Contrary to its claims of administrative competence, the Coalition had a series of costly blunders when in Government.
Articles by Bernard Keane 
About Bernard Keane
Bernard Keane is Crikey’s Canberra correspondent. He writes on politics, media, and business.
The hypocrisy of costings
This week we were reminded once again that Tony Abbott is an economic lightweight. The Coalition “costings blowout” may be overstated, but its hypocrisy is much worse.
Why this will be a great election to win
The mining boom and a surging economy means this will be a good election to win, even if the Coalition’s costings have big flaws in them.
Greens-Gillard deal: who wins?
What the Greens will have secured if Labor is able to hang onto office is, in effect, an all care and no responsibility role in a Labor Government, giving the Greens many of the benefits of incumbency without any of the responsibilities.
Essential: Australia is neatly divided
Most voters had already made up their minds how to vote when the campaign started, this week’s Essential Report shows. Those who didn’t appear to have swung heavily to the Coalition.
Wilkie, the pokies and the need to Do Something
Not for Andrew Wilkie: this business of establishing the Government’s fiscal position and identifying the impact of election commitments on the Budget before entering substantive negotiations with the major parties.
A parliamentary budget office — great idea, but don’t get carried away
A Parliamentary Budget Office is a good idea, but it should be done properly and don’t expect it to settle any arguments.
Does WHK Horwath tell third parties they should seek independent advice on reports?
The auditing firm at the centre of the Coalition’s costings debacle normally warns third parties not to rely on its reports, recommending they obtain independent advice.
Common sense from independents has conservatives deeply unhappy
Against expectations, the rural independents have made a strong start in their quest for political and economic stability. And conservatives don’t like it.
The red and blue: the real story of post-election briefings
There’s nothing especially sacrosanct about the post-election briefings handed to ministers. They’re the bureaucracy’s effort to get ministers up to speed on what they need to do.
The Coalition is scared of scrutiny
Tony Abbott’s disastrous press conference in Canberra last night - following the three amigo independents’ request for Coalition Treasury costings - is putting his chances of securing the Prime Ministership in danger.
Forget the love-in stuff — independents could bring a revolution in accountability
The three independents have issued an extraordinary list of demands to the major parties that could revolutionise federal politics.
Independents’ day makes life difficult
The press gallery is desperately trying to predict the winner from the hung Parliament. It might be better off trying to work out why voters delivered it in the first place.
Regional development: here we go again
Governments have to be forced by the electorate to take regional development issues seriously. So far we haven’t even mastered the basics.
Pandering to the outer suburbs didn’t work
While the parties focused on trying to appeal to a minority of swinging voters, the rest of the electorate had other ideas — quite a few of them.
Power is within reach for Abbott
There’s plenty of bad blood between the three independents and the National Party. But that’s no impediment for them to back the Coalition.
Labor needs fundamental change, not a line blaming leaks
The election has revealed that Labor has a major cultural problem at its highest levels.
Letter from the miners: boys, what have we done?
The mining industry has scored a big win over the weekend, but there are a couple of little problems in its wake.
No more politics as usual: the Greens break through
The Greens have broken through. They are a potent force that will have a casting vote on contested legislation until 2017 at the earliest.
Labor: still bearing the scars of the Howard years, needs defeat
This is not much short of a total disaster for Federal Labor, which less than a year ago was contemplating a 100-seat representation in the House of Representatives.
Abbott copied the Howard template
Tony Abbott has learnt well from his mentor John Howard and simply removed those elements of his political persona perceived as out of keeping with mainstream thinking.
It’s just a jump to the Left
And thus, from the most tedious, uninspiring and insulting election campaign in Australian political history, emerges the most fascinating of results.
The final tally: both sides in the red, in a miserly campaign
When Kevin Rudd said “this reckless spending must stop”, he set a new pattern for election promises that both sides have stuck to pretty well in 2010. We have had one of the most parsimonious campaigns of recent times.
Time to take back politics
Didn’t like the election campaign? Bad luck — you’re paying for it and you have no choice but to vote for the parties responsible for it. Unless we stop contracting out our politics and ramp up scrutiny of the media.
Essential: all locked up on election eve
We’re all locked up, says Essential Research in its final poll before the election. Only the Greens can be confident.
Historically Hung Over: The Crikey Guide To The 2010 Federal Election
