Flat White

In-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus stories and gossip from Australian politics.

Victoria’s unemployment double jeopardy

4 October 2020 12:05 am

More than eight million Australians collectively clenched their sphincters in anxious unison last week, as the plan to gradually scale…

WATCH: Ian Hanke discusses Daniel Andrews unprecedented indefinite detention laws

3 October 2020 6:37 pm

The fight continues. Ian Hanke discusses with Peta Credlin in Sky News Australia why Chairman Dan’s totalitarian COVID-19 Omnibus Bill…

What’s woke this week?

3 October 2020 5:00 pm

The woke’s erroneous moral certitude that brooks no dissent and fanatical adherence to the cause sees them increasingly resemble Islamist terrorists hell-bent on purging the…

Nobody hates like leftists

3 October 2020 2:21 pm

President Trump has contracted coronavirus and, in response, the world hs held a competition to determine who was the most…

Wanted: a vaccine against irrational COVID-19 thinking

2 October 2020 5:00 am

The announcement the Federal Government is investing in the development of three new COVID-19 vaccines is welcome news for those…

Budget 2020: stand by for upheaval in the corporate sector – even with insolvency reform

1 October 2020 6:24 pm

I first wrote about the impending insolvency deluge on July 7. Back then the commentariat was focused on Victoria’s fresh…

Is this the narcissism epidemic?

1 October 2020 5:11 pm

Spare a thought for the Instagram influencers and social media mavens of Victoria: they haven’t been recognised in public for, like,…

Reading, writing – and gender studies

1 October 2020 2:53 pm

Let’s play a game of spot the odd one out and see how you go.  New South Wales Greens Senator…

Government has never been so big – and yet so incompetent

1 October 2020 12:37 pm

In the history of Australia, never has government been so big and yet so incompetent in dealing with the problems…

Peter Ridd: Queensland public and farmers treated with contempt by science institutions over the reef

1 October 2020 10:57 am

Our Australian Reef science organisations had a hard time at the Senate Inquiry into the effects of agriculture on the…

Budget 2020: the overwhelming case for accelerated income tax cuts

1 October 2020 5:00 am

Heavy hints from ministers that planned personal income tax cuts will be brought forward in next week’s budget have sparked…

We’re all in this together – except the(ir) ABC

30 September 2020 7:33 pm

Anyone who didn’t see this coming has been living in a rock. Or possibly hiding in a basement with Joe…

EXCLUSIVE: Victorian Attorney General confirms pre-emptive detention fears

30 September 2020 3:33 pm

The Victorian state Attorney General, Jill Hennessy, has written to the Law Institute of Victoria attempting to allay concerns about…

Budget 2020: desperate times call for desperate measures

30 September 2020 1:05 pm

There’s an old saying which goes “desperate times call for desperate measures”.  It means actions which may seem extreme in…

Has federalism failed us in the pandemic?

30 September 2020 5:00 am

Disparate government policies within Australia in response to the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic have highlighted strengths and weaknesses in our federal structure.…

Why has Victoria become a danger zone for journalists?

29 September 2020 5:30 pm

Asking meticulous questions of Premier Daniel Andrews is the fastest way to get yourself sent to the gulag.  China hasn’t…

A letter from COVID jail

29 September 2020 11:12 am

I’ve been a very bad girl. I have come home to Australia to be with my husband. I travelled by…

Budget 2020: we need a strict supply side focus to fix this government induced recession

29 September 2020 5:00 am

The dictum that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” rings very true in the run-up to the federal budget.…

Danandrewstan’s new health minister is off to a flying start

29 September 2020 4:45 am

Lessons have been learnt — or, as the modern bureaucrat might ask — learnings have been made? Not quite. The…

Clever virus, stupid Premier

28 September 2020 7:19 pm

For something made in China, Coronavirus is surprisingly good. How else to make sense of the latest non-sensical restrictions aimed…

The hotel quarantine fiasco must damn Dan’s indefinite detention bill

28 September 2020 4:03 pm

Evidence given at the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry gives no confidence that the government would be able to manage the implementation…

Vale, Giles Auty

28 September 2020 3:01 pm

It is with great sadness that we must inform SpecOz readers that the wonderful Giles Auty passed away last week…

Proved again: the(ir) ABC couldn’t be more out of touch

28 September 2020 2:27 pm

Ask anyone sane: there is absolutely no doubt that that episode of ABC’s Q&A was outrageous and unacceptable. You know,…

Our decision making ghosts

28 September 2020 12:00 pm

When it comes to making decisions, the Victorian hotel quarantine disaster shows neither politicians nor public servants seem to know…

EXCLUSIVE: Coate inquiry asked to investigate union links to hotel quarantine disaster

28 September 2020 5:00 am

“I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I know nothing.” This is the recurring theme that has been the hallmark of…