaza
I cannot even begin to understand how governments can fail to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. They know – absolutely know – that Palestinian children are dying in droves. The children are killed by bombs, maimed, traumatised, experience amputations without anaesthesia, and they are starving. Continue reading »
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Phoney secrets and scares about foreign powers
One thing is certain about espionage agencies. They are not averse to creating alarm in order to give the impression they are protecting us from threats by ideological fanatics internally or by hostile foreign powers. There is always a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy about their pronouncements and the most recent panic about an unidentified former Continue reading »
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Submarines then and to come
The multi-billion dollar expenditure on nuclear powered submarines as part of the AUKUS pact has attracted some attention. Perhaps it helps to provide historical context if it is remembered that Australia’s first submarines were of limited use in the defence of our shorelines. Continue reading »
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Submarines, stealth and STEM – stifling any AUKUS debate
The Australian government has decided to ignore critics of Aukus in parliament and the community. Rather it has moved to embed the idea of Aukus directly into the Australian psyche. Continue reading »
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A US Doctrine of Vengeance: Who has the right to punish?
The campaign to ‘punish’ enemies of the USA and Israel shows that states which argue from strength have no wish for justice – merely revenge. Continue reading »
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In Usman Khawaja’s boots: Silence is complicity
As usual, conservative commentators have damaged their own feet. They do not have any appreciation of the political stances adopted by people of conscience and their faux outrage provides the best publicity protestors can have. Latest to benefit from this narrow mindedness is the courageous Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja. Continue reading »
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Why is it so difficult to speak of peace?
War always brings problems. Even the so-called victors experience these. The world is made poorer in that the next war seems to be much closer and easier to wage. True peace on the other hand, brings only benefits. Continue reading »
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With echoes of Iraq war, ADF deployed to Middle East
The decision to deploy the Australian Defence Forces to the ‘Middle East’ in the middle of the war in Gaza puts the Albanese Government into the same category as many appalling predecessors. Continue reading »
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If you are proud of the Constitution, vote ‘Yes’
In 1996 I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Centenary of the 1895 Bathurst Peoples Constitutional Convention. Continue reading »
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Fred Smith: The Sparrows of Kabul
During the crush at the evacuation of Kabul airport in 2021, a little girl became separated from her mother and was inconsolable and could not be moved. Fred left her for a moment, during which CS gas caused a stampede of marines. When he looked for the girl, she had disappeared. Continue reading »
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Cancelling strange British Empire legacy event just Aussie common sense
Elite sport is something of a sacred cow. To criticise it is to risk being considered unAustralian. So while Premier Andrews’ announcement that Victoria would not host the 2026 Commonwealth Games was not a wholesale critique of elite sport, I am happy to take up the baton. Continue reading »
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War service did not stop the racism
Noel Turnbull’s article about the treatment of black warriors who wore the Australian uniform make for some uncomfortable reading for those Australians who think Indigenous peoples have no need to control their own destinies. Historically, we have applied the claim that veterans are heroes very selectively. Continue reading »
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No bulldozer can bury the truth: Remembering Rachel Corrie
In another echo of early 2003, the twentieth anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie on 16 March went largely unreported. Continue reading »
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Back to the future of a Cold War arms race?
While the AUKUS treaty has echoes of the tragic Iraq invasion of 2003, even closer comparisons can be found with the arms race of the 1980s. Continue reading »
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Ensuring equal access to elections
While voting is considered a universal right in Australia, barriers remain preventing many people exercising the franchise effectively. In the lead-up to the 2023 New South Wales state elections it seems clear that more should be done to enable everyone to vote comfortably. Continue reading »
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Two decades on, history should condemn the real ‘butchers of Baghdad’
The warmongers in the Anglophone countries of Britain, the USA and Australia today cause great concern with their AUKUS treaty and the not very subtle stirring of frenzy against China. It was similar in 2003 except that Iraq was the country being demonised. Continue reading »
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Ten election theories to test in New South Wales
A week a long time in politics? How about 28 years? Believe it or not the last time the Labor Party displaced a Coalition Government in New South Wales was in 1995. Continue reading »
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‘Defence’ as an Australian paradox: explaining veteran suicides
It is absolutely essential that society inquiries into the fate of Australia’s war veterans. There are many reasons for our failure to rehabilitate veterans successfully, but unless we confront the nature of military activity, such investigations will remain superficial. Continue reading »
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Incompatible minds: A reflection on George Pell
Why did so many people dislike Cardinal George Pell? It is possibly because he had the opportunity to show leadership but chose instead to reflect power and intransigence. He could have shown compassion and been a unifying force. Instead, he will be remembered as a divisive and damaging figure. Continue reading »
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No wonder Canberrans are enraged: there’s no vaccine for a cabal of craziness
We demand the freedom to infect others! The anti-vaccination demonstrations are dour, sour and disingenuous. Continue reading »
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In sport and in society, women eclipse the antics of boorish males
While women display their abilities in fields monopolised by men, people in power not only allow these talents to be wasted but actively inhibit them. Continue reading »
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AUKUS: the latest capitulation on defence by our born-to-rule elites
Conservative Coalition leaders have a history of committing Australia to overseas military adventures – and the ‘patriotic’ media have never questioned the propaganda. Continue reading »
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Gladys Berejiklian, deep in farce yesterday, threatening chaos today
Faced with a Covid crisis, the NSW government has failed to lead when its people needed it the most. Continue reading »
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Time for facts on Afghanistan, not platitudes and propaganda
Facing the all too predictable chaos left behind by yet another unnecessary Australian military adventure, the prime minister mouthed insulting platitudes about ‘freedom’ and sought propaganda value about no member of the military dying in vain. Such remarks display historical ignorance as well as insensitivity. Continue reading »
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Letting the Liberals off the Barnaby Joyce hook
The return of Barnaby Joyce to the leadership of the National Party and the Deputy Prime Ministership has been somewhat awkward for the Liberal Party. It is puzzling however that the Labor Opposition has not managed to make the Coalition Government more uncomfortable. Continue reading »
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Australian human misery: a dirty dozen cases
The prime minister has an eye for the public relations opportunity. Recently he was quick to be seen at the announcement of the success of an FBI-AFP operation targeting drug traffickers. He condemned criminals for bringing misery to Australia. Regrettably, we have plenty of misery already, thanks to his government’s policies. Continue reading »
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Australian traditional culture under threat again and again.
The changing of a word in the national anthem from ‘young’ to ‘one’ indicates that Australia did not begin in 1788. So aspects of society going back beyond that date are clearly Australian culture. Around Bathurst today, real Australian culture has been threatened by inappropriate and unnecessary developments. All Australians should object. Continue reading »
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Mice and men: the mouse plague and aggressive land clearing
Over the years, Australian authorities have made many poor decisions about allowing the introduction of biocidal agents into the environment. In most cases, such decisions have been based on the demands of powerful minorities with no responsibility to the general community. The Berejiklian-Barilaro government looks set to outdo them all by authorising the use of Continue reading »
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Evelyn Araluen’s Drop Bear demands our engagement
No objective observer could fail to notice how inadequately we are closing the gaps we have created between Indigenous and other Australians. Part of the difficulty could be that 250 years of European occupation have damaged the language on which oral cultural transmission depends. Continue reading »
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Douglas Newton’s Private Ryan and how peace efforts were sabotaged in WW1
Every now and then a historian produces a book that gives a rational and compassionate insight into the war of 1914-18 and the origins of the Anzac legend. Douglas Newton has given Australia such a work in his story of Private Ryan set against the backdrop of war aims and peace movements. Continue reading »