Health
The Packaging Scam We All Pay For
We’re paying more for packaging than the product – and it’s costing us the planet. You go to the supermarket to buy food. You come home with plastic, cardboard, film, trays, wraps, seals, labels, inserts […]
Articles by Lachlan McKenzie
Politics
KISS off – we’re now using CLUSTERF
The system will improve as it “matures”, the government says. The question is, what’s actually growing? INT. GOVERNMENT OFFICE – MEETING ROOM (UTOPIA) Long table. Laptops open. Slide on screen: Ø “Transition from KISS to […]
AIM Extra
There Was an Old President Who Got Them to Swallow a Lie
There was an old president who got them to swallow a lie. I don’t know why they swallowed the lie – perhaps it sounded better than the mundane truth passing by. There was an old […]
Health
Aged care funding: Pay now, or pay later – but later always costs more
Australia’s aged care system is confronting a strange paradox. Across the country, older Australians are being formally assessed as needing support – yet many must wait months before that support actually begins. The official justification […]
Health
When Need Meets the Algorithm
Sustainability, Safety, and the Real Cost of Ageing at Home Australia’s aged-care reforms aim to deliver fairness, consistency and sustainability. The introduction of the Support at Home program and the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) represents […]
AIM Extra
UTOPIA: “Nobody Likes PILES”
🎬 UTOPIA: “Nobody Likes PILES” Scene 1 – Department Meeting Room Tony (brisk): Good news. Complaints are up 50%, which means engagement is up. (1-second pause) Nat looks up slowly. Slow blink. Nat: That’s not […]
Politics
UTOPIA: Episode – “Consistency”
Cold Open A television in the Nation Building Authority reception area plays a news clip: Ø “The new assessment algorithm is delivering unprecedented consistency.” A ticker scrolls beneath: COMPLAINTS UP 68% Staff stare silently. TITLE […]
Politics
Australia Isn’t Revolting. It’s Oliver Twist – Asking for a Spoonful More Sovereignty
Australia isn’t plotting rebellion. It isn’t burning flags. It isn’t storming embassies or tearing up treaties on live television. It’s Oliver Twist at the end of the table – bowl in hand, asking for a […]
Politics
Trump and the Three Ghosts of Accountability
The Choice Trump Makes When Accountability Appears Donald Trump is not unraveling. He is not “cornered,” “panicking,” or undergoing some tragic psychological collapse. What we are witnessing is far simpler – and far more familiar. […]
Politics
We Asked Two AIs What’s Driving the Doomsday Clock: The Answer Was Human Power
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently set the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight – the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Predictably, some commentary rushed to place artificial intelligence at the […]
Politics
When the cameras did not look away
When the cameras did not look away, and what we cannot unsee The street is bright with winter glare. Snow is packed hard at the curb, greyed by traffic and footprints. A cluster of men […]
Politics
Beyond the Overton Window: The Reality Dashboard
What Australians were told was “normal”, what we experienced instead – and why the old model no longer works For a long time, the Overton Window was a useful way to describe Australian politics. It […]
Politics
Daddy Issues, Castrati, and the Political Pathologising of Women
I watched a short clip of Miranda Devine attempting to explain why younger women dislike Donald Trump. It was awful. Not “controversial.” Not “provocative.” Just awful – in the way that makes you sit back […]
Politics
We Can’t Stop All Bushfires. But We Can Stop Pretending Total Loss Is Inevitable
Australia is rightly having another conversation about bushfires, housing vulnerability, and what can realistically be done to reduce loss. A recent article in The Age argued for a “simple system”: a standardised way to assess […]
Health
Some Things Are Too Powerful to Love Up Close
Living in Australia teaches you an early lesson about proximity. When you swim in the ocean here, you are almost certainly closer to a shark than you realise. Not because sharks are everywhere in a […]