http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/michael-koziol/ Michael Koziol is a writer, agitator, and misanthrope currently studying media/communications at the University of Sydney, where he is also an editor-elect of Honi Soit. Among his true loves are Paul Keating, Mariah Carey and Christopher Hitchens. Michael is an aspiring member of the Twitterati and can be followed @michaelkoziol   en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolies-hell-yeah/ On cue, the league of self-appointed moral guardians is dutifully doing the rounds, making a lot of noise about Schoolies and the imminent decay of Good Society it will precipitate. They make arbitrary claims about what constitutes “fun” and play upon the tired moral panics over young girls, binge drinking and indiscriminate sex. Why, they ask, must school-leavers celebrate the end of mandatory education by congregating near beaches and getting plastered? And why hasn’t someone – presumably the government – put a stop to all this and offered some more wholesome, healthier alternative for kids to let off steam? Well, there are plenty of alternatives, none of them popular. Schoolies is a naturally developing phenomenon and nobody is forced to participate. Year after year, thousands of friendship groups independently make the decision to head north, or south as the case may be, and enjoy being away from home, with lots of booze and lots of sex. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Koziol) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolies-hell-yeah/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolies-hell-yeah/#item7262 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:50:42 +0000 Michael Koziol | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-caucus-dominoes-could-soon-be-falling-Rudds-way/ “Always forgive your enemies,” wrote Oscar Wilde, “nothing annoys them so much”. And no advice could be more prescient for Kevin Rudd, who must be feeling positively Churchillian at the prospect of being drafted back in to the Labor leadership. The former ALP headkicker Graham Richardson, who is by his own admission more of an outsider these days than an insider, has claimed that Victorian backbencher Alan Griffin and West Australian senator Mark Bishop are running the numbers for Mr Rudd. Commenting on the suggestion, the former PM mixed requisite denial with a rather heavy dose of aggression, attacking “factional bullies” and taking every opportunity to put the focus back on Tony Abbott. He is, quite literally, on the campaign trail – but the electorate is only an afterthought here. The voters that matter are in caucus. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Koziol) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-caucus-dominoes-could-soon-be-falling-Rudds-way/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-caucus-dominoes-could-soon-be-falling-Rudds-way/#item6881 Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:00:52 +0000 Michael Koziol | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boredoms-a-killer-for-regional-youth/ On Monday, yet another young driver appeared in yet another court room to be punished for his role in the death of yet another innocent teenager. The victim in this case was 16 year old T.J. Hutchesson of Bathurst. The name of the accused can’t be reported. In a sense the names don’t matter: for those of us looking on, this is just another episode in a long and tragic storybook of life destroyed far too young. In a statement appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald, mother Rachael Hutchesson did not shy away from identifying the problem: boredom and booze. This is a known issue in regional Australia, and yet there is a real paucity of frankness when it comes to solutions. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Koziol) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boredoms-a-killer-for-regional-youth/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boredoms-a-killer-for-regional-youth/#item4935 Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:54:37 +0000 Michael Koziol | Author bios | The Punch