There are times, and this is one of them, when Rudd and his troops look like a bunch of amateurs. The only thing that saves them is that their opponents look even sillier.
Columns / Mungo MacCallum
Commentary from long-time political journalist Mungo Maccallum.
Australia’s road to recovery: falling arse-first into surplus
The first reaction to the Budget was ho, and the second was hum — which was exactly the way Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan wanted it. The headline they were hoping for might have read: “Very quiet Budget, not many hurt.”
When Rudd goes, it will be kicking and screaming
The weirdest news story of the week has been Kevin Rudd’s promise that, if re-elected this year, he will serve out the full three years of his next term. Well golly gosh and stuff me up a dead bear’s bum. Did anyone seriously imagine otherwise?
On tax and the ETS, Rudd tainted by cowardice
Kevin Rudd’s tax response is good policy and good politics. But because it has come at a time when the government is perceived to be running scared, it will get less credit than it deserves.
Mungo: Rudd slowly shedding Dr Jekyll image in favour of Hyde
We are still getting glimpses of the old Kevin ‘07, the avuncular figure who won the nation’s trust a mere three years ago. But it is a safe bet that in the weeks ahead we will see rather less of Mr Nice Guy.
Health debate shows up unfinished job of federation
The Great Health and Hospitals War has been a pretty unedifying affair. But it has had one useful outcome: even the staunchest conservatives are now having second thoughts on reserving so much power for the states.
Rudd, despite handing out health biscuits, has hard calls to make
Kevin Rudd has finally admitted what everyone else realised some time ago: fixing the health system is going to cost a huge amount of money and it’s no good pretending otherwise.
Asylum seeking — the rhetoric is hotting up
The refugee rhetoric is hotting up in much the same way as it did in the weeks before the 2001 election, the Tampa election, the children overboard election, the race election.
Crazy-brave populist Abbott needs a bit of the Oxford about him
The Mad Monk’s career has always been a series of dilemmas and contradictions, but decades after abandoning the seminary for the soapbox, Abbott remains torn between the sacred and the secular.
Debating Abbott, Rudd’s on a hiding to nothing
The results in South Australia and Tasmania were hardly what Kevin Rudd would have chosen; but in the end the damage was more psychological than psephological.
Much to criticise in Abbott’s policies, but he deserves some sympathy
Tony Abbott’s parental leave policy may be a disaster, but not for the reasons being trumpeted by the government and the media. He is being pilloried not for a matter of substance, but for having the courage to defy one of Australia’s more mindless political shibboleths.
Heard the one about the PM, the masochist and the sadist?
After predicting — and almost begging for — a severe whacking in the opinion polls, Kevin Rudd got off with the lightest of slaps on the wrist.
Rudd spies an election year bonus in ASIO
Terrorism, we were warned portentously, had emerged as a permanent feature of Australia’s security environment. Well, in an election year it would, wouldn’t it? Our pollies love to get patriotic when elections swing around.
Here’s the Goss — Abbott may struggle to win the media war
By saying the government’s $250m rebate to TV networks looks like a bribe, Tony Abbott has opened up a new front bin the media wars. Will the high risk strategy of aligning himself with the Pay TV media moguls work?
Should Abbott have been sacked? Yes, if you apply Abbott’s logic on Garrett
There is no doubt that the insulation plan was something of a shemozzle. It was basically a good idea, but rushing it out on a massive scale as part of the economic stimulus package meant that there was not adequate preparation.
Captain Catholic’s moral stance now par for the (once) coarse
Tony Abbott’s interview with the Women’s Weekly has confirmed the worst fears of moderates both inside and outside the Liberal Party: Captain Catholic is back in charge
Greens and climate change … welcome back to the real world
So with a great (self-trumpeted) fanfare, the Greens have returned to the climate change debate — and about bloody time.
Abbott’s cunning stunt is just a distraction
Tony Abbott’s planned private member’s Bill to override Queensland’s Wild Rivers legislation may be, as his opponents claim, a political stunt, but they can hardly deny that it’s a bloody good one.
Rudd must fire in the whaling war
If Japan’s whaling doesn’t end soon, Kevin Rudd will have to take the risk of legal action against the Japanese government, if only to maintain his own political credibility.
Time for Rudd to restore rationality and for Abbott to self-destruct
Is Tony Abbott the Speedoed crusader who will save us all from the greenie communist scourge? At the very least, Abbott provides a clear political distinction for the electorate.
Why Turnbull is an uncomfortable fit
The trouble with Malcolm Turnbull is that he’s in the wrong party. But the real problem is is that there is no right party for him to join.
