By John Stapleton The Prime Minister’s pledge to introduce national legislation to detain people, including children as young as 10 years old, for 14 days without charge is a march towards totalitarianism, civil libertarians have warned. Earlier this month, in what is known in intelligence circles as “security theatre”, Malcolm Turnbull held a special National […]

Federal government appears more than ready to channel its inner bully, The New Daily, 30 October, 2017.

By John Stapleton As the events of the last week have shown, this is a government run by bullies. A year ago, The New Daily broke the story of concerns over cost overruns and security flaws at Malcolm Turnbull’s mansion. We reported that the Prime Minister was potentially endangering the lives of his family, staff, […]

Opinion. A Sense of Place Magazine, 25 October, 2017.

By John Stapleton Useful fools, the Cultural Marxists pouring out of the nation’s universities and into our institutions, got one thing right. It is all about power. At the centre of the circus which has enveloped conservative politics lies one man: Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull has long had a reputation for bullying his way to the […]

ASIO: The Secret Police Force doing enormous damage to Democracy, The New Daily, 21 October, 2017.

By John Stapleton The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, better known as ASIO, was born out of the anti-Communist hysteria of the post-war era, and has always been closely associated with the conservative side of politics. The unprecedented expansion of its powers and budgets under the Abbott/Turnbull governments has provoked widespread concern among academics, lawyers and […]

Victory over Islamic State, but at great cost of civilian life, The New Daily, 17 October, 2017.

By John Stapleton The ancient, once beautiful city of Raqqa in Syria lies in ruins. The smell of death is everywhere. Victory over Islamic State, which declared the city its capital in 2014, is all but complete and expected to be announced at any time. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and […]

Thailand Promises Crime Crackdown. Thailand: Deadly Destination gets a mention. TTR ASEAN Travel NEWS Weekly. By Don Ross. 3 October, 2017.

BANGKOK, 3 October 2017: Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, has ordered a crackdown at major tourist destinations in the country targeting foreign ‘Mafia like’ gangs, scammers and illegal immigrants. Defence Ministry’s spokesman Maj-Gen Kongcheep Tantrawanich confirmed to the Thai PBS TV news channel that the deputy prime minister had ordered all security branches to crackdown […]

In a war without end, the events of 9/11 still central, The New Daily, 12 September, 2017.

By John Stapleton Sixteen years on from the fall of the Twin Towers in New York, the ritual laying of flowers in the world’s major cities after another attack has become the norm. In a war without end, it appears the jihadists have won. Tens of thousands of civilians, Islamic State warriors and members of […]

British deaths in Thailand jump 27%. Thailand: Deadly Destination gets a mention. International Investment. 21 August, 2017.

By: Helen Burggraf | 21 Aug 2017 The number of British citizens who died in Thailand last year jumped by more than 27% from the previous year and more than 29% ahead of the average of the two previous years, Foreign & Commonwealth Office data shows, with the most dramatic rise occurring among those 50 […]

Amnesty International accuses Australia of ‘war crimes’ in fight against Islamic State, The New Daily, 12 July, 2017.

By John Stapleton Australia has committed war crimes in Iraq as the second-largest contributor to the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State, according to an Amnesty International report.While Iraq and the United States have claimed victory over IS in Mosul, thousands of bodies still lie in the pulverised ruins. Almost one million people have fled. The […]

Islamic State loses the battle for Mosul, The New Daily, 7 July, 2017.

By John Stapleton Islamic State (IS) has released graphic footage of its final hours in war-ravaged Mosul in northern Iraq as experts around the world warn that America and Australia have fallen into a jihad trap. While the West crows of victory and “liberation”, IS wants everyone to know what has happened there. Pictures of […]

Iraq Declares the End of the Islamic State Caliphate, The New Daily, 30 june, 2017.

By John Stapleton The Iraqi government has announced the end of the caliphate after capturing the Al-Nuri Mosque in Western Mosul, the place where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of the caliphate and unleashed a reign of terror on the world. “Their fictitious state has fallen,” an Iraqi military spokesman, Brigadier […]

Australian War Planes Dropping More bombs on Iraq than ever, The New Daily, 22 June, 2017.

By John Stapleton At the same time as Australia has withdrawn from Syrian airspace under threat of being bombed out of the sky by Russia, the Australian Defence Force is dropping historically high numbers of bombs on Iraq. Australia is the second-largest contributor to the American-led coalition efforts to defeat Islamic State in the increasingly […]

Senior Liberal speaks out against Turnbull: ‘The party will be decimated’, The New Daily, 27 April, 2017.

John Stapleton “The Turnbull government is at war with the people. This is a government which hates their own constituents. The Liberal Party has lost touch with what it stands for and will be decimated unless it changes tack. Across the next electoral cycle the Liberals will lose power federally and in every state with […]

The experts agree, Turnbull’s NBN is ‘a national tragedy’, The New Daily, 10 April, 2017.

By John Stapleton The disastrous rollout of Australia’s NBN is a national tragedy, according to new research by one of the country’s most respected engineers. Professor Rodney Tucker, of Melbourne University, argues that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s fateful decision as Communications Minister to opt for Fibre to the Node (FTTN), has been an extremely costly […]

Terror fears prompt airlines to provide ‘loaner’ laptops, The New Daily, 5 April, 2017.

