Paul Barry and Matthew Knott look back at the main players in the Night of the Long Knives: where are they now?
Federal Election 2010
Welcome to Crikey’s coverage of the 2010 Federal Election.
The 2010 Australian election study
The latest Essential Research is in, with one particular graph showing when voters decided who they were voting for in last year’s election, reports William Bowe.
Post-poll ALP review to home in on direct election
The Bracks-Faulkner-Carr post-election review into the current state of the Labor Party will recommend radical revamps to the party’s rapidly congealing internal structure, including multiple direct election proposals to belatedly re-energise the grassroots.
Understanding polls: margins of error
If you follow the political news then you probably have come across discussion of poll results that are within or beyond the “margin of error”. What is it? Lecturer, political analyst and blogger David Mallard explains.
Pobjie’s year in review: perfect ’10 for ruction, discord and Hey Hey’s demise
I don’t think it would be hyperbolic to say that 2010 has been the most momentous and exciting year since the dawn of time, writes Ben Pobjie.
Newspoll: back to 50-50
The latest Newspoll has the two-party vote at 50-50, after an anomalous 52-48 in Labor’s favour a fortnight ago. The Labor lead from a fortnight ago may have proved ephemeral, but the improvement in Julia Gillard’s personal ratings has mostly stuck, reports William Bowe.
Australia’s parliament the worst in the world
The outsider-looking-in article makes for great reading and this Financial Times article dissing Australia’s farcical Question Time, the factional warlords running the two parties and this year’s riotous prime ministerial spill is a beauty.
Tony’s year of cheap shots
Despite policy costings that didn’t add up and crass “stop the boats” slogans, the Tony Abbott-led Coalition came very close to winning the federal election. writes Ben Eltham examines the year that was for the man that was nearly PM.
Farr: Gillard’s got grit
The fact that Julia Gillard managed to knock off her old deputy, negotiate power after a hung parliament and still remain popular in her party is testament to her fighting skills this year, declares Malcolm Farr
Nielsen: 51-49 to Coalition
The latest Nielsen poll sees a lean to the Coalition in the two-party preferred vote of 51-49 and Labor trailing in the primary vote, but Julia Gillard’s personal ratings remain higher at 54%, reports William Bowe.
Media heat map: Bolt’s (boat) people
Continuing on with our look at election coverage, this week we’ll start looking at opinion columnists, writes Jason Wilson, lecturer in journalism at the University of Canberra.
graph pr0n How the ALP went from a political juggernaut to a complete fiasco
One of the astonishing things about the federal election result is how the ALP managed to destroy such an enormous amount of public goodwill over such a relatively small time frame, writes Possum Comitatus.
Richardson: Gillard has a lot of work to do
Labor bombed on climate change, rushed to the federal election with barely developed policies and then looked surprised when it blew up in its face. Gillard should take a leaf from the Bob Brown book of politics, declares Labor stalwart Graham Richardson.
Media heat map: the papers that brought down the ALP in Qld
So why did the ALP draw a blank in the four tropical seats in Queensland after holding three (Leichhardt, Dawson and notionally Herbert) before August 21st? Part of an answer might come from seeing what the papers in the major centres in those electorates were reporting on during the campaign, writes Jason Wilson, lecturer in journalism at the University of Canberra.
McCrann: Gillard’s trio of lies
During the election campaign Julia Gillard made three big promises - concerning boats, carbon tax and miners - and all of them have amounted to big fat nothing, says Terry McCrann.
Grattan: A nation stuck in a gridlock
Two months on from the election and Australia still hasn’t made its mind up over who should run the nation, according to the latest Nielsen poll. It’s looking tough for PM Gillard. writes Michelle Grattan
Labor’s new direction on asylum seekers
Crikey Media Wrap: Yesterday the Gillard administration did the seemingly unthinkable: they outlined — gasp! — a slightly different policy direction on refugee and asylum seeker processing.
Crikey Says: Being prime ministerial
Is Julia Gillard ‘prime ministerial’? And if she isn’t, does it matter? Gillard formulation of national leadership, in both style and substance, is entirely different to anything we have known before.
MacKerras: plan to vote next on October 19, 2013
I feel emboldened now to name Saturday, October 19, 2013 as the date for our 44th general election for the House of Representatives.
Odd things in the Green vote
Where the Greens candidates sit on the ballot paper has an impact on the size of the vote they receive, beyond a standard donkey vote. The closer to the top of the ballot paper, the bigger the swing to the Greens candidate. Possum Comitatus explains.
Newspoll: still 50-50
The latest Newspoll shows the parties still araldited together on 50-50 with the two party preferred. But Tony Abbott’s person ratings have dropped a whopping 9 points, says William Bowe.
Westpoll: swing to federal Labor
Today’s West Australian carries a Westpoll survey of federal voting intention, with the usual small sample and large margin of error. The poll has the Coalition with a two-party lead of 52-48, says William Bowe.
The lonely island of centrism
There’s a game of push me-pull me being played in Canberra this week, with the ACTU trying to pull the ALP back to the Left, while Liberal MPs attempt to drag the party back to the right, says Rob Burgess.
Our bogan Howard-copy PM
PM Gillard is appearing remarkably similar to ex-PM Howard, writes Samantha Maiden, from the “foreign policy is not my passion” line to her Realpolitik approach.
Mungo MacCallum: Gillard’s safe but her ability to legislate isn’t
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.
