Letters to the Editor
Free speech for some, not all
March 4, 2026
Ironic that those who champion free speech seemingly feel threatened by letters and articles submitted for publication that are critical or offer counter views. Bit like the way the Murdoch media operate.
Simon Tatz from Melbourne
In response to: General commentd
Oil wars
March 4, 2026
By abolishing environmental laws in the USA and promoting fossil fuels, Trump is going to kill 10,000s of Americans. He doesn't care. But the promotion of oil gives a clue as to who is really pulling his strings – and why he is engaged in or threatening all these new conflicts – Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Canada. It's all about oil. As usual. Only this time Trump has got it sadly wrong. By cementing the US to an oil economy he has made China the technology world leader – and the rest of the world will follow their low-cost...
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Trump’s dangerous war without consent
Capital Gains Tax
March 4, 2026
Perhaps instead of reducing the CGT rate, might it be easier and more acceptable to reduce the number of properties that it can be claimed on? For instance, commence an annual reduction of the number of claimable properties from 10 and above, to eight then six then four, finally settling at two allowable properties. This would seem to leave small investors unaffected, and be more politically acceptable to them. It would also seem to be easy to implement, understandable by accountants, property owners, and politicians.
Michael Dwyer from Brisbane
In response to: How Australia should fix capital gains tax
Myth making
March 4, 2026
The sanctity of both John Howard and Tony Abbot has become an article of faith among the right. Rewrite our history so that our values are more closely aligned to that of the USA. It will result in a national lurch to the right. Were the Liberal Party to embrace the values of the Teals the wind would be taken out of the far right and we could move back to some civilised discourse that seeks to find solutions for all Australians.
john tons from adelaide
In response to: How John Howard reshaped Australia – and not for the better
Albo's mother's bed
March 4, 2026
Anthony Albanese was born in 1963. That was a hard time for a young unmarried woman to find herself unexpectedly pregnant, especially if she was Catholic. His mother was probably pressured by the nuns to give up her baby for adoption. But she didn't – she had made her bed, and she lay on it. She kept him - and he became Prime Minister of Australia. What would his mother think now, of his refusal to give 23 little Australians a chance in life like he had, and their mothers a chance to redeem themselves with love? Time...
Gayle Davies from Armidale, NSW
In response to: Albo's decision will follow him into the history books and define us too
Albanese's shallow male chauvinism is not his main failing
March 4, 2026
This article brings up the issue of Albanese's Australian legacy. It will not be pretty. Aside from the petty comments about Australian women trapped in Syria, it will also include misogynistic comments about difficult women closer to home. But Albanese's shallow male chauvinism is not his main failing. Our PM's main failing is his utter lack of imagination when looking at the broader geopolitical situation. He seems to be trapped in an outdated Anglo/Zionist interpretation of the world, ignoring a glaringly obvious sea change in global affairs. This sea change, not just generational but millennial in scope, is unfolding with us or...
Hal Duell from Alice Springs
In response to: Albanese’s decision will follow him into the history books – and define us too
Welcome to Albanese's dog-eat-dog lawless world
March 4, 2026
Jack Waterford rightly criticises the Prime Minister for denying their rights as citizens to the Australian women and children in Syrian detention camps. Albanese said they had made their beds so had to lie in them, so he'd obviously given the matter 'some' thought. But given he won the dubious honour of being the first world leader to voice support for the illegal US attack on Iran, you have to wonder if he gave it any thought at all. Australian and international laws might be flawed but they do serve as boundaries to behaviour beyond which people and...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Albanese’s decision will follow him into the history books – and define us too
Definition of antisemitism
March 4, 2026
As Jeffrey Loewenstein states, the adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism by the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion is ‘highly contentious’. Because the definition lacks clarity and is open to conflicting interpretations, the IHRA website contains, together with the vague definition, the statement “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”. But the website also contains 11 alleged ‘examples’ of antisemitism, several of which contradict the reassuring statement. Loewenstein’s article does not discuss the specific contradictions, however I've offered an analysis in Independent Australia (30/1/2026).