By John Stapleton The day may not be that far off when all passengers flying out of Australia will be provided with onboard laptops and iPads, while being prevented from using their own devices. Acting on high-level intelligence reports that Islamic State and al-Qaeda are working to conceal plastic explosives inside laptop battery compartments in […]

Malcolm Turnbull looks to keep the prize seat of Wentworth in the family, The New Daily, 27 February, 2017.

By John Stapleton With the latest dismal Newspoll, Malcolm Turnbull is now facing almost certain political death at the hands of either his own party or those of the electorate. The question has now become not just who will take over the Liberal leadership, but who will take Mr Turnbull’s prized seat of Wentworth. The […]

Benjamin Netanyahu looking to escape political heat in Israel, experts say, The New Daily, 22 February, 2017.

By John Stapleton For all the backslapping over the enduring friendship between Israel and Australia, one thing has been overlooked: on the first visit of a sitting Israeli Prime Minister to Australia, Benjamin Netanyahu appears thoroughly delighted to be away from home. Facing corruption allegations and having recently endured hours of humiliating interrogations by police […]

Why there might actually be method in Donald Trump’s madness, The New Daily, 17 February, 2017.

By John Stapleton There’s something to be said for a demolition expert. Not content with reshaping America, US President Donald Trump is reshaping diplomacy throughout the world. While the world’s diplomats are aflame with indignation over the seemingly ad hoc nature of Mr Trump’s foreign policy announcements, leading Australian policy experts suggest there could be […]

New report shows the real face of Islamic State terror converts, The New Daily, 10 February, 2017.

By John Stapleton Solidly middle-class, better educated than average, likely to be in a stable relationship and either studying or employed: that’s the face of an Islamic State convert. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute recently released a report titled The American Face of ISIS, which it commissioned in the hope of better understanding terror converts […]

Donald Trump given nuclear codes, and with them awesome power, The New Daily, 21 January, 2017.

By John Stapleton In the early hours of this morning, prior to his inauguration, a brief business-like transaction took place at Blair House, the presidential guesthouse where President-elect Donald Trump will be spending the night. Out of sight of television cameras, and with only a few people in attendance, he became the most powerful man […]

Heavy Meddle: Did the US interfere in Australia’s US election, The New Daily, 20 January, 2017.

By John Stapleton While Americans digest the news that Russia almost certainly tried to influence the election that delivered Donald Trump the presidency, new research indicates the US is an old hand at trying to sway votes in other countries. Political scientist Dov Levin of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University says the US has attempted to […]

The frightening truth about pilots, The New Daily, 17 January, 2017.

By John StapletonNGREAD One day last autumn Qantas pilot Paul Whyte hired a single-engine Cessna 172 airplane from the Northern Rivers Aero Club in Lismore and flew out to sea. He disappeared off the radar about 11 kilometres north east of Byron Bay. The 46-year-old Mr Whyte was a regular at the club and, to […]

Surveillance in Australia: Who is Watching the Watchers, The New Daily, 9 January, 2017.

By John Stapleton The biggest unexplored story in Australia over the past 12 months has been the massive expansion of state surveillance. ASIO has publicly boasted that it is placing both Muslim and anti-Muslim groups, such as Reclaim Australia, under surveillance. This is a new frontier of policing, where people are being targeted not for what they […]

Donald Trump under pressure over Moscow, WikiLeaks links, The New Daily, 15 December, 2016.

By John Stapleton Donald Trump’s presidency could be derailed by a possible prolonged congressional committee investigation into whether or not Russian hackers aided him in winning the election. The powerful US congressional system is the same process that brought down Richard Nixon in 1974 and its inquiry does not bode well for the man many […]

We have lost a generation of Syrian children, The New Daily, 13 December, 2016.

By John Stapleton Russia’s envoy to the United Nations says a deal has been reached for rebel fighters to leave the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo. “My latest information is that they indeed have an arrangement achieved on the ground that the fighters are going to leave the city,” Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told […]

Mike Baird’s lockout laws ‘too little, too late’ for Sydney, The New Daily, 8 December, 2016.

By John Stapleton The relaxation – by 30 minutes – of the widely despised lockout laws imposed on Sydney’s entertainment districts have been slammed as “too little, too late”. The laws were introduced by former New South Wales premier Barry O’Farrell in 2014 as one of his finals acts in answer to the deaths of […]

Parliament security breaches mark end of arduous year, The New Daily, 1 December, 2016.

PUZZLES Trivia Crosswords Sudoku By John Stapleton Despite channelling billions of dollars into counter-terrorism and trumpeting national security as a major issue, the past two days have proven that the government is unable to protect even the core of Australian democracy. A banner proclaiming “CLOSE THE BLOODY CAMPS NOW #JUSTICE4REFUGEES” was draped across the front of Parliament House […]

Australian airports at risk of major security breaches, experts warn, The New Daily, 24 November, 2016.

