Teacher, writer and broadcaster from Melbourne.
Medium •

Game of Slogans

Turns out Scotty is pretty good at marketing. His corona virus response proves it. Remember when people used to sneeringly refer to former Prime Minister John Howard as ‘Honest John’? Along with ‘Little Johnny’, ‘The Rodent’ and ‘Lazarus with a Triple-Bypass’, it was one of the many labels attached to Howard during his decades in federal politics, which culminated in an almost 12 year stretch in the Lodge. Like most of them (and there are a number which can’t re-printed in a family publication
The Age •

ADHD no excuse for poor behaviour

As you’re probably well aware by now, Queensland MP Andrew Laming, has, in typically understated fashion, declared that he has been diagnosed with the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. Before we start, let me be clear: this is a good thing. As someone who lives with ADHD and has experienced the relief that comes with finally having a label for behaviour that bewilders, frustrates and infuriates yourself, let alone those around you, learning that another person has been diagnose
Footyology | We have the game covered. •

For local footy, the longest of waits is finally over | Footyology

Yarraville-Seddon Eagles won the WRFL Division 2 premiership in 2019. It had to wait more than 500 days to raise its flag. For Caroline Springs Football Club President Terry Azzopardi, the lack of local football in Melbourne last year due to Covid19 had its upside. “I actually got some work done’, he joked on WYN FM’s WRFL “Match of the Day” broadcast, ahead of the round two clash away at Yarraville-Seddon on Saturday. “I saw my family. I actually reacquainted myself with my wife.” All jokes
Footyology | We have the game covered. •

Ramadan & Aussie Rules a winning combo for Newport | Footyology

There are few non-practising Muslims in Newport’s team, which presents a challenge during Ramadan. Photo: NEWPORT FC It may have long since died out at AFL level, but in local football, both teams going back to the clubrooms and sharing a beer after the game is as much a part of the experience as the smell of Deep Heat in the changerooms or the sound of players banging the mud off their boots after leaving the field. And so it was after last Saturday evening’s Western Region Football League di
Independence Australia •

Rona routine: living with ADHD during COVID-19

Cade Lucas is a writer from Melbourne who has ADHD. For Inform, he writes about his experience of COVID-19 and managing the loss of routine. It’s unfortunate that it’s taken a once-in-a-century pandemic to achieve it, but a rare upside of the Covid-19 has been the attention it’s finally brought to the problem of insecure work. The amount of people who’ve kept working despite showing symptoms or even after testing positive, because they simply cannot afford not to, has shone an unflattering lig
The Jakarta Post •

Bali blinkers must come off for Australians

The inauguration of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo was a notable event, not just for the fact that a former furniture salesman from well outside the country'€™s elite was being sworn in as its leader, but that it briefly put the city of Jakarta at the top of news bulletins in Australia and around the world. You may be scratching your head at this notion, given Indonesia is regularly in the news abroad, especially in its antipodean neighbor to the south. Any mention there of the vexed issu
Medium •

Footy has returned. Eddie McGuire shouldn't.

The Magpies President’s conflicts of interest have been tolerated for more than two decades. They shouldn’t be any longer. It’s back. Footy’s back. After a three month hiatus, the AFL finally awakes from its covid-induced coma tonight, but amid the excitement spare a thought for a group who’ll be doing it tough: AFL journalists. With games resuming this weekend, footy journos will once again return to actually reporting on games rather than doing what they really love and that’s talking about t
Crikey •

This season is make or break for the A-League

It’s a measure of the low esteem that the A-League and Football Federation Australia (FFA) are held in that even when they do something good, it still looks bad. Last week the league released a surprisingly good advertising campaign for the upcoming 2019/2020 season. It adopted a Marvel comics theme, with players depicted as anime superheroes, and introduced the tagline “Where Heroes Are Made”. It’s all very zeitgeisty, very 2019, and very social media friendly. But, as many social media users
Crikey •

Smith and Warner rise to the Ashes

With The Ashes upon us, Australian cricket’s moment of truth has arrived, or in the parlance of coach/spiritual guru Justin Langer, its moment of Elite Honesty. It’s 18 months now since the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town and of the piece of sandpaper hidden in Cameron Bancroft’s undies that was used to alter the state of ball, but ended up altering the state of Australian cricket instead. The fallout ended careers and interrupted others but, more significantly, forced Australian
Crikey •

What does Gerard Whateley's move to SEN mean for the future of sports radio?

It’s a prediction likely to have ABC listeners reaching for the smelling salts: Gerard Whateley could be the next Alan Jones. No, Auntie’s much loved former sports commentary doyen isn’t going to morph into a bloviating shock jock now he’s crossed the Rubicon to commercial radio. Rather it’s his potential impact at struggling Melbourne sports station SEN that’s drawing comparisons with the Parrot. Whateley began on air yesterday, after his stunning New Year defection from the ABC to SEN, which
Crikey •

Chan and Sukumaran casualties of Jokowi's PR war

It was a surprising response that would turn out to be quite instructive. It was October 2014, and I’d arrived in Jakarta to work as an English teacher just as Indonesia’s new President, Joko Widodo was about to take office. Jokowi was the first person from outside Indonesia’s ruling elite to be elected president, and his inauguration coincided with my first day in the job. Sensing the history of the moment, I asked some of my Indonesian colleagues what they thought of their new leader: not mu
The Guardian •

The mixed fortunes of Melbourne's 1956 Olympic venues, 60 years on

he Rio Olympic Games are still a week away but the biggest and most important race has been underway for months. Forget the 100m final – the contest for the host city to be ready on time is the most dramatic, high pressure test of them all. Along with the Games’ budget-busting price tag, host cities must also contend with the likelihood that most of the venues face white elephant futures. For those cities that do stay the course and win hosting rights, the months leading up the lighting of the
Crikey •

Mercy in Indonesia as Mary Jane Veloso spared

Mary Jane Veloso’s parents and two sons protest against her death sentence Pleas for mercy for Bali Nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran went unanswered, but a last-minute outpouring of support and empathy from the Indonesian people might have saved 30-year-old Filipina Mary Jane Veloso from an Indonesian firing squad last night. The dramatic reprieve came as eight other death row inmates, including Chan and Sukumaran, were executed as scheduled. A huge response on Twitter cau