by ROSS FITZGERALD
In ten years’ time, what will people say about the Morrison government? The Coalition’s deepest problem is not that the National Party has become a circus; it’s that the government itself has no major mission to carry it through the inevitable storms of parliamentary politics.
The Morrison government’s basic problem is actually the same one that characterised the Rudd-Gillard government. Apart from “more action” on climate change – which Kevin Rudd eventually squibbed and Julia Gillard turned into the electorally disastrous carbon tax – what was the point of …
Politicians must judge how much voters will sacrifice to achieve lower emissions.
ROSS FITZGERALD
In recent days, climate change policy has divided the Nationals as much as it divides the Liberals.
But the question “Do you believe in climate change?” is a curious one because it suggests that change in climate is not a matter of fact but a matter of faith.
The recent bushfire disasters in Australia have been taken by many to confirm that the climate is indeed changing and have prompted more urgent demands that the government do much more to …
From humble beginnings, Alcoholics Anonymous has saved millions of lives
by ROSS FITZGERALD
Yesterday, on Australia Day, I was sober for 50 years.
Since I stopped drinking and drugging on January 26, 1970, Alcoholics Anonymous has continued to teach me that for an alcoholic one drink is too many and 100 is not enough.
Indeed, the trick for an alcoholic like me is not to pick up the first drink, and to keep attending AA meetings.
The stark reality is if I hadn’t stopped drinking and drugging aged 25, I wouldn’t have made 26.
Yet had …
The Basis of Everything: Rutherford, Oliphant and the Coming of the Atomic Bomb
By Andrew Ramsey. HarperCollins, 384pp, $39.99
review by PROFESSOR ROSS FITZGERALD
Probing the secrets of the universe sounds like a noble endeavour but when the result is a world armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons it makes you wonder. This book tells the compelling story of two friends, two devoted scientists born and educated at opposite ends of the British Empire, who helped bring humanity to the brink, albeit unknowingly at first. These intellectual heavyweights were Ernest Rutherford, the …
ROSS FITZGERALD
Joe Hockey didn’t get the credit he deserved as a reforming treasurer so it’s good that he’s being credited as an outstanding ambassador to the US.
At his farewell party in Washington there were glowing tributes from former prime minister Tony Abbott, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and Australian businessman Anthony Pratt. All said Hockey not only had done a fine job over 25 years of public life but was one of the most likeable and straightforward of people.
Australia has always appreciated that Washington is one of those …
Long after the fires are out we’re going to need these valuable Asian neighbours
ROSS FITZGERALD
It’s understandable that Scott Morrison cancelled his trip to India and Japan after the abuse he received over his holiday in Hawaii. But it’s an error of judgment. There’s a world of difference between an overseas holiday taken while most people are still working and when there’s a bushfire crisis, and, on the other hand, an official trip to deepen co-operation with two key regional partners. Provided the Prime Minister had fully announced the government’s response …
A satirical ascendance to The Heights of silliness
The Dizzying Heights
Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen
Hybrid, 248pp, $24.99
review by Ed Wright
Detail of The Dizzying Heights, by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen.
The Dizzying Heights, the seventh in Ross Fitzgerald’s Grafton Everest series, begins with Grafton examining his penis in the mirror through the lens of its (and his) senescence. It’s a curiously blunt self-examination, exacerbated by a failure of focus that provides a counterpoint for the far more whimsical satirical confection that follows, a political romp that thoroughly disavows itself of the restrictions …
Prime Minister’s holiday — and honeymoon — are over
Scott Morrison and his government need to get busy on policy and performance
by ROSS FITZGERALD
Prime ministerial holidays are often contentious: where they go, who they stay with, what they cost and, most importantly, what they’re not doing while they’re away. After media intrusion had made his traditional family holiday at Hawks Nest almost impossible, from 1997 on John Howard just went on light duties from Kirribilli House. Given that you could hardly beat the setting, Scott Morrison would be well advised to …
Review
Project Rainfall: The Secret History of Pine Gap
Tom Gilling
Allen&Unwin, 306pp, $32.99
by ROSS FITZGERALD
Pine Gap just outside Alice Springs, arguably Australia’s most secret place.
At the height of the Cold War in 1966, at a remote site in central Australia, three operatives from the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology met the head of the Scientific Intelligence Group of Australia’s Joint Intelligence Bureau. This meeting celebrated the beginnings of a top-secret project known in US intelligence circles as Rainfall.
Pine Gap is the commonly used name for the pivotal US satellite surveillance station …
by ROSS FITZGERALD
Winning a federal election the pundits thought he would lose makes Scott Morrison a first-rate politician. So far, though, he’s been much better at politics than policy. If he wants to be a first-rate prime minister, he’s going to need an agenda for government and it can’t just be modest tax cuts and prudent budget management. He has to tackle some of the big problems the country faces — and there’s none bigger than persistent drought.
Right now, the federal government is doing what it can to help struggling …
Convict Colony
By David Hill. Allen & Unwin, 369pp, $32.99
reviewed by ROSS FITZGERALD
Why are convicts so much more interesting than respectable folk? Being related to one of the poor sods who was transported to the early colony is a badge of honour now, which is just one of the reasons David Hill’s latest book is so fascinating.
‘Convict Colony’ is a well-researched and clearly expressed populist history of early British Australia. In it, Hill, author of the bestselling ‘1788: The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet’, concentrates on colonial Sydney to chronicle …