Mark Diesendorf from BEROWRA HEIGHTS NSW
In response to: Royal Commission gets off on the wrong foot
What a perfect summary of the ills of Howard
March 2, 2026
What a brilliant summary by Crispin Hull. I would only have added that he killed the chance of Australia becoming a republic in 2001, an achievement that most certainly would have occurred if Keating had won (assuming Howard would then, discredited, been replaced by a republican 'Liberal' such as Costello). In doing so, he denied us the opportunity now, or rather, the prospect of having had a quarter century to grow up and mature in confidence, which likely would have resulted in us NOT getting involved in myriad foreign wars, not delving deeper and deeper into the ANZUS...
Wes Mason from Gisborne
In response to: Howard Changed Australia and Not for the better
PM's apparent Chinese bomb threat
March 2, 2026
Regarding the forced evacuation of the Prime Minister from The Lodge owing to a bomb threat found to be false, it is understandable that there is much gnashing of teeth in the wake of the horrific events in Bondi recently. Security forces are naturally on hyper alert. Without wanting to diminish the threat, and as a person who attends numerous and varied dance performances and rates them, it would not surprise me if Shen Yun are struggling to sell tickets. The national ballet company of China (Zhong Guo Ballet Wu) is a better bet if you're looking for...
Michael Stanley from 12/28 Woods Street
In response to: Shen Yun and Falun Gong – belief, propaganda and division
Politicians are irresponsible, not dumb
March 2, 2026
No doubt Julian Cribb's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek in arguing that algae are smarter than politicians, nevertheless, his thesis was flawed. Algae, unlike politicians, cannot control their environment. They survived the various mass extinction events, not because they were smart, but because of the concept of survival of the fittest, that is, there were some species that were better adapted to the changed conditions and could survive and reproduce. Nevertheless, it is an amusing thought, or depressing, if you think too much about it. How on earth do Liberals, Nationals and One Nation reject the net...
Jenny Goldie from Cooma NSW
In response to: Is algae smarter than politicians?
Nothing to see here!
March 2, 2026
In a functioning democracy this appointment would not happen! In an oligarchy it is perfectly natural. As the unreformed and utterly corrupt US financial system springs leaks on a daily basis this is a perfectly to be expected appointment. It also hastens the expected denouement!
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: ‘Arsonist as Fire Chief’: Fed appoints Wall Street lobbyist to key bank oversigh
Feudalism and favour!
March 2, 2026
It appears from history that feudalism was followed by a long and difficult road to democracy in Britain. The road had many difficulties as the landed Aristocracy sought at every turn to halt and reverse that progress to a governance of the people, for the people and by the people. In the end Britain ended up with a dog's breakfast of democracy tainted by substantial remnants of Feudalism. One of these was an inherited royalty without accountability to the people but with substantial powers to frustrate the operation of that democracy, along with an upper House composed mainly of...
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: From Whitlam to Andrew – the Palace and the politics of concealment
US Israeli bad faith
March 2, 2026
Alison Broinowski’s brink is now crossed. The US has launched a second war within a year on Iran without Congressional approval, and while it was to meet Iran again in Vienna for further talks. Bessent was clear that the US deliberately created economic destabilisation in Iran. Further, the UK just said it would not allow UK airbases to be used by the US for a war on Iran, then allowed US F22s flying to Israel to be staged through RAF Lakenheath. We have all seen the picture of Trump, Rubio, Vance and Ratcliffe watching a screen while 80 people...
Geoff Taylor from Borlu (Perth)
In response to: Iran on the brink
Thank God for difficult women!
