John Roskam’s Opinion Newsletter
IPA Senior Fellow John Roskam explains the good, bad and ugly of Australian politics in his weekly opinion newsletter, One & Free.
The reason I’ve been away – and the reason Australians will vote No.
Families in Melbourne's eastern suburbs tell us a lot about our Australia Thank you for your patience. It's been a month since I last wrote for One & Free and I'll tell you why - although some of you might already know. I've been busy with the Liberal Party! Here in Melbourne I stood for preselection for a [...]
We’re lucky – but not serious
A snapshot of Australia in 2023 This week has given us a bit of a snapshot of Australia in 2023. And what does that snapshot show? We might be a lucky country - but we're not a serious country. (Although I should qualify the word 'lucky'. 'Luck' implies we had nothing to do with our success - but [...]
Being a minority of one
You need to know you're not alone In Nineteen Eighty-Four there's scene in which Winston Smith ponders the purpose of his job which is to rewrite historical documents. He asks 'I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY. He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply [...]
One word of truth
Tucker Carlson said something you don't often hear. You've probably already watched or heard about Tucker Carlson's video that went up on Twitter yesterday. He announced he'll be starting a new program on the platform. As I'm writing this the video has been watched 119 million times. I wasn't a religious viewer of Carlson. What I saw of [...]
The Kevin Rudd and Niki Savva approach to people they disagree with.
We don't trust the media - and we don't trust each other. Today, 3 May is 'World Press Freedom Day'. I won't spend time contemplating the irony of the United Nations in 1993 creating such a day, other than note that the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council include China, Cuba, and Qatar. According to [...]
Ordinary men doing extraordinary things
Australia and the purpose of ANZAC Day ANZAC Day is almost all we've got left to share with each other. National Days are necessary to countries that are more than just geographical expressions. People living in a community need something in common and beliefs and experiences that are shared in some way. In Australia today there's not much that brings us together. [...]