Michael Gorey

The chart is part of Michael’s Year 7 student report from the National Assessment Program. It arrived in the mail today from his former school at Kalgoorlie.
In May this year, national literacy and numeracy assessments were administered to students across the country.
While parents don’t receive actual test results, they do get to see how their [...]

My son Michael has been selected in the under 12 team to represent Western Border at the South Australian country soccer championships in Mildura this weekend.
I’ve negotiated myself a lifetime position as his manager with a fee of 85 percent (after he haggled over my 90 percent bid).
So I’m driving north to protect my financial [...]

Daylight saving starts in Western Australia this weekend. I'm ambivalent about it, but if given the chance to vote at a referendum I would currently be against it.
The only positive from our point of view is that dawn will be one hour later at 5.30am instead of 4.30.
The major downside is that our twins will [...]

Some people seem to think that newspapers delight in publishing bad news. As an editor I admit that bad news, tragedy and conflict often help to sell papers. That says something about human beings, I think, rather than newspapers.
From a personal perspective I prefer to focus on the positive but unless you're colorblind or wearing [...]

We visited relatives in Perth last weekend. It was great to see several of my cousins and their children. My aunt is ill, but it was a pleasure to see her and introduce my wife and little ones.
My cousin Veronica’s daughter Johanna is a hairdresser (not sure of the spelling, but think it’s the same [...]

I admit that we lost contact with organised religion after the twins were born. It required a big effort to get the family to mass and the twins were a handful. Traditional denominations in Australia have lost members partly because they haven't been family friendly. As congregations grow older it's hard for parents to [...]

I had my second three-day weekend and made the most of it. On Saturday night Juliet and I went to the Ronald McDonald Ball, a gala fundraiser for children’s medical services attended by 600 people in formal attire.
Sunday was recovery and Dude’s birthday treat: a visit to the Oasis indoor pool with some of his [...]

I’ve written a few times about Zimbabwe. Today, there’s a personal touch to the comments I make.
I visited Zimbabwe in 1991 when it was a prosperous happy country and before Mugabe went bananas.
My employer at the time, a Victorian farming newspaper, encouraged me to write some freelance articles about the agricultural situation while I was [...]

Porepunkah Primary School held its athletic sports today. Kathleen was captain of her house, Buffalo, which won for the first time in her seven years there. The picture shows her leaping a hurdle.
The girl in the foreground is a Muslim and she’s wearing a head scarf. For the benefit of overseas readers, there’s a roaring [...]

Juliet has submitted her application to vote in the council election. That’s two votes I should get now; only 698 to go!
Juliet is a South African citizen with permanent residency in Australia. She can’t vote in state or federal elections, but can exercise her right as a ratepayer to vote in council elections.
If I win [...]