March 2, 2026
Janine Henry gets it exactly right in articulating the meaning of women being pigeon-holed as difficult. When women heard Grace Tame described as difficult, we knew it was a put-down. The Prime Minister didn't mis-speak or really mean something else. He was putting a courageous, outspoken woman into what he deemed her proper, lesser place. I've bought my Difficult Woman tee-shirt. It's going to get a lot of wear.
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Difficult women, comfortable power
Has Michael McKinley not noticed Trump?
March 2, 2026
The article by Michael McKinley, rehearsing familiar pro-Russian narratives about the US fighting to the last Ukrainian would have been comprehensible, even if wrong, before 2025. But if Ukrainians were being dragged into a war they didn't want, they would have settled when Trump changed sides. In fact, they understand that Putin will settle for nothing less conquest and continue to defend themselves, without the limited and grudging help they received from Biden. The author, like Putin and Trump, can only see things through the lens of great power conflict, in which the US is pulling all the strings....
John Quiggin from Queensland
In response to: The Russia–Ukraine war: Australia’s unanswered questions
Hansonites are amongst us and they vote
February 26, 2026
As much as we might wish to not accept it, the fact is that there are 'people' like Hanson, of the 'I fear to be in Lakemba' brigade. After all, she is a carbon-based life form. Our multicultural society is, for someone who grew up in the early 1950s when Italians and Greeks were 'wogs' and fit only to be employed as manual labourers, a daily joy. Evenings in Lakemba during Ramadan are just a delight – not only for culinary wonderfulness but just as a warm and wonderful evening doing living on the street. I have...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Let’s not turn back the clock on immigration
Assertions are not evidence of a crime
February 26, 2026
In Foster's piece, he mentions the news that Alexei Navalny was ended by the Russians using Dart Frog toxin. The REAL news was that was an assertion 'constructed' by the British, and presented at the Munich Security Conference, with four other NATO nations standing with the British at the presser. Not a scrap of evidence to back the assertion was provided - NONE - and no questions were entertained. Not long after Navalny expired, then Ukraine intel chief (and now Zelensky's Chief of Staff) Budanov stated; I don't like to disappoint, but Navalny died of natural causes due to a...
David Thompson from CLAYTON
In response to: A history of assassination reveals how ‘targeted killings’ became an extension o
Do some mothers matter more than others?
February 26, 2026
Either everyone matters or no one matters. That sounds simple enough, but you wouldn't know it from following the news. For example, we have on the one hand Zionists in Israel committing murder on live-stream, and yet any criticism has to be carefully filtered to avoid the dreaded charge of antisemitism. With that obligatory filtering in mind, are there Australian citizens fighting for the IDF in Gaza? If there are, will they be welcomed home once they weary of killing Palestinians? On the other hand we have Australian women and children being passed around like hot potatoes in Syria because no...
Hal Duell from Alice Springs
In response to: Bring these Australian children home, PM. They did not make their own beds
What’s the difference?
February 26, 2026
Stella Yee’s article makes me wonder, what’s the difference between Iran’s approach and Australia’s approach on freedom of expression, free speech and the right to demonstrate? The difference is that one country’s name starts with “I” and the other’s….
Stelios Piakis from NSW
In response to: Whose rights and liberties I respect
Leadership or laxity
February 26, 2026
Good questions sincerely asked by Andrew seem utterly unlikely to be answered persuasively by a government that can be characterised as power without purpose. Albanese seems so smitten by the idea of power that he is unable to exercise it with courageous leadership. I'd like to be wrong on this, but don't think I will be!!
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Could old rivalries spur Albanese to act on human rights?
Death or dishonour await!
February 26, 2026
The reality is that most, if not all, of these recruits, could well be subsequently classified by future decisions of the ICC or ICJ as mercenaries and thus will subject to international law relating to the treatment of mercenaries. Many of them may have been convinced by the honeyed words of Israeli recruiters that their cause is a just one, despite the already existing conclusions of both courts and the UN General Assembly, the association of Genocide scholars, all the major world human rights groups, the Special Rapporteur and the UN Commission into what is happening in Gaza and the...