John Stapleton SHARE TWEETSHAREREDDITPINEMAILCOMMENT The safety of millions of Christmas travellers has been put at risk by government inaction over urgent concerns about the security of the nation’s airports, experts have warned. The story concerning the safety of Australian airports has many strands, all of them alarming. A Senate inquiry into aviation and airport security […]

Security failures putting ‘lives at risk’, warn experts, The New Daily, 23 October, 2016.

By John Stapleton Share Tweet Share Reddit Pin EmailComment The poor coordination of Australia’s worldwide network of intelligence officers and their local headquarters is putting innocent lives at risk and wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars, say experts speaking exclusively to The New Daily. They also claim that the fight against terrorism has left the nation dangerously exposed to organised crime, […]

Government Thugs. Opinion. A Sense of Place Magazine, 16 October, 2016

By John Stapleton The bullying culture with which the Abbott/Turnbull government has become synonymous is alive and well. While Turnbull has been strutting the political stage this week, essentially claiming to have solved the issue of bullying on the nation’s building and construction sites with the passing of the ABCC legislation, intimidation and head kicking […]

Malcolm Turnbull Must Abandon his Mansion, The New Daily, 11 October, 2016

By John Stapleton Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is potentially endangering the lives of his family, staff, neighbours and the Australian Federal Police officers who protect him by choosing to defy tradition and live in his own mansion rather than lodgings provided by the taxpayer. That’s the opinion of top security experts, who told The New Daily that the official […]

Attack on the Syrian village of Dabiq could have catastrophic consequences for the West, The New Daily, 20 September, 2016.

By John Stapleton SHARE TWEETSHAREREDDITPINEMAILCOMMENT To most people this week’s news that a group of 40 US special forces soldiers, accompanied by Turkish troops and Arab militias, are preparing to march towards a northern Syrian village called Dabiq means nothing. For the followers of Islamic State (IS), it means everything. In the early Muslim prophecies […]

Truth behind the bottled water myths, The New Daily, 26 August, 2016

By John Stapleton A boom in bottled water sales has helped drinks giant Coca-Cola Amatil sail to $198.2 million net profit, as the marketing of one of the most readily available substances on Earth steps into overdrive. Coke’s net profit lifted 7.8 per cent on trading revenues of $2.5 billion for the first six months of […]

This Sydney building could be a terror target thanks to a media stunt, The New Daily, 12 August, 2016

By John Stapleton SHARE TWEETSHAREREDDITPINEMAILCOMMENT A dispute has erupted over terror training exercises planned for the Queen Victoria Building in central Sydney, with a security specialist describing them as a “media stunt”. Critics claimed the exercise will alert terrorists to one of Australia’s softest terror targets. Roger Henning, director of Homeland Security Asia Pacific, described the exercise as […]

Why Islamic State hates France, The New Daily, 15 July, 2016.

By John Stapleton As the Nice attack may prove, the French embody everything the terror group loathes. France is regularly singled out by IS. France is a prime target for Islamic State and its affiliates. It is seen as the antithesis of a good Islamic society, a centre of licentiousness, pleasure seeking, prostitution and sexual […]

Howard Defends Iraq War after damning report, The New Daily, 7 July, 2016.

By John Stapleton Former Australian prime minister John Howard, who took the nation to war in Iraq in 2003, has refused to admit to any mistakes despite the criticisms of a new UK report into the invasion. The Chilcot report, delivered on Wednesday, slammed the decision of Britain to go to war in Iraq and […]

Thailand: What No One Tells You About the Land of Smiles, Accidental Travel Writer, 3 July, 2016.

Thailand: What No One Tells You About the Land of Smiles Book Review Thailand is one of the world’s most popular travel destinations, and within the Asia Pacific, it often tops the list in terms of international tourist arrivals. But is it also one of the world’s deadliest destinations as an author claims? Click here […]

Why voters are angry about Australia’s internet, The New Daily, 22 June, 2016.

By John Stapleton Leading industry body the Australian Computer Society has issued a dramatic call for the nation’s political parties to confront the problems afflicting Australia’s internet. We are ranked 60th in the world for internet speeds, below the US, Canada, most of Asia and most of Europe, according to the highly respected Akamai State […]

Lone wolf massacres are on the rise, experts warn, The New Daily, 17 June, 2016

By John Stapleton The number of people killed in lone wolf massacres is increasing, as is the number of incidents, in a violent trend that has national security experts worried. On the surface the killing of British Labour MP Jo Cox by Tommy Mair, 52, was motivated by opposition to Britain remaining in the European […]

Former PM Tony Abbott made Islamic State sound cool, The New Daily, 7 June, 2016

By John Stapleton The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has condemned as “unhelpful” the description of Islamic State as a “death cult”, and blasted successive Australian governments for ad hoc decision-making on national security and defence. The hard-hitting paper Strategic Choices for the Next Government, launched in Canberra on Tuesday, calls on politicians to stop […]

Neil Prakash’s Life before he became an IS fighter, The New Daily 6 May 2016

By John Stapleton Slain Australian terrorist Neil Prakash was a failed rapper who wrote about sex and drugs before defecting to the world’s most notorious terror group, where he preyed on vulnerable young people and threatened innocent families. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull celebrated his death this week after being informed by United States intelligence that […]

