Menzies Research Centre

Mick Mulvaney describes the sledgehammer approach to Covid-19 that shut down global economies for months as one of the biggest mistakes of the 21st Century. Mulvaney was President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff when the pandemic hit. He says the withholding of information by China and the poor advice Trump was receiving from key advisors including Dr Anthony Fauchi led the US to over-react w...

Malcolm Fraser led a Liberal Party Government for seven years and 122 days. When he lost to Bob Hawke at 1983 election, no prime minister except Robert Menzies had occupied the job for longer. Yet his reputation has been overshadowed by the controversy about the way he came power and quarrels with his own party after leaving it. Six years after his death, a fresh appraisal is long overdue, one unc...

Benny Peiser has been following the climate policy debate for more than a century. In this Watercooler Conversation, he joins Nick Cater to discuss how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has exposed Europe’s chronic energy insecurity and reframed the climate policy debate. Europe is dealing with a full-blown energy crisis, forcing western nations to rethink what practical action can be taken to comba...

It might seem strange to be debating the question of what is a woman in an election campaign in which so much is at stake. But the controversy over the choice of a Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Warringah has turned this into one of barbecue-stoppers of the election so far. The rising cost of living and health concerns arising from the pandemic will be crucial issues in deciding this elec...

The peaceful, western-dominated world order - secured by the victors in world War 2 and an incalculable cost - is showing signs of fraying. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Communist China’s global ambitions may have already propelled us into a new era of global strategic conflict - what is at stake is nothing less than the cultural and strategic dominance of Eurasia and the Pacific and...

Australia’s universities are in trouble. A decade or more of chasing revenue from foreign students has changed the character of universities and left them vulnerable to external disruption like the Covid-19 border bans. The rankings system with which rewards research citations more highly than the quality of teaching has distorted the allocation of resources and turned academic research into exerc...

John O'Sullivan is a leading Conservative thinker, journalist, editor, and advisor to Margaret Thatcher.  He’s the author of: The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World. definitive history of the events that led up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall 33 years ago this November Today as Vladimir Putin pursues his goal of Soviet Union 2.0, O'Sullivan finds...

Rebekah Koffler is a Russian-born American citizen who joined U.S. intelligence where she observed the threat from Russia up close. Her book 'Putin’s Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America' delves into the mind of Russian President Vladimir Putin and reveals his ambition to dominate America and the West.  She reveals details of Russia's destabilsation campaign against American democ...

In this special Watercooler Conversation, recorded 24 hours after Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine, we assess the adequacy of the Western response, its global implications and what it means for Australia with the help of Dave Sharma, federal member for Wentworth, former ambassador to Israel, and an astute observer of strategic affairs. Presented by Nick Cater, Executive Director of the Menzi...

The lurch away from democratic government towards technocratic command and control has been one of the most disturbing developments in the last two years. Some are content to see it as inevitable as we wage war against the Covid-19 virus - that parliamentary process and executive accountably must take a back seat while we put the experts in charge. But is there any guarantee that the experts will...

In the second of two Watercooler conversations centred around Australia Day and the need for stronger foundational narrative that accurately describes our country and that values that unite us. It is hard to have serious discussion about the meaning of European Settlement unless we can first agree on the facts. Yet fewer than four out of ten Australians know which event they are supposed to be cel...

Anthony Dillon is a powerful voice for Australia's forgotten indigenous people, those without the privileged platform occupied by the educated, urban elite. In this Watercooler conversation with Nick Cater, he argues that ill-founded attacks on Australia are holding us back from true reconciliation. Rather than focus on our differences, our goal must be to rediscover the common core of humanity th...

The Covid-19 pandemic was a gift for Australia’s putative ruling class, says Nick Cater, in this essay for Spiked online. A self-appointed  nomenklatura  elite has exploited a public health threat to infiltrate areas of our private lives we once imagined sacrosanct. They have robbed the Australian people of dignity, denied them agency and demanded complete obedience. Where they might hav...

The reaction to the torching of Canberra's Old Parliament House by Aboriginal protestors last week is evidence of the woke-ward drift of both the media and the police force. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Read the column here: Email Nick watercooler@menziesrc.org Support these podcasts by subscribing to the Menzies Research Centre from $10 a month: www.menziesrc.org/sub...

Omicron is the variant we can probably live with, says Nick Cater. So let's stop panicking about vaccinations and get back to living our lives. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian in this bonus podcast from the Menzies Research Centre. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian : https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/steady-on-omicron-may-be-the-variant-we-can-live-with...

In the face of the biggest strategic alignment in most of our life times, Australians must unite around values and reconcile their differences. Brendan Nelson puts forward a practical proposal for bringing together two conflicting narratives of Australian settlement and ending the controversy over Australia Day. Dr Nelson delivers the Ninth John Howard Lecture to an audience in Sydney on December...

Jussie Smollett's conviction for staging a hate crime against himself is a blow not just to his reputation, but the credibility of the woke narrative he tried to exploit, says Nick Cater. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-smollett-case-and-waking-up-to-woke-folly-of-good-v-evil/news-story/d55407d62713b7efb3207c44ed02e7f6 Email Nick Cater: w...

Labor's climate policy is so full of holes that it will haunt Albanese until election day as surely as it attached itself to Bill Shorten like some godforsaken seabird in a Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, says Nick Cater. Read Nick Cater's column in The Australian: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/nick-cater Email Nick Cater: watercooler@menziesrc.org This is a bonus Watercooler podcast prese...

Michael Leunig is one of Australia's best-loved cartoonists. His work has appeared in The Age for more than 40 years.   He talks to Nick Cater about the cartoonist's shrinking role as court jester and free thinking spirit in an age when the restrictions around humour are increasingly suffocating and the penalties for dissidents increasingly harsh. Email Nick Cater: watercooler@menziesrc.org S...

The Religious Discrimination Bill strikes a blow against the intolerable and intolerant religion of social justice. Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Email Nick Cater: watercooler@menziesrc.org Book a seat at the 9th John Howard Lecture: www.menziesrc.org/events

The stability of the two-party parliamentary system is challenged by the rise of special interest campaign groups and the rise of minor parties. Yet joining a mainstream party is still the best path for individuals who want to achieve change in the national interest, argues Tim James. Tim James Is Executive General Manager of Menzies Research Centre and has been a member of the Liberal Party since...

In this column from The Australian, Nick Cater argues that the exclusion of the unvaccinated from public places is an insult to our intelligence. It cannot be justified on public health grounds unless the object is deterrence through humiliation. Email Nick Cater watercooler@menziesrc.org Read the column: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-tyranny-of-ineptitude-drives-more-to-the-stre...

Stephen Chavura joins Nick Cater to defuse the loaded language of the anointed, starting with the terms “left” and “right”. As Thomas Sowell observed, while it is relatively easy to define what it means to be “on the left”, the term “right wing” seems little more than a label used by the anointed to condemn those with him they disagree. “Those who oppose the left are said to be on the right — and...

In this Directors' Cut edition of Watercooler, Nick Cater, John Roskam and Oliver Hartwich discuss the things about which we need a more intelligent conversation. Nick Cater is Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre . John Roskam is Executive Director of the Institute for Public Affairs Dr Oliver Hartwich is Executive Director of the New Zealand Initiative Email Nick Cater Support these...

Smart phone technology means the most dangerous place for children is alone in their own bedroom. In this bonus podcast, Nick Cater presents his latest column from The Australian. Read the column Email Nick Cate r: watercooler@menziesrc.org