Sean Jacobs
Sean Jacobs
Latest Posts
National borders in the age of entitlement
These are my thoughts on a tough issue – balancing compassion with a strong immigration and resettlement programme. Asylum – or arrogant entitlement?
Continue reading→Celebrating Australia’s National Flag
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 […]
Continue reading→A stock-take on modern times: Whitlam, expectations, trust and Kevin07
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 […]
Continue reading→Conventions not rules: What the Governor-General-Turnbull-Porter debate can teach us
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 […]
Continue reading→Episode 34 – Australia’s nearest neighbour – Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has 8 million people, 800-plus languages and over a thousand cultural groupings. Understandably, running the PNG state can be more than difficult, amplified by a swelling resource sector and huge challenges around health, education and security. But not all is an uphill battle. Over the years I’ve been enthusiastic about economic growth in PNG and the opportunities that it can deliver. From the unusual benefits of PNG’s Westminster system to skirmishes on the Indonesian border, and property rights to Bougainville independence, I hope you enjoy this primer on an interesting nation close to home. Show highlights […]
Continue reading→Episode 33 – Warren Buffett primer – A Dollar for Fifty Cents
Warren Buffett – investment and business titan, man of steady temperament and, as Whig Capital’s Jordan Shopov explains, a ‘learning machine’. As someone who knew only a little about Buffett I learnt a lot from this discussion with Jordan, who has read the most on the ‘Oracle from Omaha’ than perhaps anyone in Australia. We talk about Buffett’s principles for success, the value of role models, circles of competence and how getting a dollar for fifty cents means constant growth and learning. To tap into Jordan’s wealth of knowledge please get in touch with him at www.whigcapital.com. Show highlights Buffett […]
Continue reading→Brexit chaos, a new UK PM: a perfect time to discuss the Anglosphere
A piece in the Spectator where I argue the four things Anglosphere advocates need to do to reach a wider audience.
Continue reading→Julius Chan on Papua New Guinea
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 […]
Continue reading→Episode 32 – Post-election wrap, musings and observations
Join Jordan Shopov and I for a casual post-election wrap up. From franking credits to betting odds, and inner-city politics to Q-exit, we unpack the Labor leadership, the background noise of the ‘culture wars’, and talk next steps for ScoMo. We even find time briefly to talk Izzy, and hypothesize about a world where millennials possess the same enthusiasm for debt as carbon reduction. Show highlights How harbourside politics did not quite work in mainstream Australia Australia’s egalitarian streak The general appeal of lower taxes How franking credits and property ownership were leading indicators and thus issues for voters Why […]
Continue reading→What could have been: a monarchist’s primer on the republican debate
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 […]
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