The Australian fights its culture wars in a particular – and now well-documented – way. It plays the man, or the woman, instead of the ball. It goes in hard, and it targets individuals who aren’t necessarily prepared for a fight (or at least one that’s very public, very national, and very much on The Australian’s own terms).

‘[T]he culture wars are unmistakably back.’ That’s New Matilda’s Ben Eltham, dumbfounded at ‘the amazing ideological nature’ of Abbott’s cuts. Actually, nothing could have been more predictable. bbott’s a cultural warrior, born and bred; his most enthusiastic supporters sup daily from a wingnut blogosphere that has honed baiting liberals into an art form.