Thailand: Deadly Destination continues to get coverage, Sickening video – British tourists viciously assaulted in Thailand, Michael Smith News, 28 April, 2016.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2016/04/sickening-video-british-tourists-viciously-assaulted-in-thailand-because-they-were-farangs-westerner.html In the comments section: seeker of truth said… From a 2014 UK Daily Mail article – A new book has branded Thailand one of the world’s most dangerous tourist destinations. Australian author John Stapleton suggests that widespread police corruption, violence and crime are all blighting a country once commonly referred to as the ‘Land […]

Belgium-style Attack Could happen in Australia The New Daily 23 March 2016

By John Stapleton Airports are ‘soft targets’ for terrorists, warn experts. Photo: AP Anti-terrorism measures at Australian airports may not be enough to stop a Brussels-style attack happening here, experts including a former head of Qantas security have warned. Following a plea from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, border force personnel have cancelled planned strikes over […]

Anti-protest laws ‘draconian’ and ‘oppressive’ The New Daily 20 March 2016

By John Stapleton Emotions have been running high following the passing of laws in NSW which will see political protesters fighting against the coal seam gas industry, even on their own properties, face large fines and up to seven years in jail. Hundreds of people demonstrated outside NSW Parliament last week against the harshness of […]

Why Killer Robots Must Be Stopped, The New Daily, 17 March 2016

By John Stapleton Humanity is on the verge of experiencing a “nightmare scenario” of robot warfare that until now has been confined to the realms of science fiction, experts have warned. Killer robots are far smarter than any soldier, physically tougher, not prone to battle fatigue, not subject to human error and not beset by […]

Middle East Threatens to Bubble Over, The New Daily, 11 March 2016

By John Stapleton The cauldron of the Middle East continues to grow more dangerous by the day, as new details emerge of an old enemy’s presence within the ranks of the so-called Islamic State. This week a disillusioned defector leaked the identity of 22,000 Islamic State (IS) supporters in more than 50 countries, including Australia. […]

Margie Abbott sidelined by Credlin, author claims The New Daily 7 March 2016

By John Stapleton As a staunch Roman Catholic, Tony Abbott campaigned on traditional family values. But with his wife Margie barely in evidence throughout his time as Prime Minister, at the same time as his chief of staff Peta Credlin was constantly at his side, traditional family roles were not what the rumour mill of […]

Credlin attacked Abbott Publicly and Often: Book The Road to Ruin, The New Daily, 6 March 2016

By John Stapleton Tony Abbott was abused by his chief of staff Peta Credlin at such a volume that her swearing over the phone could be heard by others in his presence, according to a new book. The Road to Ruin by journalist and former Liberal Party staffer Niki Savva, released on Monday, contains numerous […]

Father of Reconciliation Patrick Dodson to Enter Senate The New Daily 2 March 2016.

By John Stapleton Patrick Dodson, a Yawuru man from Broome in Western Australia, is distinctive in appearance, with a long flowing beard and a trademark black Akubra hat marked with the Aboriginal colours. He is also one of the country’s most distinguished Australians, combining sharp intellectuality, deep spirituality and a common touch to become almost […]

Telegram, A Sense of Place Magazine, 21 February, 2016.

John Stapleton For once the advertising logo is correct. The headline grabbing mobile app Telegram promotes itself as a “new era of messaging”. It uses military grade encryption to ensure the privacy of communications. That it is one of the most popular programmes for jihadists and Islamic State supporters is for some beside the point. […]

1990 In the Herald, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February, 2016.

BRIAN YATMAN Mr Fraser blocks supply The Herald spoke with Malcolm Fraser, aka ‘‘the Minister’’, a trucker who had instigated a blockade in Wodonga. ‘‘Asked why he was holding the protest, he said it was because of all the trouble interstate drivers are getting from NSW. He felt the public was behind their action and there was […]

Prison Population in Australia has climbed, The New Daily, 18 February 2016

By John Stapleton There are 45 times more Aboriginal people in jail now than in the late 80s. More Australians are in prison now than at any time in the nation’s history. That’s the finding of one of Australia’s leading criminologists, Don Weatherburn, who delivered a paper on Australia’s ever-rising incarceration rates at a conference […]

Blood Year by David Kilcullen, A Sense of Place Magazine,17 February, 2016

John Stapleton The result of Western intervention in the Middle East has been the creation of battle hardened terrorist groups wealthier and more dangerous than ever before. A new book by internationally acclaimed Australian-born terror expert David Kilcullen, Blood Year: The Failures of the War on Terror, released this week, slams President George Bush’s invasion […]

Unbelievable things your tax dollars are funding The New Daily 12 February, 2016

By John Stapleton From statues of Mary Poppins to entirely useless multibillion dollar desalination plants, outlandishly indulgent study tours and helicopter trips by politicians, Australians have become increasingly angry over massive government waste. So there was little surprise at this week’s news the Tony Abbott-appointed National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer is being paid more […]

The Government is Reading What You Post Online The New Daily 9 February 2016

By John Stapleton Agencies are trawling through social media sites to uncover more than $2 million in fraud. But at what cost? More than 60 government agencies want access to your metadata. Photo: ABC The net is tightening for all Australians. Last week the government proudly announced that it was monitoring social media websites, including […]

‘You are being targeted’: former terror suspects The New Daily. 7 February 2016

By John Stapleton A former Guantanamo Bay detainee has told a conference of young Muslims in Sydney that they were being targeted in an unprecedented way and Australian anti-terrorist laws were even more draconian than those in Britain. Delivering a videotaped address from London, Moazzam Begg, who was held at Guantanamo from 2002 to 2005 […]

Abbott Credlin kept Defence Minister on short lease, The New Daily, 2 February, 2016.