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Globalisation of occupation: when genocide becomes an international project
Rights and liberties
February 26, 2026
Stella Yee's article is very good. However, it has the same fault as nearly all media interest in this subject and Gaza, Palestine, the West Bank, and Israel. Anyone reading or watching the usual pieces could be forgiven for believing that these trouble started on 7 October 2023, or with the Bondi outrage. It started almost 100 years ago when Zionist terrorist gangs fought against the British Mandate for Palestine, and terrorised the Palestinians living there since before the Romans evicted most of the Jewish population around AD70. In 1947, following the Balfour Declaration of 1915 proposing a...
Terry Stanton from PORT MACQUARIE
In response to: Whose Rights and Liberties I respect by Stella Yee
Serving ISIS or IDF: no moral equivalence?
February 26, 2026
Refaat Ibrahim's article provides all the information and asks all the necessary questions. It should not be necessary to repeat the data nor the commentary. And yet, we have not only the repugnant usual suspects of the RWNJ political coterie but the conscientiously-excised PM Albanese casting the entire families of the radicalised ISIS expatriate idiots into the pit of Hell. Fair enough treatment for the patriarchs who took their families into the depths of harm's way. All 35 of them. But where is the equivalent condemnation of the more than 600 Australian Jews who joined the IDF?...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Globalisation of occupation: when genocide becomes an international project
Deja vu re Palestine
February 26, 2026
Refaat Ibrahim does well to point out how the “ceasefire” in Palestine has reduced the world’s attention to the plight of the Palestinians. But 400 Palestinian villages were emptied of 720,000 Palestinians in the Nakba, and now after the latest war, they live in a country of widespread destruction. Northeast Palestine is being eaten up by Israeli settlers. There is a Board of Peace but without Palestinian government involvement. The area within the Yellow Line in Southwest Palestine keeps shrinking. Why the title deja vu? Well, we have habit of forgetting easily, even events in Palestine twelve years ago. I...
Geoff Taylor from Borlu (Perth)
In response to: The ceasefire as a weapon: the genocide in Gaza continues in silence
It’s all too easy with Albanese
February 26, 2026
To hear Mark Carney speak at Davos and to follow his actions in the name of world order and Canadian sovereignty fills one with hope. To compare the political timidity – and that’s putting it mildly – of the Albanese government should fill Australians with envy and shame. Let’s hope the Canadian prime minister’s visit triggers a damascene moment in our indolent government and waken the nation’s electorate from its apathy. From its acquiesce to the shameful Morrison AUKUS sham to its indulgence of the Canberra lobbyist regime, this current administration has abdicated regard for and responsibility to the national...
John Mosig from Kew, Victoria
In response to: Carney and Albanese and the collapse of global order?
What was Albanese thinking?
February 26, 2026
Stella Yee, in her article on the aftermath of the Bondi shootings, exposes how wrong it was to invite the Israeli president to Australia. It has led to greater hostility between sections of our community and consequential restriction of our freedoms. By calling Herzog the Jewish community's head of state, Albanese has not only insulted a large portion of Australian Jews, but he has played into the hands of antisemites who view Jews as one entity. Many prominent Australian Jews have voiced their opposition to the Israeli government and the devastation and death it has wrought in Gaza. And many...
Al Turley from Doncaster Vic.
In response to: Whose Rights and Liberties I Respect
Never stop digging, Albo
February 26, 2026
And right on cue, Albo continues digging hole(s) that Waterford mentions, with added chocolate sprinkles. Just today he continues his attack on the women and children trying to escape ISIS incarceration and misery, still without the slightest recognition of the now estimated 80,000 deaths by genocide in Gaza – of which around 40 per cent are now estimated to be women, children and the elderly. and that does not include the many, many thousands whose lives are now and for the future, severely crippled/shortened. Brave, Brave Sir Albo. Who has now attacked David Pocock for daring to raise...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Albanese’s real opponent is not Angus Taylor
Not all brown people are Muslim
February 26, 2026
I am getting tired of having to say I'm Buddhist to everyone. I was born in Sri Lanka which is a Buddhist country and I've extensively studied Buddhist and Hindu scripture. I'm tired of people telling me that they like Muslims, before ascertaining my religion. I quickly correct that I'm Buddhist and they never acknowledge this but continue their rant. I have Muslim friends in Australia and UK, but I object to being put into their bucket. I won't hold out hope that you'll do an article pointing out that not all brown people are Muslim,...
