The Liberals’ company tax cut has rocketed them into the lead in the campaign race to spend taxpayers’ dollars. Follow the promises dollar-for-dollar in Crikey’s election campaign commitments guide.
Articles by Bernard Keane 
About Bernard Keane
Bernard Keane is Crikey’s Canberra correspondent. He writes on politics, media, and business.
Meet the Greens, Part Two: how will they fare on August 21?
The Greens are on course to snare the Senate balance of power courtesy of Victorian and South Australian voters.
Keane’s Talking Points: Swan was too truthful last night
While there wasn’t much he could have done about Kerry O’Brien’s focus on the leak last night, Swan gave the issue new momentum by saying bluntly, and truthfully, that there wasn’t anything the Government could do to stop the leaks.
If you’re finding it tough to make ends meet, it’s not because of inflation
Yesterday’s CPI figures showed what an extraordinary load of rubbish this “cost of living” campaign focus is from both sides.
Not your usual Cabinet leak
Julia Gillard gave her best performance of the campaign this morning in response to Laurie Oakes’ damaging leaks story, but the problem isn’t going to go away.
Coalition can no longer count on a rate rise
An unexpectedly low CPI number means Labor can breathe a big sigh of relief and go on the attack on economic management, especially with the Coalition back flipping on company tax.
Keane’s Talking Points: momentum shifts the Liberals’ way
Julia Gillard has to aggressively confront the leaking of alleged Cabinet confidences to Channel Nine and The Sydney Morning Herald.
The sisterhood? Jesus. How about common decency?
The growing media obsession with both Julia Gillard’s physical appearance and her marital status could be dismissed as indicative of both the essential inanity of the press and its casual sexism. But it’s more than that.
Cost of living is a dirty debate
Because of the Liberal and Labor parties’ slavish dedication to earning the votes of outer-suburban swinging voters, we now find ourselves in a “cost of living” debate. Both sides are discovering that this issue has its dangers.
Meet the people who’ll hold the balance of power in 2011…
Polling suggests the Australian Greens are poised to become the third force in Australian politics. Crikey looks at how the party will perform and who is likely to hold the balance of power next year.
Keane’s Talking Points: Gillard as robotic as Rudd when repeating soundbites
Julia Gillard is every bit as robotic as her predecessor in her capacity to hammer the same talking points regardless of questioning.
Now we’re picking on New Zealanders
For the second time in the campaign, Tony Abbott has been dropped in it by a frontbencher.
Election ‘10:
$1 billion and counting
Policy Watch: Both sides, after savings are removed, are tracking at just over $1 billion in campaign commitments so far.
Essential: Labor holds, Abbott further adrift
Labor retains its strong lead in the latest Essential Report, while Tony Abbott simply isn’t doing it for voters.
Cash-for-carbon a clunky addition to a mess of subsidies
Labor’s cash-for-clunkers initiative just adds another subsidy to the many in the motor vehicle sector — some of which directly contradict the point of Saturday’s announcement
The Stump: transcript of the Tony, Scott ‘n Cory show
The transcript of yesterday’s Liberal announcement about its immigration target follows, featuring Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison. Abbott’s Parliamentary Secretary, dog-whistler Cory “ban the burqa” Bernardi is along for the ride.
Last night’s joint press conference had a lot of empty seats
More than ever, this election seems to be about two parties pretending to be politicians, rather than actually being them
Keane’s Talking Points: let’s hope voter common sense kicks in
Is there anyone in the country other than in the Labor and Liberal camps who thinks last night’s debate wouldn’t have been made at least more interesting, if not more enlightening, with the presence of Bob Brown?
Gillard’s climate policy in brief
Julia Gillard this morning announced Labor’s revised climate change policy in light of the CPRS debacle, strong on consensus and vague standards.
Forrest and Bennison try their best to revive the mining tax war
Andrew Forrest and Simon Bennison of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies are wasting their time and money threatening to reactivate the mining industry’s campaign against the Government.
Keane’s Talking Points: worst climate change policy eva
There’s every chance the Government will find a way to have an even worse climate change policy than the Liberals, a truly impressive feat.
Key demographics holding policy hostage in the race to the bottom
In policy terms this is turning into one of the worst elections of the modern era. As with immigration, education funding is being skewed by politicians’ efforts to appeal to swinging voters.
The nation’s New Idea readers help widen the gender gap
Julia Gillard has a priceless asset when it comes to campaigning — Australia’s women’s magazines love her, and they have a widespread readership.
Keane’s talking points: Abbott was right to go on Hey Hey
Even the zombie format of Hey Hey rates higher than Kerry’s Corner.
The population debate just got a little bit worse
If you thought the population debate couldn’t get any worse, you were wrong – very wrong.
