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FCP Australia is a place for thoughtful writing and podcast conversations shaped by lived experience, conscience, and a concern for how decisions made at a distance affect ordinary Australians.
For most of my life, I was focused on family, work, faith, and getting on with life. Like many people, I trusted that our institutions broadly worked as they should. That changed during the COVID era, when policies began to touch children, vulnerable people, livelihoods, and conscience in very real ways.
THE MOUTHPIECE
In November 2021, AMA Queensland President Dr Chris Perry told Australians that life without vaccination would be “miserable” and that their livelihood was “on the line.” This investigation traces the medical ethics, government messaging and unanswered questions behind those words.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
3 days ago21 min read
FOI Update: How Far Should a Request Be Narrowed Before the Question Itself Disappears?
The Department of Health has asked me to narrow my COVID consent FOI again. I have agreed to give up further categories of documents, but not the legal question at its centre. This update explains what has been removed, what remains, and what happens next in the OAIC review.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
5 days ago8 min read
They Said the Agents Were Isolated
OpenAI’s July containment failure showed what can happen when persistent AI agents find paths their designers did not intend. With South Australia partnering with OpenAI and preparing a Royal Commission into artificial intelligence, this article asks what safeguards, accountability and human oversight should be required before agentic AI is trusted with public authority.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Sep 127 min read
The Othering of the Citizen
South Australia’s First Nations Voice is now an operating statutory institution with formal access to Parliament, Cabinet and government. After two low-turnout elections, a narrowly defeated repeal bill and the State’s continuing Voice, Truth and Treaty agenda, this article asks a deeper question: can differentiated political representation be reconciled with equal citizenship?
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Aug 2623 min read
The State and the Sanctuary
India’s 2026 FCRA Amendment Bill would expand the state’s powers over foreign-funded assets when an organisation’s registration ends. After opposition from Christian leaders, minority representatives and state governments, the Bill is heading for further parliamentary scrutiny. What does the debate reveal about religious freedom, institutional independence and the proper limits of state authority?
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Aug 128 min read
The Fox Writing the Rules
Days after South Australia signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, Premier Peter Malinauskas announced a Royal Commission into artificial intelligence. The timing raises a larger question: as technological capability expands, how do we ensure government, industry and AI remain servants of the human person rather than its masters?
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Aug 1111 min read
The State We Actually Have
Part One traced Fabian socialism into Australian Labor. Part Two asks what that inheritance looks like in practice, examining public consent, union power, institutional loyalty and the gradual expansion of government influence across Australian political and civic life.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Aug 714 min read
Hidden in Plain Sight: Freedom of Information, the COVID Procurement Contracts, and Australia's Transparency Gap
Most Australians assume that if they wanted to understand what their government decided and why, they could simply ask. This second instalment in The Accountability Gap examines Australia's Freedom of Information framework, the secrecy surrounding COVID procurement contracts, and the structural barriers citizens encounter when they seek answers.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Jul 115 min read
The Fifth Check, Part Two: What Would It Actually Take?
Australia's Constitution assumes citizens can see clearly enough to judge those who govern them. But what happens when the information environment that accountability depends on begins to erode? Drawing on Australian referendum history, Swiss direct democracy, and a Christian understanding of institutional fallenness, this article examines whether citizen vetoes and referenda could function as a practical fifth check on power, and what safeguards would be required for such a
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Jun 2323 min read
The Check We Never Built
Madison built three checks on power. He assumed a fourth: an informed public capable of judging government action. This essay asks what happens when the information environment itself begins to weaken that capacity, and whether democratic accountability can survive without it.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Jun 1718 min read
Unequal Scales: Power, Stewardship and the Erosion of Australian Trust
Australians aren't demanding perfection from their leaders. They're asking something simpler: do the people making the rules still live under them? From indexed parliamentary pensions untouched by means tests, to negative gearing promises broken within a year of re-election, to regulators moving swiftly into the industries they once oversaw, this piece documents what the public record shows. No conspiracy required. Just attention.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
May 2119 min read
Who Gets to Debate? Public Broadcasting and Fair Electoral Contest in South Australia
Should a publicly funded broadcaster limit election debates to only two parties? Examining debate access, media visibility, and democratic contest in South Australia.
Mark Neugebauer - FCP Australia
Mar 105 min read
These annexures are shared for transparency and historical context. They reflect my thinking at the time they were written, not necessarily my current conclusions.
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