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Jack Waterford

Jack Waterford

The Sydney Morning Herald

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It is extremely hard to kill off a public figure of the calibre of Mike Pezzullo

It is extremely hard to kill off a public figure of the calibre of Mike Pezzullo. As with a person of similar personality, Tony Abbott, one can be...

latest 4

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Over Dutton now looms the spectre of a quick trip to Government House

By mid-May, Budget time, the Albanese government will be a week short of two years in power. Albanese is moving into the zone where he could...

15.04.2024 6

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

There's a very good reason the govt should think about an early election

By mid-May, budget time, the Albanese government will be a week short of two years in power. Anthony Albanese is moving into the zone where he could...

12.04.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Crossbench is Labor’s real opposition

Albanese’s practice of preferring to govern and legislate through deals with the coalition rather than with Greens and Independents is plainly...

08.04.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Why the crossbench is increasingly Labor's real opposition

Albanese's practice of preferring to govern and legislate through deals with the coalition rather than with Greens and independents is plainly because...

05.04.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Clare O’Neil dances to Dutton’s tune

Clare O’Neil, minister for Home Affairs, was this week plaintively criticising the Greens for playing “politics” over draconian and...

01.04.2024 9

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Labor's attempt to create Trump-like powers is a step toward lawless government

Clare O'Neil, Minister for Home Affairs, was this week plaintively criticising the Greens for playing "politics" over draconian and ill-thought-out...

29.03.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

We now need, it seems, a Voice for bigots

The best argument against having an explicit legislated or constitutional right of freedom of religion in Australia comes right out of the playbook of...

25.03.2024 8

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Here's the problem for those insisting we need a right to freedom of religion

The best argument against having an explicit legislated or constitutional right of freedom of religion in Australia comes right out of the playbook of...

22.03.2024 9

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Here's the problem for those insisting we need a right to freedom of religion

The best argument against having an explicit legislated or constitutional right of freedom of religion in Australia comes right out of the playbook of...

22.03.2024 9

The Examiner

Jack Waterford

How our tax system is making the rich richer. And the poor poorer

Australians frozen out of the housing market cannot expect that government is going to do anything that effectively closes the gap between current...

18.03.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

How our tax system is making the rich richer. And the poor poorer

Australians frozen out of the housing market cannot expect that government is going to do anything that effectively closes the gap between current...

15.03.2024 4

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

No slowing the ACT rape merry-go-round

Litigation about the alleged rape in a minister’s office at Parliament House in 2019 – more than five years ago – seems to continue to multiply,...

11.03.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

There's no slowing the ACT rape litigation merry-go-round

Litigation about the alleged rape in a minister's office at Parliament House in 2019 - more than five years ago - seems to continue to multiply, if...

08.03.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

ASIO needs a boss who can stand above the tumult

At the height of the argument about western conviction that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in 2002, Tony Blair’s minder, Alastair...

04.03.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

ASIO should focus more on defending our liberties, rather than taking them away

At the height of the argument about Western conviction that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in 2002, Tony Blair's minder, Alastair...

01.03.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Australia’s First Nations still looking over the 1788 chasm

More than four months after a crushing defeat in the Voice referendum, and soon after the Closing the Gap report confirmed that there was almost no...

26.02.2024 5

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Closing the gap? Indigenous Australians still see the 1788 chasm

More than four months after a crushing defeat in the Voice referendum, and soon after the Closing the Gap report confirmed there was almost no...

23.02.2024 6

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Israel’s propaganda has ceased to convince or persuade even its friends

Israel’s citizens seem either blithely unaware of the world’s horror at the terror raining down on Gaza, or do not care. Whichever, the barbarity...

19.02.2024 5

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Doxxing and hate speech are two different things

There are good, if not invincible arguments, for controls over doxxing, but most of the arguments founded on the unfortunate things said to have...

16.02.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

When open justice is an optional ingredient

I had been assuming that Julian Assange, whose case comes up for adjudication in the British Courts soon, was a shoo-in for being Australia’s...

12.02.2024 20

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

When open justice is an optional ingredient

I had been assuming that Julian Assange, whose case comes up for adjudication in the British Courts soon, was a shoo-in for being Australia's prisoner...

09.02.2024 7

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Opportunity for real tax reform goes wanting

I very much doubt that Anthony Albanese will be losing much sleep from opposition claims that he is a liar, or not to be trusted on anything after his...

06.02.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Anthony Albanese's tax cuts are another lost opportunity for real reform

I very much doubt that Anthony Albanese will be losing much sleep from opposition claims that he is a liar, or that he's not to be trusted on anything...

02.02.2024 8

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Australia’s biggest handicap: believing our own bullshit about our military

One of the many things Australians should consider as they contemplate our nationhood on the day set aside for this purpose is our glorious tradition...

29.01.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Our glorious tradition of being not very good at fighting wars

One of the many things Australians should consider as they contemplate our nationhood on the day set aside for this purpose is our glorious tradition...

