Paddy's articles (72 total)
The fantasy world of Hegseth's testosterone bomb
Pete Hegseth’s testosterone militarism and calls to escalate against Iran reveal the dangerous fantasies shaping US war thinking.
Defence policy deserves more than slogans and selective history
Pat Conroy's speech at the National Press Club was not a convincing presentation of the ALP's record on defence.
The million-dollar secretary salary question
The Remuneration Tribunal’s review of Commonwealth departmental secretary salaries should confront the large and poorly justified gap between top bureaucrats and the senior executives beneath them.
Trust US War Secretary Hegseth? Sure can't
Pete Hegseth’s Shangri-La Dialogue speech revealed the contradictions at the heart of Trump’s foreign policy: demanding allied military obedience while claiming to defend sovereignty, stability and freedom of choice.
Chance for a fresh start in patching up the Commonwealth Public Service
The appointment of a new Commonwealth Public Service Commissioner highlights deeper structural problems inside the Public Service Commission, from flawed remuneration policies to weak accountability and confused reform priorities.
Light rations from the Antisemitism Royal Commission thus far
The recommendations from the interim report of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion are tentative, lightweight and backed by scarcely any supporting analysis. Further recommendations must take into account the Netanyahu government's responsibilty for the stimulation of antisemitism here and around the world.
The forgotten war Australia would rather not remember
Michael Piggott's 'New Feller Master: Beyond the Trenches Australia’s Neglected WWI Story', details Australia’s occupation of New Guinea and challenges familiar national narratives – confronting uncomfortable truths about power, race and legacy.
A culture of secrecy is taking hold in Canberra
The refusal to release the Pezzullo investigation report highlights a culture of secrecy across the public service and government.
Budget savings for Chalmers – fix the bloated pay system at the top of the public service
As the government looks for budget savings, the biggest opportunity lies at the top. Senior public service pay and structures have become costly, inconsistent and hard to justify.
Australia, Iran and the politics of evasion
Political evasions and half-truths are shaping Australia’s response to the US-Israel attack on Iran, undermining honest debate about legality and policy.
ASIO fails to gag the ABC
ASIO’s pre-emptive attack on a Four Corners investigation into the Bondi killings was vague, thinly evidenced and ultimately counter-productive.
Do we really need a Minister for Social Cohesion?
Calls for a new Minister for Social Cohesion reflect anxiety about Australia’s civic health, but risk mistaking rhetorical panic for structural failure – and policy symbolism for effective governance.
Blaming the Privacy Act for government secrecy
Claims of “privacy” are increasingly being used to obscure the reasons and costs behind the premature departure of senior public servants – eroding transparency and accountability.
Best of 2025 - How the Albanese government kept “jobs for mates” alive
The Albanese government promised to end political patronage in statutory appointments, but has instead chosen a non-binding framework that preserves ministerial discretion and limits accountability.
Best of 2025 - ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight
In succumbing to a lust for the limelight, the ASIO director, Mike Burgess, is not making it easier for the government and citizens to retain confidence in him and the organisation he’s trying to run.
Best of 2025 - A deserved defeat for Albanese on freedom of information
Thanks to Opposition leader Sussan Ley, the government’s disgraceful attempt to squeeze the life out of the Freedom of Information Act is as dead as a herring.
How the Albanese government kept “jobs for mates” alive
The Albanese government promised to end political patronage in statutory appointments, but has instead chosen a non-binding framework that preserves ministerial discretion and limits accountability.
The Dismissal at 50: Albanese condemns the past but avoids real reform
Anthony Albanese condemned the 1975 Dismissal as a partisan ambush. Yet he refuses to pursue the constitutional reforms needed to prevent another vice-regal intervention. Australia remains exposed, and neither government nor public sentiment seems ready for the changes required.
ASIO's Mike Burgess and a lust for the limelight
In succumbing to a lust for the limelight, the ASIO director, Mike Burgess, is not making it easier for the government and citizens to retain confidence in him and the organisation he’s trying to run.
Commonwealth administrative reform remains up the creek
The results of a recent survey of community satisfaction and trust in Commonwealth public services are not to be sneezed at.
A deserved defeat for Albanese on freedom of information
Thanks to Opposition leader Sussan Ley, the government’s disgraceful attempt to squeeze the life out of the Freedom of Information Act is as dead as a herring.
Government secrecy 2, the public interest 0. Again
When it comes to keeping a tight rein on information, the Albanese Government does a great job of practising what it preaches.
How to get Albanese up for the Nobel Peace Prize
Why on earth is the prime minister boasting about having “really warm” phone chats with the oaf who is now the president of the United States?
Messiness in spookdom: Australia's Iran Contra deal
With the prime minister’s announcement of the expulsion of the Iranian Ambassador, Australia now has its own Iran Contra scandal.
Modelling consultative ineptitude at the economic roundtable
It’s to be hoped the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable being held this week signifies an intention to do more about something that truly matters – better productivity.
Mike Burgess on the ASIO soapbox, again
Those with a regard for their welfare would do well not to get between ASIO chief, Mike Burgess, and a soapbox.