Dan Wild from Sydney
In response to: errorism – a blow back from western violence in Muslim countrieshttps://johnmena
The gift that keeps on giving
February 26, 2026
Never forget he also gave Australia Tony Abbott.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: how-john-howard-reshaped-australia-not-for-
Naming the guilty
February 26, 2026
John's article has the temerity to name western responsibility for the vast growth of terrorism around the planet. Both that terrorism committed directly by the west, which incidentally has a long and bloody pedigree stretching back to the creation of those western colonial empires, and the terrorism created in the Islamic world by our hubris, greed and sheer stupidity, are direct consequences of a western racism and insidious belief in Caucasion superiority over the rest of humanity. These are all markers of an empire in terminal decline. At several isolated historical points we could reasonably have claimed to have...
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Terrorism – a blow back from western violence in Muslim countries
Mid-century fundamentalist Methodism in practice
February 26, 2026
One thing is clear about John Howard – his approach to the world was shaped by a childhood exposed to a narrow fundamentalist Methodism. Even the rare good he did in response to the Port Arthur shootings, came out of that rigid moralism that brooked no opposition. His rule reflected a hearkening back to a mythical past that was ill-suited to the twentieth century, let alone the twenty-first. Twenty-first century Australians will continue to pay for that mythologizing of a 19th century religious certitude.
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: How John Howard reshaped Australia – and not for the better
A better fix for CGT
February 26, 2026
Realised capital gains should be taxed at similar rates to wages, with the CGT discount abolished. Modern digital record-keeping makes this feasible. For individuals, the government could declare an annual inflation rate (using CPI or AWE) to calculate the real gain. The tax payable would then be based on the taxpayer’s average tax rate over the previous five years – a figure easily recorded on annual assessments. Companies and discretionary trusts should pay the company rate, which should not be cut. Negative gearing on residential property should be abolished. Where expenses, including interest, exceed income, these losses...
John Curr from MANLY
In response to: How Australia should fix capital gains tax
How to fix CGT
February 26, 2026
Bob McMullan’s fix for capital gains means for example an investor who makes say $100,000 capital gain over some period of time (lets say 2-3 years) may pay up to 49 per cent in tax less a 25 per cent discount= $35,000 in tax. And if real inflation (higher than the unrealistic narrow basket of goods in the inflation index) runs around say 5 per cent, that leaves capital at perhaps real value of $0000 when sold less $35000 equals $55000. Perhaps one million dollars was used to buy the property which could have earned 10 per cent plus elsewhere...
Alan Pinsker from Rochedale South, Logan 4123
In response to: How to fix cgt
The Australian community is more mature than politicians think
February 26, 2026
Dr Jamal Rifi is one of the few talking sense in the debate about the return of women and children from the Syrian camps. Politicians are running in all directions hiding from their fears of a community backlash but it seems the Australian community is more mature than politicians think it is. It is obvious that Australia will be safer if these women and children are returned. Leaving the children there to breed up as future terrorists is insane. We have already had at least two cohorts return to Australia and there is no evidence that any of them have...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia
In response to: AUSTRALIAS MORAL FAILURE OVER WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SYRIA
Continued puerility!