By John Stapleton Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin directly interfered in the operations of the Defence Ministry, undermining and ultimately destroying former Defence Minister David Johnston, according to a new book. Senator Johnston was a little-known Liberal Senator from WA who held the shadow portfolio for several years […]

Tony Abbott Used Terror Threat as Political Weapon The New Daily 1 February 2016

By John Stapleton Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his controversial Chief of Staff Peta Credlin manipulated public opinion in relation to national security and the terror threat “on a mass scale” in a desperate effort to stay in power, according to a new book published this week. Credlin & Co: How the Abbott Government […]

Book reveals Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin’s Secrets, The New Daily, 29 January, 2016.

By John Stapleton Whatever is left of Tony Abbott’s reputation is about to be shredded with a new book containing a string of revelations about the incompetence of his government, including on questions of national security. Credlin & Co: How the Abbott Government Destroyed Itself, written by Australian Financial Review journalist Aaron Patrick, differs from many other books […]

The Crisis facing Australian Schools is Real, The New Daily, 20 January 2016

By John Stapleton Australia’s education infrastructure needs to grow to keep up. Photo: Getty Australia is staring down the barrel of classroom and teacher shortages in the coming decade as a result of a population boom, educational experts have warned. There has been a failure to plan for enough classrooms to cope with a significant […]

The Drug Creating Islamic State Supersoldiers The New Daily, 13 January 2016

By John Stapleton A powerful drug known as Captagon is being linked to terror attacks across Europe and the Middle East. While the drug is virtually unknown in Australia, it mirrors some of the effects of ice, a methamphetamine with which Australians are becoming all too familiar. Feuding jihadi groups across the Middle East may […]

Nightlife Crackdown Turning Kings Cross into No Life Suburb, The New Daily, 28 December 2015

By John Stapleton The authorities are cracking down on the seedy, often criminal underbelly of Kings Cross. But are they robbing the famous Sydney suburb of its life? “Sydney is dead.” It is a phrase repeated in conversations across the once-vibrant entertainment districts of Sydney. Aggressive crackdowns and the “lockout laws” limiting admission to bars […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Sample. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. 2015. Pages 1-10.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. Sample. 2015. Pages 11-20

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. Sample. 2015. Pages 21-30.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. Sample. 2015. Pages 41-50.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. Sample. 2015. Pages 31-40.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section One: A Terrible Beauty is Born. Sample. 2015. Pages 51-56.

Thugs, mobsters and gangsters driving up the price of your groceries, The New Daily, 18 December, 2015.

By John Stapleton SHARE TWEETSHAREREDDITPINEMAILCOMMENT Serious and organised crime is costing the community $36 billion a year, according to a new report by the Australian Crime Commission. The cost is equivalent to 24 per cent of Australia’s social security and welfare budget and adds an estimated 6.3 per cent to the average cost of […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Two: Burn The World. 2015. Pages 57-66.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Two: Burn The World. 2015. Pages 67-76.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Two: Burn The World. 2015. Pages 77-86.

Figures Show Increase in RAAF Bombings of Islamic State, The New Daily, 16 December 2015

By John Stapleton New figures show Australian air strikes against Islamic State are on the increase. Other aircraft, such as the C-17A Globemaster and the C-130J Hercules have delivered hundreds of tonnes of ammunition and mortar rounds and numerous aid packages to isolated civilians in dangerous territory. Australia’s air-to-air refuelling specialist aircraft, the KC-30A, has […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Two: Burn The World. 2015. Pages 87-95.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Two: Burn The World. 2015. Pages 96-100.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 101-110.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 111-120.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 121-130.

The Class of 2015: Our Teen Jihadis a Rising Threat, The New Daily, 10 December 2015

By John Stapleton The history of Australian teenage jihadists is already long, and getting longer by the day. The arrest on Thursday of a 15-year-old Sydney boy in counter-terrorism operations added to the list. The world has been shocked by the sight of children or young teenagers participating in often ritualised acts of violence. Indeed, […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 141-150.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 151-160

Your private health data could be sold for profit, The New Daily, 8 December, 2015

By John Stapleton Whether you have a heart condition, diabetes, a rare blood disorder or are in fine health, this is all information which could be potentially turned to profit. And now experts fear your private medical records could soon be available to the highest bidder. A scandal has arisen in the wake of the […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 161-170.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Three: Without Historical Precedent. 2015. Pages 171-181.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Four: Soldiers of God. 2015. Pages 182-190.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Four: Soldiers of God. 2015. Pages 191-200.

