Free speech means the freedom of having any opinion, promoting any religion or ideology, distorting history and declaring that climate change is a hoax and that earth is not a planet but a pancake.

Power politics in Australia is getting ugly. Cabinet ministers are misusing their power and people in power are taking advantage of it.

I love the infectious laughter of the Kookaburra. It is the epitome not just of the Australian bush, but of the larrikin Australian. The ones that don’t take themselves too seriously. But lately the joke is on us, our politicians are making a laughing stock of our country, and for all the wrong reasons.

Mine is the lucky generation – our parents endured hardship, enjoyed unsurpassed economic growth and shielded us from the past. But what will be our legacy?

The game of musical chairs played in Canberra reveals yet again one of the fundamental problems with our political system - the lack of leadership. While being ridiculed by commentators and trashed in the polls, Scott Morrison has played the game of musical chairs...

Seeing the self-destruction of a political opponent is, of course, more important than taking action against the destruction of our planet. Party politics is failing democracy in Australia.

The latest poll shows that the two major parties combined now only have support from two thirds of voters. The latest in an endless series of leadership ructions is part of the problem. Voters just don’t trust politicians and it is the party system that is to blame.

The debate about My Health Records is reminiscent of every such debate since the failed Australia Card scheme back in the eighties. Australians have a privacy obsession. What are we so afraid of?

The ABC Lifestyle initiative is an own goal. Instead of pandering to the lowest common denominator of content, it should focus on quality content and continue to excel its online delivery.

Apparently, the sale of Fairfax to Nine is the end of journalism in Australia, the triumph of the cheque book as the only arbiter of a good story and the death knell of democracy. Paul Keating – that most eloquent and cerebral of political alley cats – was particularly scathing in his assessment, but he isn’t alone.