February 19, 2026
One cannot help but continue to wish that the Coalition's ongoing yearning for a return to the glory of Nineteenth Century Australia where there was a place for everyone and everyone knew their place, does not change. That will guarantee their continued occupation of the Opposition benches for the foreseeable future. Then the only problem will be how to neuter the attractiveness of the imbecility of Pauline to the diminishing band of older Australians whose most in-depth of thoughts centres around the feudal monarchy, empty nationalism and unrestrained racism!
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Scapegoating migrants is as old as history itself
Vastly expensive but a failure in reality
February 19, 2026
A great article by Warwick that sets out the gigantic resources devoted to the most unproductive economic activities imaginable. Given that vast expenditure one would normally expect a military covered in glory. But what do we see? Stalemate in Korea, defeat in Vietnam, defeat in Afghanistan, defeat in Iraq, defeat in Ukraine. Major triumphs for that military – Panama with a population of a few hundred thousand, Granada with a population of a few hundred thousand, Haiti with a population of a few million. The only major win was the first gulf war. The wins were against...
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: How the United States built the world’s biggest military machine
History is not conditional
February 18, 2026
Conditional history. What a fearful prospect. Amplified by media control of the narrative, the possibility of digging down into the issues underlying the conflicts currently raging across our world now hinges on conditions. These are often imposed by one or more of the main actors in any given conflict making it difficult if not impossible to rationally discuss just how we got into such a pickle. Why did Russia feel it necessary to attack Ukraine? Why does China bristle at the mention of an independent Taiwan? Why does Iran feel it necessary to arm itself with a fearsome array of missiles? Why did...
Hal Duell from Alice Springs
In response to: Whose rights and liberties I respect
Is it the regime or the west that must change?
February 18, 2026
Mehmet Ozalp's article helps inform readers who know little about the history of Western interference in Iran's affairs, but he leaves out some key information, which leads his article to be biased toward the west, favouring as it does 'regime change', but not being clear how that will come about. If a bigger picture were told, we might favour a 'regime change' in the west, too. Being cognisant of more of the relevant details would help. These would include: - the west supplying Iraq with chemical weapons to use against Iranian forces in the 80s - the 1996...
Susan Dirgham from Viewbank
In response to: How Iran’s current unrest can be traced back to the 1979 revolution
Do not go gentle into that good night
February 18, 2026
The late Dylan Thomas liked a cold beer or two on a hot day and once described an alcoholic as someone you don't like that drinks more than you do.
Bernard Corden from Spring Hill QLD 4000
In response to: Sobriety, friendship and the quiet power of Alcoholics Anonymous
Robert Reich keeps me sane
February 18, 2026
About a year ago, I ran into a friend who asked how I was. Donald Trump is driving me insane I replied. You should read Robert Reich, she said. And ever since then I have read Reich's daily blogs on Substack about the sheer awfulness of the Trump Administration. This article about the appalling Kristi Noem and her Department of Homeland Security was particularly therapeutic because the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE still make me weep. It's not just their deaths but the unconstitutional manner in which they act. As Reich writes:...
Jenny Goldie from Cooma NSW
In response to: ‘It’s my government’: Robert Reich's short note to Kristi NoemAngus Taylor looks
Fairer tax for a fairer society
February 18, 2026
Cutting taxes is an easy road to popularity; increasing taxes requires a convincing presentation framework to demonstrate taxpayer value. Labor must promote taxation reform as a program for social benefit: reducing the income tax burden for those who need support (eg wage-earners, particularly the younger taxpayers and the lower paid who struggle with cost of living pressures) while adding or increasing contributions from those who currently receive favourable treatment. These reforms would not be introduced simply to raise more funds, but to create greater tax equity and thus strengthen social cohesion. Possibilities include reducing those concessions seen as overly-generous, such...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: When both sides chant 'lower tax', the country pays in division
Doyle’s warning: Japan’s defensive shift
February 18, 2026
The recent analysis regarding Japan’s departure from its pacifist equilibrium raises vital concerns about regional stability. At first glance, the critique of Tokyo’s Five-Year Plan – aiming to elevate defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2027 – might seem alarmist. Doubling a budget that traditionally hovered around 1 per cent represents a seismic shift in Japan’s post-war identity. However, while the transition is jarring, the author’s underlying apprehension regarding the risk of entrapment is ultimately justified when viewed through the lens of sonritsu kiki jitai. This philosophy of survival-threatening situations allows Japan to exercise collective self-defence...