Drone Wars: Australia’s Dirty Secret, The New Daily, 4 December 2015

By John Stapleton The drones are capable of hovering for days over targets before unleashing their payloads, and are blamed for driving radicalisation in Muslim territories. In the dying days of the Abbott government the Australian Defence Force announced five RAAF personnel were embedded with the US Air Force, performing operational duties including piloting and […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Four: Soldiers of God. 2015. Pages 201-210.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Four: Soldiers of God. 2015. Pages 211-217.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Five: The Ponding of Ignorance. 2015. Pages 218-227.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Five: The Ponding of Ignorance. 2015. Pages 228-237.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Five: The Ponding of Ignorance. 2015. Pages 238-247.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Five: The Ponding of Ignorance. 2015. Pages 248-259.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Six: The End of Days. 2015. Pages 260-269.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Six: The End of Days. 2015. Pages 270-279.

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost. Section Six: The End of Days. 2015. Pages 280-288.

Malcolm Turnbull’s doublespeak on encryption, The New Daily, 25 November, 2015.

By John Stapleton Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has advocated the use of encryption technology to protect privacy and circumvent the metadata laws at the same time as his government has brought in new laws so loosely worded numerous high-profile critics fear it could make even the use of smartphones or email illegal. While no one […]

There’s A New and Deadlier Islamic State Coming The New Daily 22 November 2015

By John Stapleton For all the talk of degrading Islamic State (IS), the group has grown even more deadly this year. Despite a whole host of books in 2015 warning of its increasing power and numerous cautionary tales from some of the world’s most gifted analysts, Australians still seem ill-informed on the subject. It is […]

Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost, New Book Out Now, PRWeb, 13 November, 2015.

Terror in Australia’: New Book Out Now Share Article ‘Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost’, by journalist John Stapleton, is a sidewinding missile into the heart of Australian hypocrisy. ‘Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost’, by John Stapleton Well documented, switching through multiple points of view, John Stapleton’s ‘Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost’ is […]

The War on Drugs has failed, say experts, The New Daily, 13 November, 2015

By John Stapleton Inappropriately treating drug addiction as a law enforcement issue rather than a medical and personal problem have led to many unnecessary deaths.The approach by Australia’s politicians has been arguably inept, whipping up moral hysteria in the community for electoral gain. The failure of successive government to accept the advice of policy experts […]

FOMO Leading to Depression, Anxiety for Teenagers The New Daily 8 November 2015

http://thenewdaily.com.au/life/2015/11/08/teen-social-media-anxiety-depression/ #FOMO leading to depression, anxiety for teenagers Nov 8, 2015 JOHN STAPLETON Teens worry they’re missing out on events, friends’ in-jokes and showing they’re having fun on social media. Kids need to be reminded that the cyber world is not the real world. More than half of all teenagers 17 years and under access […]

How Baby Boomers are Squeezing Young Families, The New Daily, 4 November 2015

By John Stapleton The impacts of high immigration rates combined with an ageing population have created a housing crisis in Sydney and Melbourne, according to a new report. The Australian Population Research Institute suggests that most first home buyers and renters in Australia’s two largest cities are unable to find housing suitable to their needs […]

The Internal Threat That Has ASIO Worried, The New Daily, 4 November 2015.

By John Stapleton ASIO, the nation’s chief spy agency, has warned of the increased damage malicious insiders could do to Australia’s security as a result of rapid advances in information technology. The warnings come after the Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning cases exposed huge security flaws un US intelligence services (click the owl to find […]

Terrorism Threats Worse than Ever Report, The New Daily, 20 October 2015

By John Stapleton Australia’s lead spy agency the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) identified almost 100 passports of national security concern during the last financial year as well as an escalating security threat to the nation, according to a report tabled in Parliament this week. The report from ASIO showed the increased terror threat globally […]

How Tony Abbott Made Australia More Dangerous The New Daily 7 October, 2015

How Tony Abbott made Australia more dangerous 1inShare By John Stapleton ANALYSIS: Our government’s response to the terror threat has made things worse. The Abbott government’s actions and rhetoric has left Australia vulnerable. Tony Abbott knew perfectly well when he re-entered the conflicts in Iraq and Syria that it would further radicalise Australia’s Muslim minority and […]

Soldiers of God: Extract from Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost

The single most contentious segment of Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost by the veteran journalist John Stapleton is the section known as Soldiers of God. The name is a play on the fact that Jesuits are known as Soldiers of God. The mujahedeen of Islamic State also see themselves as Soldiers of God. There is […]

Extract from Terror in Australia: Workers’ Paradise Lost

EXTRACT FROM TERROR IN AUSTRALIA: WORKERS’ PARADISE LOST JOHN STAPLETON By May of 2015 the security situation in Australia had deteriorated to an alarming extent. The authorities were scared witless another terror attack was imminent. For more than 12 months they had been putting out spot fires across the country, in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, […]

Murder on Lower Fort Street, December, 2014.

By John Stapleton Whichever celestial being anointed Pru Goward as NSW Planning Minister had a divine sense of humour. You couldn’t have created a bigger debacle at Millers Point in Sydney if you had been planning it since birth. In mid-September of 2014, in a scene being repeated a number of times across the historic […]

Is Thailand the ‘world’s deadliest place to be a tourist’? An interview with John Stapleton, One Weird Globe, 21 November 2014.

