We need more than just idle talk from a Prime Minister and a Treasury that knows what’s needed and should have the guts to issue a report pointing out our weak areas and suggesting what needs to be done.
Australia day
Essential Report: the approval ratings edition
Essential Report this week focused on political approval ratings, economic and employment expectations as well as a question on perceptions of Australia Day that doesn’t involve lamb. Possum Comitatus crunches the numbers.
Penberthy: Australia Day is a load of rubbish
Australia Day is about getting pissed, eating burnt snags — and very little else, says David Penberthy. Its time to finally kill off this poor excuse for a national holiday to find something really worth celebrating.
Black promises are little white lies
What Labor understands is that on issues like Australia Day, we are not capable of a sensible national debate. Oi, Oi, Oi! writes Chris Graham.
Costello continues to catch the fire
Peter Costello will continue his long association with the extreme Christian group Catch the Fire ministries on Australia Day, writes Bernard Keane.
Howard and the anti-Semites: I was only meeting people
John Howard yesterday pooh-poohed any link to Pastor Danny Nalliah’s Holocaust-denying pals. The PM did acknowledge that the League of Rights had been “a bit anti-semitic” but he told reporters: “As for what people I meet do - any more than you can be responsible for what the people you meet do - I can’t be responsible either.” No, John, you can’t. But then, you didn’t just bump into Pastor Nalliah in the street, did you, writes Jeff Sparrow.
