Paul Daley

Australian colonists including Robert Towns and John Mackay amassed wealth through the blackbirding and exploitation of roughly 62,000 Pacific Islanders between 1860 and 1906. The forced labor helped sustain Queensland’s sugar industry and related commercial interests, with thousands dying on plantations. The article argues that statues, place names and heritage sites honoring colonial figures should remain as opportunities for historical education but must be accompanied by truthful accounts of slavery, alongside memorials recognizing South Sea Islander and First Nations activists such as Bonita Mabo.

A new book by Ryan Butta, with a foreword by Emelda Davis, traces how Sydney’s merchants, politicians, financiers and newspapers profited from the blackbirding of up to 62,000 Pacific Islanders between 1860 and 1906. Enslaved and coerced workers were sent mainly to Queensland sugar plantations, where at least 15,000 died, while Sydney shipowners, recruiters, agents and Colonial Sugar Refining Company investors benefited. The account links figures including Robert Towns, Burns Philp, John Fairfax and Jacob Montefiore to the trade and argues that Australian institutions obscured or protected it. South Sea Islander representatives are seeking public recognition, an official apology, monuments and the repatriation of human remains held by Australian museums; negotiations have begun but remain slow because provenance is difficult to establish.

Guardian Australia editors and critics recommend twelve Australian books due out in August 2026. The selection spans fiction, science, music criticism, history, travel writing and memoir, including Meg Mason’s novel about obsession and parasocial intimacy, Max Easton’s examination of working-class struggle, Michael Dulaney’s account of zoonotic disease, and Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich’s interviews with women and gender-diverse musicians. Several titles confront social and political histories, including Tasmania’s exploitation of workers and the environment, the segregation of Aboriginal Australians at the Wyndham Native Hospital, and the enslavement of Pacific Islanders on Australian plantations. Other recommendations include Jaclyn Moriarty’s emotional time-travel novel, Alan Joyce’s account of his Qantas tenure, and AJ Mackinnon’s sequel to his acclaimed travel memoir.

Paul Daley argues that social media and constant digital connectivity are worsening loneliness rather than alleviating it, particularly among young people. Drawing on his own experience of quitting platforms, he describes the scroll as emotionally empty, isolating and driven by fear of missing out, while noting that curated feeds can make users feel inadequate. He highlights more severe online harms, including encouragement of suicide, dangerous dieting and extremist violence, and questions why people continue using platforms that profit their owners while damaging vulnerable users. He concludes that offline activities such as reading, spending time with a dog, visiting cultural spaces and sharing quiet public environments offer a healthier form of connection.

The removal of a Perth statue honoring Nicky Winmar after his domestic violence conviction has exposed an inconsistent approach to public memorials. The decision may acknowledge the seriousness of violence, but it also risks erasing Winmar’s significant stand against racism and contrasts with the continued celebration of colonial figures associated with massacres, killings and Aboriginal dispossession. Examples including James Stirling, John and Alexander Forrest, Alfred Canning and Lachlan Macquarie show how monuments can preserve selective historical narratives. The removal or storage of statues in Western Australia and Victoria demonstrates that public memorials can be reassessed as values change, but the article argues that governments need more principled and historically informed standards.

Pauline Hanson is presented as having retained the same anti-immigration, anti-multiculturalism and anti-establishment positions since her 1996 parliamentary debut, but now benefiting from a more bitter Australian political climate. Her One Nation movement is gaining support amid inequality, housing pressures, student debt, poverty and cost-of-living concerns. Hanson’s National Press Club appearance signaled that she is serious about seeking the prime ministership, despite offering little policy detail or reliable costings. The article argues that social media, declining major-party loyalty and resentment toward institutions have created conditions in which her populism may expand, while major parties risk strengthening her support if they challenge her only through factual criticism.

Paul Daley recounts meeting Rolf Harris in London before Harris’s sexual offences became public and recalls being unsettled by the entertainer’s arrogance, despite having idolised him as a child. Harris’s later conviction for sexual abuse and the allegations detailed in the ABC documentary Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator have transformed the meaning of his wholesome public image and childhood work. Daley concludes that although art can sometimes be separated from its creator, Harris’s abuse of fame and trust makes that separation impossible for him.

Paul Daley reflects on how possessions preserve the presence of loved ones who have died, including his dogs, friends, grandparents and father. Rusted collars, ashes, photographs and artworks evoke enduring memories, while his father’s antique armchair and his mother’s travel trunk provide particular comfort. The objects also carry stories of friendship, family history and encounters in Belfast, demonstrating how carefully kept mementoes can help people live with grief and maintain emotional connections to the dead.

Paul Daley recounts a three-week, several-thousand-kilometre Australian holiday in a newly purchased electric vehicle after his old Subaru failed. He describes genuine range anxiety, the effects of driving conditions on battery estimates, and early difficulties with charging apps and ageing chargers. Help from experienced EV drivers and successful charging stops eased those concerns. The trip also led him to view EV travel as a more deliberate and locally engaged experience, encouraging stops in small towns for walks, meals and shopping rather than brief highway fuel breaks. As charging infrastructure expands and EVs become more affordable, he expects electric vehicles to become ordinary and potentially reshape the culture of road trips.