We interrupt the usual string of awesome destinations and posts about traveling to offer an interview – and a warning. In case you’re not tuned to the Thai interwebs, a controversial new book has just been released by a British fellow named John Stapleton entitled Thailand: Deadly Destination: (I can’t prove it, obviously, but this […]

Thailand Deadly Destination, UK Daily Mail Coverage, 15 November 2014.

Thailand ‘one of the most dangerous tourist destinations on Earth’: Expat investigation lifts lid on dark side of the Land of Smiles Thailand: Deadly Destination penned by Australian author John Stapleton Writer says tourism boom has created hatred and contempt for foreigners Death rate of tourists is ‘worst scandal in the annals of modern tourism’ […]

Thailand bans Briton’s book that ‘defames monarchy’, The Telegraph, 13 November, 2014.

Full text Abstract/Details Show highlighting Abstract Translate [unavailable for this document] “In 2014, just as in the years preceding it, there were train, bus, ferry, speedboat, motorbike and car accidents, murders, knifings, unexplained deaths, numerous suicides, diving accidents, robberies gone wrong, anonymous bodies washing up on the shores and a string of alcohol- and drug-related incidents,” […]

Cheap, beautiful and dangerous: the trouble with Thailand, The New Daily, 6 November 2014

By John Stapleton The recent slaying of two young British backpackers on the holiday island of Koh Tao in southern Thailand was remarkable as much for the fact it garnered media coverage around the world as the extreme brutality of the murders themselves. The Thai media is heavily censored, and bad news stories about tourists […]

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Seven. The Dissolving Present. Pages 232-256. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Six. Human Traffic. Pages 215-231. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Five. The Varieties of Expatriate Experience. Pages 194-214. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Five. The Varieties of Expatriate Experience. Pages 174-193. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Four. The Many Scams. Pages 150-175. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Four. The Many Scams. Pages 129-149. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Three. Mayhem. Pages 96-128. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Three. Mayhem. Pages 74-95. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Two. Passports. Pages 60-73. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. Two. Passports. Pages 44-59. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. One: Fruit for the Picking. Pages 32-43. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. One: Fruit for the Picking. Pages 12-31. 2014.

Thailand: Deadly Destination. One: Fruit for the Picking. Pages 1-10. 2014.

PASSPORTS: INTERPOL CLAIMS WORLD’S GREATEST THREAT TO SECURITY, EXTRACTED FROM THAILAND: DEADLY DESTINATION

PASSPORTS Visitors to Thailand are not warned by travel agents, airlines or their own governments that their passports are highly prized in Thailand, and stand a very good chance of being stolen. Depending on the nationality, a passport can fetch thousands of dollars on the black market, several months pay for many Thais. There are […]

Speech for Travels with My Hat, GleeBooks. Sydney. 28 March, 2014.

SPEECH FOR TRAVELS WITH MY HAT I would like to welcome everybody here, and thank you for all for coming on such a cold, wet night; in particular our special guest Ita Buttrose, and of course, the author and photojournalist Christine Osborne. And I would like to thank Gleebooks for hosting this event. […]

Extracts from Thailand: Deadly Destination

FROM CHAPTER ONE FRUIT FOR THE PICKING The daily robbing, bashing, drugging, extortion and murder of foreign tourists on Thai soil, along with numerous scandals involving unsafe facilities and well established scams, has led to frequent predictions that Thailand’s multi-billion dollar tourist industry will self-destruct. Instead tourist numbers more than doubled in the decade […]

Keysar Trad’s Forays of the Heart, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October, 2013.

POETS AND POLLIES Undercover Susan Wyndham Here are five words you would not expect to see in one cosy sentence: Keysar Trad, Philip Ruddock and poetry. But last Sunday at Gleebooks in Glebe, Ruddock – who was Immigration Minister and Attorney-General in the Howard Government – launched Forays of the Heart, a book of poems by Trad (pictured), […]

Keysar Trad tries hand at love poetry, AAP, Seven News, 6 October, 2013.

With kids at Gleebook launch of Keysar Trad’s Forays of the Heart

VALE ELISABETH WYNHAUSEN 1946 – 2013

By John Stapleton Elisabeth Wynhausen — a battling, campaigning social justice journalist of the old school of whom in the end, despite their occasional disagreements, he had been enormously fond — was dismissed without ceremony from The Australian. Owned by Rupert Murdoch, the paper’s management style and contempt for the working journalists who filled its […]

Old Hacks Write On, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July, 2013

OLD HACKS WRITE ON The redundancies of recent years have given former newspaper journalists time to work on the books they had daydreamt about at their desks. Undercover knows of many books in progress and is already seeing the fruits of their leisure, some with a nostalgic tone. Jenny Tabakoff, a long-time Sydney Morning Herald journo, and Eleanor Learmonth have […]

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 1-10.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia. 2013. Pages 11-20.

DIRK BOGARDE

DIRK BOGARDE JOHN STAPLETON EXTRACT HUNTING THE FAMOUS George Orwell finished writing 1984 in 1948, perhaps partly with the notion that the title depicted a date so far in the future the book would never age. Within a few decades there would be countries where more than half of the population had […]

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson,: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 21-30.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 31-40.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 41-50.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 51-60.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 61-70.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 71-80.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 81-90.