Time for Foreign Minister Wong to put her foot down
In an ideal world, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) should be the government’s principal agency in seeing that relations with other countries best serve Australia’s interests.
Greg Sheridan piles on the Murdoch delusions
While Paul Kelly has written wisely about Donald Trump, many of his Murdoch colleagues appear discombobulated by the real estate developer’s return to the US presidency. Who can blame them? They’re not alone.
Spooks under the microscope
In 2023, the federal government set up a review of the National Intelligence Community (the NIC). It was to report in the first half of 2024.
Kim Beazley bombs out
March hasn’t been one of the better months for Kim Beazley, the former Hawke and Keating Government minister, leader of the federal ALP and governor of Western Australia and now chairman of the Council of the Australian War Memorial.
Mike Pezzullo and the Murdoch comedy company
The editorial authorities at The Australian newspaper have splendid senses of humour if their indulgence of the laugh-a-line contributions of Peter Jennings, Greg Sheridan and Henry Ergas are anything to go by.
Public servants' pay: Lambie's on the money
Senator Jacqui Lambie is incandescent about the salaries of secretaries of Commonwealth departments and she wants to “slash” them from their million dollar levels (approx) to no more than $438000, the current pay for the Commonwealth Treasurer.
Hugh White is stirring the China pot again
For more than 40 years Hugh White has been an important analyst of Australian defence and foreign policy.
Elitists touched up by one of their own - The Callick case
The Murdoch Press sure knows how to whip up an eye-catching headline – it may be its longest suit. True to form, on 19 January 25 The Weekend Australian ran a corker – “HOW THE AMERICAN HATERS IN OUR MIDST GO EASY ON CHINA.”
Rumours of ASPI's death are exaggerated
When a review of Commonwealth funding of “strategic policy work”, together with the government’s response, was released just before Christmas, the howls from associates of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute were probably audible on the Moon.
Gina Rinehart, Kim Williams and the ABC
The Iron Ore Lady, Gina Rinehart, wants to reduce taxes and government spending to help the less fortunate. As part of her Grand Program, she’d like to get rid of the ABC. No matter it’s the most trusted news source in the country – sacrifices must be made if Gina’s compassion is to be given a fuller voice. And with one swing of her axe on the ABC’s neck, she’d save a billion dollars a year which, as it isn’t hers, she’d palm off to those more in need than she is, apparently.
The Australian Public Service and the perils of Trumpism
“The first thing we’ll do is sack those 36000 public servants in Canberra” - David Littleproud, leader of Australia’s National Party.
The bell has tolled for Pezzullo's gong
It may be that in his post-Public Service life Mr Mike Pezzullo has been watching lots of classic films.
Could Albanese do better with less help?
Senior political office is a hazardous place where job security can be fortuitous.
Messing up the sense of the census
It’s hard to imagine how the government could have made a bigger mess of questions about gender identity and sexual orientation for the 2026 Census.
A timid PM, frozen in the glare of the Keating headlights
When the former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, recently claimed that Australia was losing its “strategic autonomy” and turning into “the 51st State of the United States”, the current Prime Minister froze in the headlights.
ASIO, Burgess and the miasma of spookdom
Collecting, sifting and presenting information on national security is not the toughest job in the world although it can be tricky.
When elected the Albanese Government inherited a federal public service rather like a semi-regurgitated dog’s breakfast
Attempts have been made to tidy things up but too much reliance has been place on administrative measures rather than the solidity of new or amended primary legislation. While some commendable things have been done, the overall program has been short on ambition and imagination, and progress has been oh so slow.
“Ill-begotten siblings”: Australia and the United States of America
Allan Behm has been about a bit.
Rodents in the ranks
The experience of recent injuries to the pro-integrity culture in the federal public service are rather like sensations, in dream or reality, of rodents scurrying up the legs of one’s pyjama pants. Disconcerting, unwelcome and potentially eye-watering.
How governments hide their activities
Primary school students learn in their early days that accountability is a keystone of democracy. Not far into secondary school that reassuring notion is tempered as schoolies get to appreciate that for governments accountability equals political risk. It’s a pain in ministerial necks and should be kept within bounds sufficient to minimise electoral discomfort.
Accepting reality: the future will not be made in Australia
With a couple of minutes Googling, your favourite Martian could be well informed on the role of government in the Australian economy from the moment of the arrival of the British colonialists. It’s been big.
Lehrmann and the engagement of ministerial staff
In the oceanic commentary on the Bruce Lehrmann cases, little attention seems to have been given as to how he got into Minister Linda Reynolds office in the first place. If he hadn’t all could have been spared the terrible things that have happened as a consequence of his admission – the catastrophic ignominies he brought upon himself, the agonies of Ms Higgins and the reputational injuries to many who’ve got within a bull’s roar of the saga – Minister Reynolds and her chief of staff, the ACT public prosecutor Drumgold, Judge Sofronoff and Channel 7 and some of its...
A victory against the flow of the tide
Under the Morrison and Albanese governments it may well be that the FoI Act has been more restrictively administered than at any time since it came into effect in 1982.
Government shock as subordinating foreign and defence policy to US strangely unpopular with voters
A recent Essential Poll published in The Guardian proves yet again that silly questions often get silly answers.