Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey was torn to shreds for making the most sensible suggestion regarding Australian banks that this nation has heard since the global financial crisis, writes author and blogger David Llewellyn-Smith.
October, 2010
Conroy comes knocking
Watch out - Conroy’s about! He’ll make you use the NBN and he’ll charge you thousands for the privilege. At least, that’s what some in the media want you to think.
Who says banks too big to fail? We need a warts-and-all inquiry
We have had piecemeal probes, but they are just examinations at the edge. A a wider inquiry is needed and it should be independent, not parliamentary, with the powers of a Royal Commission merely to make sure that everyone attends and takes it seriously.
Interest rates: Hockey just can’t get a handle on it
Joe Hockey, like many politicians, see banks as such as easy target. Sadly for Joe, while the highly profitable banks have much to be criticised for, he got his accusations completely wrong.
RBA chief makes it hard to read the interest rate tea leaves
it’s safe to say there are a lot of folk in financial markets (and politics) who will be quietly humming The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again, if they know it, ahead of a speech Monday morning by Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens.
Children still at risk despite income management
Does income management work to make children safer? The evidence is not clearly there in the various evaluation studies that have been done.
The Brumby Dump: nuclear compounds stolen from the back of a ute
Dangerous nuclear compounds were stolen from the back of an unlocked ute in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong earlier this year, and remain at large despite a police investigation, according to the annual report of the Radiation Advisory Committee, writes Swinburne journalism student Wez Matthews-Naylor.
Murray Murmurings: the costs of business as usual
Water reform needs to include the knowledge, skills and leadership in Murray-Darling Basin communities to develop new futures and support vital services needed for thriving communities, writes Professor Rupert Quentin Grafton, director of Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The taxing question about banks
Crikey readers have their say.
Morning Market Report: Markets up but is a “currency war” brewing?
There is a G20 meeting this weekend in Korea and a “currency war”is brewing.
The payout stunt delivering a marketing bonanza to bookies
Bookies are rarely seen as charitable organisations, so any time they cough up early on a wager there could be reason for suspicion. Crikey examines the marketing stunt and increasingly pervasive nature of betting agencies.
Daily Proposition: Rock out to a history book
London-based rock journalist, travel writer and foreign correspondent Andrew Mueller wears all three of his hats in his new collection Rock and Hard Places, lifted from such publications as Melody Maker and Uncut across a 20-year career, writes David Cohen.
Media briefs: Spot the golfing difference … vox pop of the day …
There was a toe-curlingly embarrassing segment on the Today show this morning, when footage of ‘Adam Scott’ instead showed Australian rival Aaron Baddeley, plus other media news of the day.
Memo to Vic gov: voters really do care about the economy
The Brumby government could benefit from widespread concern over the issue of economic management, with Roy Morgan research commissioned exclusively for Crikey revealing swathes of voters in marginal seats rate it a pressing issue.
Political snippets: Prepare for a do-nothing US Congress
Get ready for a spectacular couple of years of inactivity from next year.
Video of the Day: Riding backwards on a pig, baby monkey
Welcome to the official theme song of the Crikey bunker this week, bringing together all that is wonderful with the internet — interspecies animal friends, cute baby animals on YouTube and ridiculous-but-catchy songs. All together now, “baby monkey, baby monkey…”
Crikey Says: Baron Black on Rupert Murdoch. Meow.
Please enjoy former newspaper magnate Conrad Black’s delightfully bitchy commentary on Rupert Murdoch.
New New Matilda has lift-off
It’s the re-launch of online commentary website New Matilda! Back up and publishing every day until Christmas, to see if the publication can prove financially viable. It’s going for a community radio station subscriber model, rather than paywalls.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Viewing earth from space, tweet by tweet
Twitpic is a popular service among twitter users but few people can share happy snaps as impressive as those uploaded by Douglas H. Wheelock, an astronaut who tweets photographs from the International Space Station.
Oh what a feeling — 1.66 million Toyotas to be recalled
It’s time for another Toyota recall. This time 1.66 million Avalons, Highlanders and other vehicles are to be recalled in the United States and Japan, following a defects involving the master cylinder brake seal.
Queue jumping in East Timor
While there’s been increased support in the top East Timor government ranks for a refugee processing centre to be built in the country, most of the population is against the plan. Shona Hawkes in Dili explains the complex problems.