The Final Days of Alastair Nicholson: Chief Justice Family Court of Australia, 2013. Pages 91-97.

Jack Darmody: Legendary Sydney Journalist

By John Stapleton One of the last of the old breed of journalists was Jack Darmody, who died in March of 2006, his wake being held at The Shakespeare, a hotel up the hill from News Limited’s headquarters. There was a good roll-up at his funeral. Jack was a legend of Australian journalism from the […]

The Great Books, From Hunting the Famous.

FROM HUNTING THE FAMOUS John Stapleton A certain rubbing familiarity with the public face of Australia’s leaders was just one of the byproducts of a career as a working journalist. As a single father on the morning shift, in their younger years I would often have to take the kids along on early assignments; a […]

Paul Keating, from Hunting the Famous.

By John Stapleton The successor to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke was Paul Keating, an entirely different kettle of fish. After a prolonged battle for the leadership the two Labor leaders rarely spoke. Keating, who came to power in 1991, could never see why a lower form of life like Bob Hawke should be top […]

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, Pages 1-10, 2013.

PAGES 4-6 PAGES 7-10.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, Pages 21-30, 2013.

PAGES 26-30.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, Pages 31-40. 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, 2013. Pages 41-50.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, Pages 51-60. 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, 2013. Pages 61-70.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, 2013. Pages 71-80.

Chaos at the Crossroads: State Created Pain, 2013. Pages 81-92.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 1-10, 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 11-20, 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In The Beginning, Pages 21-30. 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 31-40, 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 41-50, 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 51-60, 2013.

Chaos at the Crossroads: In the Beginning, Pages 61-73.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 1-10.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 11-20.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 21-30.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 31-40.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 41-50.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 51-60.

The Birth of Dads On The Air, 2013. Pages 61-71.

Leigh Dayton, Science Journalist

By John Stapleton This piece, about the treatment of science writer Leigh Dayton on the national broadsheet The Australian, was originally written as part of Terror in Australia: Worker’s Paradise Lost. It did not fit into the final shape of the book, and so is reproduced separately here: If there was one incident that illustrated […]

Thai rivals unite over insurgency, The Australian, 15 September, 2012

Thai soldiers in Pattani in 2011. Photo Credit: AFP. Not in original story. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/thai-rivals-unite-over-insurgency/story-e6frg6so-1226474394277 Thai rivals unite over insurgency JOHN STAPLETON, BANGKOK THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 15, 2012 12:00AM Print Save for later ON Tuesday, political foes Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of the so-called Red Shirts faction and the opposition leader, deposed prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of […]

Agent Orange, the Cleanup Begins, The Australian, 5 August, 2012

Agent Orange clean-up, 37 years on Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 04 Aug 2012: 11. Full text Abstract/Details Show highlighting Abstract TranslateAbstract The historic $US450 million ($429m) amelioration effort to destroy the chemicals remaining in the environment and treat those suffering from disabilities begins on Thursday at Vietnam’s worst affected site — the former US military base and now bustling airport of Da […]

In Memoriam, Chris Evans, Bangkok, 2012.

By John Stapleton Bangkok is a city full of expats, and Chris Evans, who had been there for decades living both the high life and the low life, from being one of the city’s most sought after male escorts, at a time when European escorts were highly sought after in the city of black-eyed angels, […]

Bill Leak and Alan Pryke, from Hunting the Famous. 2012.

By John Stapleton In an adroit move The Australian picked up the country’s best known cartoonist Bill Leak from The Sydney Morning Herald at more or less the same time I made the shift to the Evil Empire, as News Limited was commonly nicknamed. Bill had won every major award an Australian cartoonist can win, […]

Chaos at the Crossroads: Family Law Reform in Australia, Online Opinion, 8 December 2010.

The book Chaos at the Crossroads: Family Law Reform in Australia is launched today and fulfils a long held dream of Dads On The Air to include publishing alongside its weekly broadcasts. The book marks another step forward for the community radio program that began in Western Sydney in 2000 with a small group of disgruntled separated men who […]

Chaos at the Crossroads, Interview, Dads On The Air, 7 December, 2010.

Chaos At The Crossroads TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010 AT 10:30AM With special guest: John Stapleton. Joining us this week is well known and respected Australian Journalist, Author and co-founder of Dads On The Air, John Stapleton, who will launch his new book, ‘Chaos At The Crossroads’, which tells the story of the long struggle for family law reform in […]

Celebrating A Decade Of Dads On The Air, Dads on the Air, 12 October, 2010.

Celebrating A Decade Of Dads On The Air TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2010 AT 10:30AM With special guests: Dr. Stephen Baskerville Sue Price Geoffrey Greene Barry Williams Warwick Marsh John Flannagan and Tony Miller. In a remarkable show of solidarity and a sign that hope can defeat despair, a determined group of fathers and supporters gathered at Sydney […]

Research, Stress, and Contentment, Dads on the Air, 13 July, 2010.

Research, Stress, and Contentment TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010 AT 10:30PM With special guests: Dr. Bruce Smyth Graeme Campbell and John Stapleton. A diversity of subject matter is covered in the topics of this week’s show. We commence the program with an interesting interview with Dr Bruce Smyth, who is Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, La […]