Ceri Evans, Perform Under Pressure, HarperCollins, Auckland, 2019   With the 2019 Japan Rugby World Cup underway all eyes are, as expected, on the New Zealand All Blacks – winner of the previous two tournaments and, according to some, the most successful sporting team of all time.  It’s with these expectations that I turned to their team shrink – Dr Ceri Evans – for some thoughts and perspective on performance and self-improvement. Evans, a psychiatrist and former New Zealand soccer captain, has just released Perform Under Pressure, which draws on his guidance to teams and individuals across a range of disciplines.  The first point that emerges is what is meant by ‘performance’ – an accessible activity not […]

These are my thoughts on a tough issue – balancing compassion with a strong immigration and resettlement programme. Asylum – or arrogant entitlement?

This article also appears on the Spectator’s Flat White blog. Each year, Australia’s National Flag Day is celebrated on 3 September. The date commemorates when the Flag was first flown in 1901 at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne – Australia’s then de facto capital. At the time Edmund Barton was Australia’s Prime Minister. We’ve had 29 leaders since Barton, and our population has grown from 3 to 24.6 million, which is testament to successfully assimilating and integrating generations of new migrants from all corners. We’ve established a new capital city in Canberra. And many Australians have sacrificed so much in […]

This was my submission to the Spectator’s 2018 Thawley Essay Prize. The theme was ‘the next great hashtag’. I wasn’t successful this time but, perhaps like most, I feel an element of trust needs to be restored to government. Restoring prestige to government For all the discussion about distrust in government, or how polarised politics is becoming, it’s worth noting that Australian politics has never been an easy game. Governing is, regardless of the team you’re on, naturally difficult in our modern Westminster system – a realising experience the more one is exposed to government process, a sea of existing […]

This article also appears on the Spectator’s Flat White blog. Personality in politics is like salt to a dish – a pinch here or there is not a bad thing.  It brings out the flavours, enlivens the meal and creates a nice healthy edge. But too much, of course, can ruin things beyond repair.  Malcolm Turnbull’s recent confirmation he had tried to sink Peter Dutton’s eligibility for the prime ministership, through the governor-general, shows personality of the wrong kind – one that, laced with other recent actions, points to an unhealthy retribution in our public affairs.  It is entirely fair, at least on face […]

A piece in the Spectator where I argue the four things Anglosphere advocates need to do to reach a wider audience.

Julius Chan, Playing the Game: Life and Politics in Papua New Guinea, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Brisbane, 2016 This article was originally written for the Pacific Institute for Public Policy in 2016 With the United States presidential race heating up, and the ascension of candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, there’s an obvious buzz around frank and straight-talking leaders proposing remedies to their national challenges. And it’s with a similar but slightly more polished candour that Sir Julius Chan – twice Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – reflects on PNG’s shaky four decades of independence from […]

With the Labor loss the hovering threat of a republic has subsided. But I thought it important to share some background and personal thoughts on this issue – the debate in the 1990s, the arguments and, ultimately, where I think it is a bad idea.  My points below are based on a discussion I had on my podcast with Whig Capital’s Jordan Shopov.  What do you think? Did this issue have anything to do the election outcome? Please drop in a comment below. This would be the second referendum Australia’s had on the issue. Sean, can you give a brief […]

I thought it sensible to throw together some brief notes on leadership for two reasons. First, because of the Australian federal election, leadership is clearly in the public spotlight. But second, and for more long-term reasons, leadership is a trait that will never go out of fashion. We will always need more leadership, as many people lament, and more genuine leaders. All shapes and sizes The first thing I learnt about effective leaders is that they come in all shapes and sizes. By the time I hit 30 I had worked for the Australian aid program in Fiji, the UN […]

As very much a non-lawyer, and non-American, I’ve always admired Clarence Thomas – the United States Supreme Court Associate – from afar. Thomas, now 70 years of age, has spent almost three decades in the Supreme Court. His ascension to this position, despite a bitter early-1990s confirmation hearing, reveals very little flamboyance but a strong commitment to humility, discipline and building skills. Indeed, there were many less public times, early in Thomas’s career, where things amounted to make or break. Rising from genuine poverty and segregation he committed to finishing a formal education, and shedding his enchantment with activism before […]