You can accuse Tony Sheldon of many things — from indulging in overblown class war rhetoric to bleeding the national carrier to death. But you’ll never hear the Transport Workers Union boss bagged for being gutless. Over the past year, the former garbage collector has waged war on Qantas, made a failed run for the ALP presidency […]
Articles by Matthew Knott 
Rhiannon caught out bagging Greens in ghost-written op-ed
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and her media adviser ghost-wrote a controversial article attacking her party for accepting a $1.68 million donation from internet entrepreneur Graeme Wood.
The Power Index: union heavies, Louise Tarrant at #5
Louise Tarrant is demurely-dressed and softly-spoken — an unlikely radical if ever there was one. Yet she, as much as anyone else, is redefining what it means to be a unionist in 21st century Australia. Tarrant is the national secretary of United Voice, a left-wing union representing 120,000 workers in some of our most precarious and poorly-paid […]
The Power Index: union heavies, Michael O’Connor at #6
Michael O’Connor isn’t fazed that Paul Keating once called him a “Labor rat” who should be “excommunicated” from the ALP. In fact, the forestry industry firebrand wears it as a badge of pride. “If the ALP ever takes on the CFMEU, we’ll put them on their arse,” O’Connor tells The Power Index during an interview at his […]
Impending Abbott doom frustrates ACTU conference
In a masterful display of linguistic contortionism, Julia Gillard managed to avoid mentioning either the Health Services Union or Craig Thomson by name in her speech to the ACTU congress yesterday. But the prime minister’s message was clear: union members’ money has been abused, and the reputation of the labour movement has been tarnished. ”Members have […]
Five Aussie leaders in the international union movement
You wouldn’t know it from the ever-deepening Health Services Union disaster, but Australia’s union chiefs are among the most respected — and powerful — in the world. Aussie unionists are currently dominating the international union movement, and they couldn’t have picked a better time to do it. Economic globalisation has forced unions to form alliances across state borders in […]
The Power Index: union heavies, Ged Kearney at #7
When you meet ACTU president Ged Kearney, it’s easy to tell why the former nurse became the public face of the union movement.
The Thomson scandal: where are the five independents at?
The Craig Thomson scandal will only rob the Gillard government of its majority if most of the lower house independents support his suspension from parliament. The government’s numbers would then be so tight it could often have to rely on the casting vote of acting speaker Anna Burke to pass legislation. This looks unlikely, but […]
The Power Index: union heavies, Paddy Crumlin at #8
No-one else in the union movement can spin a yarn like Paddy Crumlin, the boss of the militant Maritime Union of Australia. “If you can get a seat next to Paddy Crumlin you grab it,” explains Michael O’Connor, national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. “The next day your guts will be […]
The Power Index: union heavies, Sally McManus at #9
What Sally McManus lacks in numbers, she makes up for with chutzpah, endless reserves of energy and a willingness to piss off her own side of politics. She was the driving force behind one of the biggest union triumphs in decades — the landmark equal pay campaign that achieved massive pay rises for over 150,000 low-paid community […]
The Power Index: union heavies, Kathy Jackson at #10
Whistleblowers don’t come any more flawed, or fascinating, than Kathy Jackson — the woman who has turned the ugly inner workings of the Health Services Union into a rolling national scandal. Jackson took allegations of cronyism and corruption within the HSU’s East branch to the police last September, and has been waging a one-woman crusade against predecessor […]
The Power Index: the key unionists throwing their weight around
In the day-to-day lives of most Australians, trade unions have never been so irrelevant. Union membership has more than halved over the past decade. A mere 18% of the nation’s workers now belong to a union — a figure that will keep plummeting if the collateral damage inflicted by the Health Services Union scandal is as bad […]
Follow the Power: RBA watch … Clyne cuts deep … shocker Smith …
All eyes on Stevens (and Ridout). The nation will hold its collective breath this afternoon as Glenn Stevens and his Reserve Bank of Australia comrades announce whether they will drop interest rates. Most economists expect a cut of 25 basis points, but former RBA boss Bernie Fraser wants his successors to go further and slash rates by 50 basis points. […]
Twiggy’s big reveal — two years later. So what’s he up to?
Mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has scored an extraordinary PR coup by enlisting two of the nation’s top journalists to turn a two-year-old story.
Teachers, scientists slam IPA for sending Plimer book to schools
Scientists and teachers have accused free market think tank The Institute of Public Affairs of spreading scientific disinformation by sending copies of Ian Plimer’s latest book to hundreds of schools around the country.
Follow the Power: Gerry’s ‘whingeing’ … Ralph in prime-time … Gehry’s vision …
Is Gerry Harvey Australia’s least powerful lobbyist? Retailing king Gerry Harvey isn’t one to talk up his clout. “I’ve talked to Liberal politicians, I’ve talked to Labor politicians and some others and I can honestly say I’ve never been helped by a politician yet, ever,” he confessed to Lateline’s Emma Alberici last night. He certainly hasn’t got his way on the […]
John Connolly: the spinner at the centre of the Star s-x scandal
The s-x scandal engulfing Sydney’s recently re-opened Star casino and the NSW government just keeps getting murkier — and more incestuous. Barry O’Farrell yesterday stood down his communications chief, Peter Grimshaw, without pay after it was revealed he had forwarded sensitive work emails from the premier to his girlfriend, a former HR manager at the Star. Grimshaw’s girlfriend […]
Courtroom Clive Palmer’s long history of legal stoushes
Self-made billionaire and law school dropout Clive Palmer boasts that he’s got a 68-0 success rate in court cases. Here’s a look back at Palmer’s most high-profile legal stoushes reveals he has a formidable, if not unblemished, record.
The Power Index: Albo backs wrong horse again — but wins respect
Anthony Albanese could well be the most popular politician in the country right now. His weekend speech calling for an end to Labor infighting has drawn almost universal applause. Kevin Rudd calls him Labor’s “new elder statesman”. Julia Gillard says she can’t imagine leading a government without him by her side. Even Andrew Bolt calls […]
The Power Index: spinners, the most powerful is … Peta Credlin
Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, is the biggest control freak in Canberra — with the notable exception of Kevin Rudd. She travels everywhere with the opposition leader, pulls Liberal MPs into line when they veer off message, and is driving the Coalition’s relentlessly negative agenda. “She’s tough, she’s a player, she makes demands, she gives directions, […]
The Power Index: Hawker bets the house on Rudd’s revival
It isn’t only Kevin Rudd playing a high-stakes game in his bid to reclaim the ALP leadership. So is veteran Labor strategist Bruce Hawker. Hawker, who has been involved in almost every Labor state and federal election campaign for the past 15 years, this morning resigned from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh’s campaign team. He’s got […]
The Power Index: spinners, corporate adviser Connolly at #2
If you’re powerful, you already know who John Connolly is. If you’re not, you almost certainly won’t. And that’s exactly how he likes it. The only photo of him on the web is 20 years old; there are no profiles on him in the newspaper archives. Most years, his name doesn’t appear in print at […]
The Power Index: spinners, PM’s COS Ben Hubbard at #3
Ben Hubbard was Labor’s beacon of hope when he took over as Julia Gillard’s chief of staff last February. Here was the man, the true believers thought, who could end the policy stuff-ups, sharpen the government’s message and bring order to an out-of-control office. A year on, it’s hard to judge the boy from Bendigo’s […]
The Power Index: spinners, pollster Mark Textor at #4
Mark Textor is the most domineering, divisive pollster this country’s ever seen — and the most powerful. Even his Labor adversaries admit no one on their side of politics can match him. “There are probably only two or three good political qualitative researchers in Australia at the moment,” veteran ALP pollster Rod Cameron said in 2010. “The […]
