Did Tasmania’s health minister Lara Giddings take a close enough look at her department secretary’s resume? asks Margaretta Pos. He used to head one of the most controversial hospitals in the UK.
December, 2009
COAG’s spinning its wheels in plans and press releases
COAG appears to have lost much of the reformist drive it has in its initial revival under Rudd. You can’t doubt Rudd’s ambitions, but it appears to be spinning its wheels in a mess of plans and press releases.
Health reform dithering risks a desperate and dateless government
COAG has reneged on its obligations to the Australian health sector, hastily concocting a “plan to make a plan” some time next year, writes Jennifer Doggett.
Canberra Airport expansion threatened by housing development
Queanbeyan’s housing development threatens the expansion of the neighbouring Canberra Airport. Will Queanbeyan risk injuring the city that sustains it?
Leaked email: Teach for free? Melbourne uni councillor calls it quits
PhD candidate in cultural studies Tammi Jonas details her decision to resign from the Melbourne University Council because of the “outrageous, unethical decisions being made by Melbourne University”.
Political snippets: A return to Kevin07?
Stand by for pointless aggro, because the sooner we get the next election over, the better. Plus, Westpac boss Gail Kelly surely can’t believe her own press?
Hold the phoney: Telstra’s ‘customer’ unmasked
Megan Lane appeared on radio and TV yesterday as an angry Telstra customer as part of the company’s new “My Telstra Experience” campaign, but Crikey can reveal that Lane worked as a Telstra spin doctor until 2002, writes Andrew Crook.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: Abbott has a deep and original desire to fail nobly
If you want to understand where the “Liberal” Party is heading, forget Burke or Oakeshott — read de Maistre’s The Executioner.
Copenhagen Day 1: Australia already singled out as a spoiler
Only hours into the fortnight-long Copenhagen conference and Australia is already being singled by NGOs out as a climate-change spoiler, writes Matthew Knott from Copenhagen.
Hamilton: Lessons learnt from running in Higgins
The Greens’ candidate in the weekend’s Higgins by-election, Clive Hamilton, reflects on the successes and failures of his climate change-focussed campaign.
Tips and rumours: Trading Post’s Telstra-esque customer service
Billing issues across Telstra’s departments? Never. But don’t worry, the new CEO will take care of all that. Plus, which indigenous activist and intellectual is anxiously scanning YouTube for old modelling footage of herself?
Crikey Says: The party puppeteers pulling all the strings
A fascinating feature of last week’s political killing season — a Premier and a federal Opposition Leader gunned down over three blood-spilling days — was the role of the Tripodi, Obeid and Minchin as sneaky puppeteers.
Google unveils its visual search engine
Google has just unveiled its latest search innovation: Google Goggles allows users to take pictures of books, brands, business logos, text and more on their phones, then search for more info. Like Shazam for the entire world.
How I ended up running a $100,000 marketing campaign
The latest Aussie snack food to jump on the “name our new product” bandwagon is SupaShake. 20-year-old marketing blogger Zac Martin explains how he has ended up running the $100k campaign for one of the new flavours.
Bushfire season: What Victoria taught us about health
The need for health services after a bushfire is not just a short-term issue, writes Croakey. As we learnt from the Vic bushfires, health services need long term extra support to deal with such a disaster.
Marieke Hardy tells: my sick Twitter scandal shame!
Marieke Hardy explains how a spot of 6am in-studio silliness on Triple J’s breakfast show turned into a full-blown media “scandal” thanks to social media and a slow news day.
Why Tiger is still marketable
Tiger Woods’ recent “transgressions” may make him seem like spokesperson kryptonite to some brands, but his unintentional new “bad boy” image could prove highly marketable.
Film Review: Zombieland: in need of more bbrraaiinnnss
Woody Harrelson bursts into the flesh craving zombie genre with his new film Zombieland. But with so-so comedy and lot’s of low brain fun, it’s not just the zombies that need more brains, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Google to roll-out real-time search
Remember Google’s deal with Twitter? The web giant’s real-time search is finally ready to go live, but it’s much bigger than just social media…
Selling Goldman Sachs: the hardest job on Wall St?
Meet Lucas Van Praag, the PR guru tasked with reshaping Goldman Sachs’ image from “evil empire” to “friendly neighbourhood multinational banking conglomerate”. He’s paid over $1m a year for the job, but… he can keep it.
Why I like Toyota more than Porsche
Why do we like the brands we do? Is it because of an irrational emotional connection? Or does your brand preference actually have something to do with value for money? If not, maybe it should, says Trent Hamm.
