Patriot Realm

The lemon tree has always been part of my life. It is something that mothers sit under; little boys pee on and darling fur babies are buried beside or die under. Couples hold hands in the evening shade and smile and exchange sweet nothings under lemon trees. They are wonderful trees. 

They give us joy in their shade; joy in their fruit and comfort in their very existence. They titillate our taste buds, smell magnificent and look somehow comforting. I love lemon trees.

As people all around Australia see a few more dollars in their pay packet, spare a moment to learn how it all began - with a combine harvester. 

This week, Australia's minimum wage will increase by 8.6 per cent, and award workers will get a 5.75 per cent pay boost, in a Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision.  

The new national minimum wage will be $23.23 per hour, and $882.80 per week, based on a 38-hour week.I wonder how many people know that the concept of a minimum wage began when the Arbitration Court made what became Australia's National Minimum Wage in the Harvester decision of 1907. 

The modern phenomenon of ‘woke’ is hard to pin down. Is it a movement, a religion, an attitude, or a lifestyle? Here we offer our own definition that places woke in the broader historical and political story of the West.

We start with a list of attitudinal elements that most people would agree should count as part of woke. In this we are spoiled for choice, with a whole smorgasbord of examples from the personal, political and corporate spheres from which to discern the core elements. Here are our top five: 

Today, it is fashionable to be Woke. It is fashionable to be " gay ", " transgender ", " black ", " climate change aware ",  vaxxed " and vegan.

Nothing appears to stop these dedicated disciples from following the latest fashion trend of being completely dedicated to being complete dickheads in order to gain approval from the twitter trolls, leftie luvvies and the woke brigade. 

If mutilating your teenage body to become accepted is the latest fashion, thousands of young people are jumping on the bandwagon. If gluing yourself to a road will get applause from your online chums, then do it. If blowing up our coal-fired power stations gets you a seat on the tik tok train, then who can blame you? After all, you are simply a dedicated follower of fashion. 

This last week has been a very unique time in our nation's history. So many of us have watched in disbelief as elements of the media have taken a defamation case verdict to launch waves of attack against Ben Roberts-Smith - without any criminal charges being laid, let alone conviction recorded.

I have spoken about this publicly, stemming from my first actions in the media now nearly three years ago - calling for these most serious allegations of war crimes, or any incidents on military operations, to be afforded the due process our service personnel respect. Due process that should only ever see such serious allegations tried to the criminal standards of truth beyond reasonable doubt, and in a manner that protects the identities of our service personnel and their families - given the real possibility of reprisals and dangers to them and their families for simply being identified as serving in Afghanistan at a time when it is now under Taliban control.