26.01.2024 20

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Tide turning on boat people bastardry

A day I have long prophesied, and for which I have been yearning may be at hand. It’s a pity that the Albanese government does not really deserve a...

22.01.2024 4

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Tide turning on boat people bastardry

A day I have long prophesied, and for which I have been yearning may be at hand. It's a pity that the Albanese government does not really deserve a...

19.01.2024 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Oppressive secrecy needs more dashes of cold water yet

We can all be glad that judges constituting the ACT Court of Appeal in the Bernard Collaery case had a more liberal view of the need for open justice...

15.01.2024 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Wherever there is secrecy, there will be cynicism, and it is not always misplaced

We can all be glad that judges constituting the ACT Court of Appeal in the Bernard Collaery case had a more liberal view of the need for open justice...

12.01.2024 5

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Release the full report on Mike Pezzullo’s misdeeds

It is time for Albanese to take the public into his confidence. He has an instinct for secretiveness that almost matches that of Scott Morrison. If...

09.01.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Pezzullo's sins were legion. It's time we saw the full report on them

If sacked secretary of Home Affairs Mike Pezzullo had planned to appeal or seek judicial review of his sacking, he has probably now run out of time. ...

05.01.2024 30

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Plodding Labor will rue its missed opportunities

Labor will have – already has – squandered its time and its opportunities. It needs leadership of guts and vision, not timidity, caution and...

01.01.2024 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Albanese's tactical decisions have come to wag the nation's strategic tail

The holiday season, about midterm in the life of the Albanese government is a good time for academics and journalists to begin making notes,...

29.12.2023 8

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Holding Justice in contempt: Janet Albrechtsen and a new weapon for rape defendants

The contempts highlighted by Justice Michael Lee in the recent defamation case between Bruce Lehrmann and Channel 10 are minor compared with the...

26.12.2023 8

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Our courts are increasingly being held in contempt. That's terrible for justice

Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court is threatening that fire and brimstone will rain down on social media users who have made legally...

22.12.2023 10

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Biden unable to slow the Israeli slaughter

Israel is a nation not greatly given to following advice, even from its great and powerful friends and guarantors, unless and to the extent it accords...

15.12.2023 6

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Shiver runs up and breaks the Labor spine

There is never a bottom to Labor ministerial cowardice and incompetence when manipulated mob fury is at its height. On immigration policy, Labor has...

11.12.2023 7

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Labor has been dancing to the Opposition's tune

Labor has won one federal election from Opposition, and almost another, by bowing to a Coalition narrative about the menace of refugee boat people and...

08.12.2023 7

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Was Pezzullo recording leak from a federal agency monitoring his communications?

The sacking of Mike Pezzullo was inevitable once Nine media published his email correspondence with a Liberal party lobbyist and powerbroker. So far,...

29.11.2023 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Was Pezzullo recording leak from a federal agency monitoring his communications? (pic)

The sacking of Mike Pezzullo was inevitable once Nine media published his email correspondence with a Liberal party lobbyist and powerbroker. So far,...

28.11.2023 6

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

We still haven't got the full story about Pezzullo

The sacking of Mike Pezzullo was inevitable once Nine media published his correspondence with a Liberal party lobbyist and powerbroker. So far,...

27.11.2023 7

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

The Attorney who chooses his battles, too rarely

Mark Dreyfus is one of those who gives every appearance of being intimidated by the national security state. It is one of the tragedies of the life...

27.11.2023 8

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

The Attorney who chooses his battles, too rarely

It is one of the tragedies of the life of Mark Dreyfus, KC, twice Attorney-General with scores of legal initiatives attached to his name, that he is...

24.11.2023 8

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Gutless leaders without faith, hope or charity

People often say that we get the politicians we deserve, but I am not sure that even the Australians who voted no at the recent referendum deserve...

20.11.2023 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

Australia's gutless leaders without faith, hope or charity

People often say that we get the politicians we deserve, but I am not sure that even the Australians who voted "no" at the recent referendum deserve...

17.11.2023 9

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Judicial activism overturns years of inhumane cruelty on immigration detention

It is, alas, far too early to proclaim the end of Australia’s barbarous and inhumane refugee management system. But a series of recent High Court...

13.11.2023 10

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

A new time for judicial activism has arrived

It is, alas, far too early to proclaim the end of Australia's barbarous and inhumane refugee management system. But a series of recent High Court...

10.11.2023 10

The Examiner

Jack Waterford

A new time for judicial activism has arrived

It is, alas, far too early to proclaim the end of Australia's barbarous and inhumane refugee management system. But a series of recent High Court...

10.11.2023 9

Canberra Times

Jack Waterford

Israel’s moral power ebbing away in a human rights catastrophe

Israel’s strategic choices, as Israelis see it, are rather like those sometimes argued for Australia. It wants powerful friends but cannot take them...

06.11.2023 6

Pearls and Irritations

Jack Waterford

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