Opinion

Recently on ABC’s Q&A panellist Todd Sampson (from The Gruen Transfer and CEO of ad agency Leo Burnett) insisted that if we do not regard racism as a serious issue in Australia “we have stuffed our heads up our butts”.

Not only are such proclamations damaging to our national spirit, they are fundamentally false. If anything, the opposite is true.

Try this experiment - something I’ve done consistently over the past decade - ask Australians from a minority background what racism they have experienced.

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  • Mark says:

    04:26pm | 18/11/09

    This guy has his head up his arse we are shocking racist, go to the football, cricket, visit work sites, pubs ect, and get into a real conversation with a majority of people over 25 years of age and mention another race and check the response, don’t just ask are… Read more »

  • Half-caste says:

    03:52pm | 18/11/09

    Nice, @AT, @Oldfart, @Max. Neer and many of you other writers, pause for a moment and think. Look around you, even. Born and bred in this fine country, the only time I ever remember I’m not white is when another Australian points it out to me. That’s several times a… Read more »

 

The King of Pop may be dead, but the controversy surrounding his untimely exit is far from buried.

Performers dressed as zombies perform

The dust has barely settled since his globally-televised public memorial service last week, yet every day more pieces seem to be missing in the Jacko jigsaw about his life, his death, his final resting place and those he left behind.

The case has transcended from the mysterious to the macabre, with reports that his ghost has been seen walking the halls of his Neverland ranch to questions over who has possession of his brain. 

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  • No Jean Joy says:

    09:30am | 14/07/09

    All of this is pure speculation how on earth could someone living in Melbourne know anything about what Michael Jackson was feeling. Also how is the death of an alleged chronic IV drug user the fault of the media? Read more »

  • ANGELO says:

    01:26pm | 13/07/09

    Hangers on destroy lives thats a fact .Blood sucking criminals i know this first hand . also i dont agree with MJ being buried at neverland so all these hangers on dont make a penny from his death as MJ was worth more dead than alive . May the media… Read more »

 

UPDATED: The Punch is now five days old. For those of you tucking into some long weekend reading, here’s my post from Monday introducing the site…

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month…and the first day of what we hope will be a welcome and valuable addition to Australia’s media landscape.

The Punch is a new opinion website aimed at every Australian with a love of ideas, discussion and debate.

It’s not a fancy, la-di-dah site aimed at people with three university degrees, nor is it a site for yobbos who want to engage in mindless abuse.

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  • Dan Lewis says:

    07:15pm | 08/06/09

    “It’s not a fancy, la-di-dah site aimed at people with three university degrees, nor is it a site for yobbos who want to engage in mindless abuse. “ What about people with three university degrees who want to engage in mindless abuse? Read more »

  • Tory Maguire

    Tory Maguire says:

    12:28pm | 07/06/09

    John, for The Punch’s policy on commentary see our Community Agreement. You can click through from the bottom of the page or go here: http://www.thepunch.com.au/community-agreement/ Read more »

 

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

Paul Colgan

Moviegoer on mobile in cinema. Is told to shush. Is stabbed in neck. With a meat thermometer. http://bit.ly/cdRWYp

Paul Colgan

@lucethoughts yep going to do AFL too, next week

Paul Colgan

Join The Punch's NRL tipping league - sign up at http://bit.ly/9QY9tA and enter league code 439453 ... should be fun

Paul Colgan

@nolamjames will never happen though. In fact I suspect it could even be some sort of practical joke

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Breaking news: Something is going on

Breaking news: Something is going on

Is this the greatest ever send-up of 24-hour news? Warning: contains strong language and hilarity. From… Read more

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