Tony welcomes back Pauline with return of her boat people policy

By Margo Kingston August 21, 2003 Source: Webdiary So, the self-proclaimed mother of the nation is in jail, and the man who took her policies and finessed her beliefs is Prime Minister of Australia. The rights and wrongs of Pauline Hanson’s conviction and sentence aside, her imprisonment is a graphic symbolic representation of the state […]

Australia invaded Iraq by deceiving Australian people: 43 Australian elders

‘We must return stable, predictable, AND honest government to Australia.‘  Joe Hockey, May 23, National Press Club By Margo Kingston May 23, 2013 When I saw Paul Barratt’s tweets today on some momentous big Howard government lies, I remembered this letter, which Barratt signed in 2004. The government’s trashing of the elders who signed it triggered the […]

The art of journalism: satisfying beginners and expert readers

By Sally Baxter May 19, 2013 What makes a journalist? A lot of people – inside and outside the profession – are asking that question. If you think it takes a genius, think again. Good journalists have a representative of their audience in mind who informs every step of their work. My background’s print, so it’s natural […]

Ethics overboard: How to promote integrity in the moment of choice

By Margo Kingston January 14, 2003 MARGO: With all the talk about stronger shield laws for journos, I think we are edging ever closer to needing an answer to the question: What is a journalist? We cannot argue for special protections and exemptions from privacy laws unless we can distinguish ourselves from non-journalists. To me the […]

Bolt no free speech champion, just another rhetor*

By Thomas Connelly May 11,  2013 Margo: I read with incredulity Andrew Bolt’s begging letter to citizens to donate to the IPA’s fund to defend free speech http://support.ipa.org.au/. IPA donors Murdoch and Gina could finance a free speech fund with their spare change. This appeal is about something else, changing the very meaning of free […]

The Skull Beneath the Skin

By Margo Kingston 10 May 2013 In his Cry, Freedom speech this week, Shadow Attorney General George Brandis said this: ‘But at least the debates about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which we have seen in the past couple of years, have been a sharp reminder to the Liberal Party of its historic […]

George Brandis, free speech charlatan

MARGO: I am so disgusted with the Brandis free speech interview on @Lateline I don’t trust myself to write about it. It brought back memories of the Howard Government’s relentless assaults on free speech, egregiously denied by Brandis last night, and of his nasty record. So @NoFibs will try to drag truth back on the public […]

Nazi Greens an enemy of democracy, government decrees

By Margo Kingston October 29, 2003 Source: Webdiary “I intend to continue to call to the attention of the Australian people the extremely alarming, frightening similarities between the methods employed by contemporary green politics and the methods and the values of the Nazis.” Liberal Senator George Brandis launches a government campaign to destroy the Greens as […]

Missing an IPA transparency moment

Jon Faine’s Friday Wrap. with John Roskam from the IPA and Sally Warhaft from the Wheeler Centre. Broadcast Friday 26 April 2013. FAINE: I’d like a pet plebiscite on disclosing the funding sources of the IPA says Belinda in McLeod. ROSKAM: We’ll do a deal Belinda, we’ll disclose our sources one we know how much Jon Faine […]

The legal saga against One Nation, and legal possibilities against Abbott

Margo Kingston: For people interested in the details of the One Nation court saga, the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission published a report in 2004. Here we publish its findings on Abbott’s involvement, then my 2003 Webdiary piece  on the possibilities for legal action by Hanson and Ettridge and an explanation of champerty and maintenance. CMC […]