Barnaby Joyce got jumped on earlier in the week when he told The Australian: “I really am struggling now to work out how Labor’s stance is that different from WorkChoices”. But why aren’t his other comments from the same story being examined more closely? Christian Kerr investigates.
Election 2007
Not the first time ALP candidates have been “smeared” with Islam
If there’s one person who won’t be surprised at senior Liberal Party figures being caught red-handed distributing allegedly Islamic material in a marginal Western Sydney seat, it is former ALP candidate for Greenway Ed Husic, writes Irfan Yusuf.
Not voting is a vote against the electoral system
The old joke is that no matter whom you vote for, a politician wins. In the era of “me too” elections this is truer than ever, writes the Centre for Independent Studies’ Jeremy Sammut.
Hardy: It’s not grubby politics, it’s comedy
I don’t see what everyone’s getting so upset about. For the past eight thousand weeks all we’ve heard are whiny complaints regarding the negative angles political opponents have been resorting to on the campaign trail, writes Marieke Hardy.
The Daily Verdict: Day 38 & the agenda meets the Press Club
At the National Press Club this afternoon Prime Minister John Howard certainly stressed his economic management record and the risk posed by Labor but he discovered again just how difficult it is to set the agenda, writes Richard Farmer.
MacCormack: The electoral gods must be crazy
The electoral gods have a wicked sense of humour, don’t they? They seem to have thoroughly embraced a version of Marx’s maxim that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce, writes David MacCormack.
Reality check: Honey, I doomed the universe
Everything that can go wrong with the John Howard election campaign is going wrong so it would not be surprising to learn that the astronomers who may have unwittingly hastened the end of the universe by simply looking at it were using a Liberal Party telescope, writes Richard Farmer.
Mackerras: Psephologists pick a Labor landslide
I thought readers of Crikey may be interested to know the predictions of us psephologists of the number of seats we expect Labor to win on Saturday, writes psephologist Malcolm Mackerras.
The nation’s pundits begin their predictions…
We’ve got them all, Graham Richardson, Andrew Bolt, Kim Beazley, Karl Stefanovic, astrologer Milton Black and callers Wayne and Warren. Crikey presents, the nation’s pick to win. Here’s what pundits have predicted on TV and radio…
Bill Heffernan: air safety guardian
It’s not a good day for favourites of the Prime Minister. First Jackie Kelly – and now there’s more on Bill Heffernan and his rough flight into Brisbane on Tuesday. Christian Kerr reports.
Bahnisch: Expect the unexpected in Queensland
There are seats in Queensland that were probably in play early in the piece, but are probably more or less decided now. Secondly, my feeling from what I hear from the ground is that the race is tighter in the “true” marginals than in some seats that should be “safe” for the Coalition, writes Mark Bahnisch.
So who or what is behind Greens Watch?
We seem to have reached that point in the electoral process when the minds of our political hopefuls turn inexorably to dirt, writes Jeff Sparrow.
TV advertising has been a colossal waste of money
Political television advertising ground to a halt last night with the major parties having spent $40 million or so without achieving anything, writes Richard Farmer.
Crikey Election Awards: Vote now!
Now’s your last chance to vote in the Crikey Election Awards.
Comitatus: The Coalition is heading for an absolute thumping
The final cumulative Newspoll has arrived and two things have become crystal clear; the Coalition is heading for an absolute thumping and the Narrowing over the election campaign is a complete fairytale, writes Possum Comitatus.
Ala Akba, as they say in the NSW Liberal party
There are few certainties in politics but it is odds-on that the NSW Liberal Party director Graham Jaeschke won’t be keeping his job after the federal election. On his watch, the NSW Liberal Party has failed to tame the far right fundamentalist Christian faction which has been encouraged during Prime Minister John Howard’s 11-year term […]
Bronwyn Bishop: but think of the children!
Bronwyn Bishop has sent the letter below to her constituents. In it, she expresses her concern that “our youth have never experienced a socialist government…”
The pamphlet Jackie Kelly calls ‘Chaser style’
The electoral matter at the centre of this morning’s kerfuffle in the marginal NSW seat of Lindsay (click on the pamphlet for a larger image):
Crikey Crib Sheets Part 4: Cabbie Panel calls it
Crikey’s Cabbies have been out there ferrying voters here and there in the lead up to polling day. So what’s the mood of the nation? Who’ll be making the victory speech on Saturday night?
The Tracker Timeline: Crikey’s Campaign Corkers and C-ck-Ups
Well, well, well, doesn’t time fly? Here we are, only one sleep away from what Mark Vaile says is the most important moment in the whole history of the Australian nation … and that includes WWII and everything! Where, oh where, have the last six weeks gone? If for any reason you have had trouble sorting the beautiful and the bizarre from the banal over the last 40 days (and hasn’t there been a bit of that?), then Crikey’s Election Tracker Timeline might be able to help.
Labor wins the ad war
Researchers from the University of South Australia’s Institute of Marketing Science have asked Adelaide voters about which political ads they liked the most. Bings and buzzers won, along with “I’m sorry Mr Howard, but you’ve lost me” – two Labor ads.
Reality check: Publicising the mistakes
The Crikey Reality Check of what stories people are actually reading on internet news sites has this week reached a record level and will go higher before the week ends, writes Richard Farmer.
The Crikey Election Drinking Game
Unlike politicians with their policy pitches, Crikey is upfront. Drinking games have one purpose. To get drunk. Quickly. To get drunk, laugh and fall down. The Crikey Election Night drinking game has been designed with that in mind, writes Christian Kerr.
The $50 billion debt pile that John Howard “eliminated”
With just three days to go, it’s all getting a bit depressing when it comes to public accounting and fiscal honesty. Is it too much to ask for some basic honesty in public accounting? asks Stephen Mayne.
Comitatus: Andrew Robb, the Google Assassin
When Andrew Robb first went to the Google homepage in search of ALP candidate bios, did he press “Advanced Search”, or did he just go straight to the button marked “I’m Feeling Lucky”, muses Possum Comitatus.
