Articles by Mungo MacCallum

The Australian again has become a haven for sceptics, deniers and downright nutters.

Julian Assange may not merit a Nobel prize, but he sure as hell doesn’t deserve to be persecuted either. If we are serious about defending democracy, he is not our enemy but our new best friend.

It must be the silly season. The old arguments are all back on the agenda, and none of them is more thoroughly worn than the one about Australia going nuclear.

The Murray-Darling Basin is not just Australia’s major food bowl, but an important economic resource in its own right.

Julia Gillard can afford to be reasonably satisfied with the first week of the rest of her government. But the crossbenchers are ready and eager to exploit their temporary power bases, particularly on climate change and the war in Afghanistan.

Tony Abbot has now made it clear that his lust for power is absolute; he will stop at nothing.

Everything is up for grabs once more, and as far as Julia Gillard is concerned, she is starting pretty much with a blank sheet.

There have been many losers in the 2010 election, but none more to be pitied than those who relied on News Limited for their political information.

There is a superstition among many political commentators that the nation has some sort of collective mind; that when the voters go to the polls there is a psychic bond which determines the overall result. It’s rubbish, as Saturday showed.

We vote without enthusiasm or conviction, and often in the belief that whatever we do will make no real difference; that the ritual is no longer worthwhile.

This election campaign is not really dull at all. Depressing, maddening, infantile, an insult to the voters’ intelligence and a travesty of the democratic process, but not dull.

It’s time, in fact it’s well past time, it may even be too late, for a reality check. Seen from the point of view of the hip pocket, things could hardly be rosier. And yet the voters are preparing to vote the government that has presided over this happy state and is at least partly responsible for it out of office after one truncated term.

Never has the Prime Ministership of Australia been contested by such a pair of abject, craven, weak-kneed, whey-faced, chicken-hearted, lily-livered, jelly-bellied milksops. And what a lead up to the so-called Great Debate: The Wimp versus The Wuss, says Mungo MacCallum.

First, Julia Gillard has to be elected, and to do that she has to give us reasons to vote for her. What exactly (or even approximately) is the election actually about? Most voters are confused.

Timor Leste is a horribly cynical choice, and still would be even if the negotiations had been sensibly handled and the government and populace had shown themselves willing.

Gillard is offering not leadership but populism, not vision but adhockery, not policy but fixes: whatever it takes. She has had her boost in the polls, and that, for the moment, is all that really matters.

Kevin Rudd was knifed repeatedly and by many, says Mungo MacCallum. Who could have guessed that there were so many killers lurking in the wings of Parliament House?

If Rudd was also some kind of a loose cannon, what was the point of keeping him? Rudd might be a bit of a letdown, but the alternative is still unconvincing.