Anzac Day commemorations have shifted from sombre remembrance toward pageantry and celebration as the Gallipoli generation passes entirely from living memory. While the sacrifices of Australian service members should continue to be acknowledged, the article argues that the Anzac myth should be placed in stronger historical perspective, particularly because it can obscure Indigenous history, frontier wars and the complexity of the Gallipoli campaign. Australia’s growing religious diversity and secularism also raise questions about the Australian War Memorial’s continued use of Christian prayer in national ceremonies. The article calls for Anzac to lose its status as an unquestioned symbol of national identity and to be reconsidered in light of modern Australia.

Paul Daley argues that Donald Trump’s conduct of the war against Iran has become reckless and destabilizing, while his attacks on allies and threat to withdraw from NATO expose the risks of relying on the United States. He criticizes Anthony Albanese for avoiding direct condemnation of Trump and failing to assure Australians that they will not be drawn into the conflict. The article presents Australia’s $368 billion AUKUS submarine commitment and broader alliance policy as increasingly dangerous under Trump and Pete Hegseth, and says Labor, the Liberal Party and One Nation are all too willing to accommodate Washington at the expense of Australia’s national interest.

Paul Daley recounts being offered a seat three times during a bus ride, prompting him to confront how others perceive his age. He reflects on the gradual and often unnoticed process of ageing, his determination to resist the stereotypes and limitations associated with being old, and the role of physical fitness, mental openness and personal style in maintaining a youthful outlook.

Paul Daley argues that Australia’s support for the US-Israeli bombing of Iran and its commitment to managing the US alliance and preserving AUKUS risk drawing the country into a dangerous, open-ended war. He questions the attacks’ legal basis and strategic objectives, noting that airstrikes are killing Iranian civilians without a credible path to regime change and may fuel further anti-Western violence. Australia’s refusal to take an offensive role, he contends, offers little protection if personnel and equipment are deployed defensively, while any Australian deaths could create pressure for deeper involvement. Daley calls on Australia to reject further entanglement and declare: “Not in our name.”

Former New South Wales premier and Australian foreign minister Bob Carr discusses Bring Back Yesterday, his memoir about the sudden death of his wife Helena after five decades of marriage. He describes the disorientation of bereavement, months of nocturnal walks through Sydney, fears that memories would fade, and the practical skills he had to learn while beginning life alone. Carr distinguishes grief from mental illness and hopes his candid account will help others who lose a life partner. The interview also turns to politics: he criticizes Israel’s conduct, questions Australia’s position after Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, and argues that the Trump administration’s rejection of the rules-based international order means Australia should reassess its reliance on the United States and the AUKUS submarine agreement.

Guardian Australia editors and critics recommend ten Australian books released in March, spanning memoir, literary fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy romance, psychological thriller and food writing. Highlights include Bob Carr’s grief memoir Bring Back Yesterday, Johanna Bell’s ecological mystery Department of the Vanishing, Eva Hornung’s environmentally dark The Minstrels, and Cameron Sullivan’s queer Beauty and the Beast retelling The Red Winter. The selections repeatedly explore grief, family, identity, environmental collapse, philosophy, Afghan heritage and the effects of social media and toxic masculinity.

Paul Daley reflects on Red Hill in Canberra as a place that has shaped his happiest and most poignant memories. He recalls walking its tracks with his children and Labradors, observing native wildlife and landscapes, and using the hill as a setting for thought and creative work. Red Hill also offers a view of Canberra's planned civic landscape, which Daley contrasts with the ambition and alienation he experienced while working at Parliament House. Despite initially finding Canberra lonely and overly quiet, he came to value its bush setting as a source of emotional comfort, family connection and enduring remembrance.

Paul Daley recounts a week-long ordeal trying to replace a refrigerator in a granny flat. Delivery teams repeatedly refused to remove the old appliance, brought the wrong-sized replacement, and mishandled the exchange paperwork, despite the store's assurances that the problem would be resolved. After several failed promises, a final team successfully removed the old fridge and installed the new one, though the experience remained too frustrating to become a family joke.

Australia’s Australia Day celebrations project an image of democratic self-reliance while obscuring the country’s colonial history and continuing harm to First Nations people. Paul Daley argues that Australia is now deeply dependent on another empire: a United States under Donald Trump, whose authoritarian tendencies, threats against allies and disregard for international law make the alliance increasingly dangerous. The article criticizes bipartisan support for the $368 billion AUKUS submarine agreement and the government’s reluctance to reconsider the US alliance, contrasting that silence with Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s more enthusiastic support for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for middle powers to seek safer multilateral arrangements. It concludes that Australia must confront its strategic dependence on Washington and reassess AUKUS and the alliance before the country becomes further entangled with a superpower sliding toward tyranny.

Paul Daley reflects on the death of Ronda, his gentle Labrador, who was euthanised after 13 years, including a final year affected by a chest tumour. He recalls her kindness toward people and other dogs, her importance to his family, and her bond with Olive, a younger dog she helped nurture. Ronda’s death leaves the family grieving, while her patience and compassion appear to live on in Olive and in the comfort she brought to elderly people and children.