Author: Alex Mitchell

  • The Weekly Notebook – Morrison shifts Australia’s foreign policy

    Scott Morrison shifts Australia from Pacific “Minder” to Trump’s anti-China “Deputy Dawg” Prime Minister Scott Morrison has placed Australia at the centre of Washington’s anti-China military alliance and signed up to underwrite the failed state of Papua New Guinea. These dramatic changes were agreed by Morrison in his first overseas foray as PM – to the…

  • The Weekly Notebook – Politicians behaving badly

    Politicians behaving badly Luke Foley has resigned as NSW Labor leader after a right-wing Liberal MP named him in parliament over allegations of sexual misconduct with a female ABC reporter. The incident occurred at a Christmas drinks party at a swish CBD wine bar just down the street from Parliament House in November 2016. The…

  • The Weekly Notebook – Latham the One Nation rat

    Mark Latham: from Labor hero to One Nation rat Mark Latham, leader of the Australian Labor Party (2003-2005), has joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and will lead her team in the March 2019 NSW Election. Surprised? From becoming the 18th leader of the Federal Labor Party to the leadership of NSW One Nation is a…

  • The Weekly Notebook – beginning of the end of Trump

    The beginning of the end of President Donald Trump Next Tuesday, November 6, is Melbourne Cup Day which Australians know as “the day that stops a nation”. This year, the following day, Wednesday, November 7, is when we start receiving results from the US mid-term elections and thus becomes “the poll that stops the world”. I’ll…

  • The Weekly Notebook – America at the crossroads

    America at the crossroads: Mid-term vote and Saudi murder Americans are faced with two epoch-making decisions and the rest of the world is breathlessly awaiting the outcome. At stake is whether the USA is a humane society or an inhumane one. Whether it is civilised or uncivilised. Whether it is guided by culture and science or…

  • The Weekly Notebook – Khashoggi murder plot explained

    Khashoggi murder plot explained … Prince Harry checks out Governor-General job   The gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the disappearance of his remains was conducted by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The chief architects are US President Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, the 6th CIA director from January 2017 to April…

  • The Weekly Notebook – Liberal philistines vandalise Opera House

    Liberal Party philistines back Opera House vandalism Pastor Scott Morrison, Australia ’s latest Prime Minister, has found himself in trouble again due to his Pentecostal verbosity. Giving strong support to advertising horse racing on the sails of the Sydney Opera House Morrison said the decision was “a no-brainer”. He’s right, of course. No one with…

  • The Weekly Notebook – a vote for Phelps is a vote for the Liberals

    Why a vote for Kerryn Phelps is a vote for the Liberal Party in Wentworth by-election Kerryn Phelps, past president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), is an “independent” candidate at the by-election in Wentworth, Australia’s wealthiest per capita electorate on Saturday, October 20. Who wins the seat, previously held by ousted prime minister Malcolm…

  • The Weekly Notebook – two coups

    Two coups, two victims – what’s going on? Two major public figures have been executed in recent coups in Australia – Malcolm Turnbull was despatched as prime minister on August 24 and Michelle Guthrie as ABC managing director on September 24. In subsequent media coverage the executioners could not, or would not, explain why Turnbull…

  • The Weekly Notebook – conservative basket cases

    Why conservative parties have become basket cases A common feature of today’s political environment is the identity crisis in conservative parties that have ruled much of the Western world in the post-war years. For example, Christian Democratic parties that blossomed in Europe and Latin America after World War Two are now struggling for survival. In Australia…