Ravin Nair from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Will Japan’s remilitarisation drag us into a war?
Applying Capital Gains Tax to our homes won't change things much
February 16, 2026
In discussions I too have often proposed that giving home buyers the same tax settings as property investors would negate the leveraging advantage investors have that lets them bid higher. Except with Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Extending that idea to taxing Capital Gains on the sale of one’s private residence, as suggested by the authors here, ignores one very important cause of the current market failure in providing housing. That factor is the lack of new housing. The ALP proposal during their 2019 election campaign was to limit CGT tax discounts to new builds. That was the most...
Terry Constanti from Sydney
In response to: Capital gains tax reform could reshape Australia’s housing market
Navigating the complexity of contemporary democracy
February 16, 2026
The observation regarding the current administration’s strategic approach to shifting political currents invites a deeper analysis of the multifaceted challenges facing modern governance. Rather than viewing the perceived gap between rhetoric and policy as a systemic failure, it is perhaps more instructive to consider it as a reflection of the inherent complexities involved in maintaining social cohesion within a pluralistic society. As global political landscapes undergo rapid transformations, the task of crafting a unified response becomes increasingly intricate, requiring a delicate balance between immediate legislative action and long-term ideological stability. The difficulties mentioned are not unique to any single...
Ravin Nair from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Best of 2025 - Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat
Thoughtful article with important insights
February 16, 2026
I wanted to share my thoughts on this article. The author presents a compelling analysis of recent events. The contrast between Melbourne and Sydney responses is particularly insightful. This piece shows that the perfect combo can make pixels feel alive. The nuanced discussion about democratic rights and peaceful protest really resonates with readers who value civil discourse. Thank you for publishing such thoughtful content on these important matters.
gamehome.biz biz from wuhan
In response to: When peaceful protest is allowed to work, democracy works
Social coersion
February 16, 2026
The term 'social cohesion' is a misnomer. It has been written the USA believes in human rights but limits who it recognises as human. In the same way social cohesion has become a definition to recognise who is Australian. If you agree with the government, you are Australian (with various qualifiers and hierarchy). Cohesion is an attempt to force conformity or to deny identity. In effect the political mob are asking the right to vote for who they represent. It is an admission of failure of government, of media, of the economic structures and a denial of responsibilities. Australia's...
M Bulluss from UnAustralian
In response to: Do we really need a Minister for Social Cohesion?
Defining antisemitism
February 16, 2026
In referring to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Peter Hooton points out that “Defining what, for the purposes of the inquiry, constitutes antisemitism, will be a crucial first step.” Agreed! My critique of the IHRA working definition and its so-called ‘examples’ has been published by Independent Australia. The following alternative definition, the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, is concise, less open to ambiguity and misuse than the IHRA definition, and likely to be more effective in identifying genuine antisemitism: “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)”.
Mark Diesendorf from BEROWRA HEIGHTS
In response to: The Herzog visit and the Israelisation of antisemitism
Restraint on excess
February 16, 2026
Stuart displays admirable restraint in his response to the fascist thuggery displayed by Police at the Anti-Israel protest that accompanied the shameful visit of the Israeli President, at Australia's invitation. It is difficult to accept the supine satrapy and moral vacuity of the Australian and NSW governments, in blithely ignoring the vast genocide and grotesque criminality of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza. The clear racism involved in the actions of both governments will come back to haunt therm and hopefully soon. As the Australian government has cravenly refused to obey international law just to please the tangerine Daddy...
Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041
In response to: Cowardice dressed up as authority on Sydney’s streets