The decision by the Coalition to renege on its deal with the rural independents to provide the greatest possible stability to a federal government will rebound to its disadvantage.
Federal Opposition
How about pollies shaping nations not headlines?
Our politicians are in campaigning mode, which means that everything they say or do is about nice media sound bites. Let’s have policy over politics, pleads Tigtog.
Abbott’s charge falters
Despite their best attempts, the Opposition couldn’t breach the Government’s desperate defence of Peter Garrett this week.
Opposition fails to pin Garrett
The Coalition’s pursuit of Peter Garrett has faded in only the second Question Time this week, with the Minister untroubled by sustained Opposition questioning this afternoon.
Garrett is soiled but solid
Peter Garrett’s fate has nothing to do with the merits of his case and everything to do with how long he deprives the Government of clear air in its task of attacking Tony Abbott.
Grattan: Fire Barnaby the loose cannon
Barnaby Joyce as opposition finance minister is destroying Abbott’s already shaky economic credibility. Get Joyce out of finance and into a less risky portfolio before he ruins it further, writes Michelle Grattan.
Bartlett: Do we as say, not as we’d do
Whilst holding a government to its promises has a lot going for it, urging the government to do something that you believe yourself is a bad idea just because you are the Opposition is a bit of a non-sequitur, writes Andrew Bartlett.
Grattan: Abbott’s on the offensive
Malcolm Turnbull feared an early election, Tony Abbott says bring it on. Turnbull pushed for an ETS, Abbott turned ETS debate into a tax fight. Abbott is ready to battle Rudd at the next election, says Michelle Grattan.
Crikey Says: The party puppeteers pulling all the strings
A fascinating feature of last week’s political killing season — a Premier and a federal Opposition Leader gunned down over three blood-spilling days — was the role of the Tripodi, Obeid and Minchin as sneaky puppeteers.
Turnbull: Bring it on
Following the resignation of frontbencher Tony Abbott and several others, Malcolm Turnbull has remained confident and aggressive, daring his party opponents to blast him out of the leadership, writes Bernard Keane.
Liberals explode, Turnbull finished
The Liberal Party is falling apart tonight as conservative frontbenchers resign. Tony Abbott and Sophie Mirabella resigned a short time ago, with Nick Minchin rumoured to follow. Bernard Keane tracks the carnage as it happens.
graph pr0n Australia’s most hated opposition leaders
Possum Comitatus charts the final net satisfaction rating of past opposition leaders. Malcolm Turnbull may not be tracking too well at the moment, but he’ll need to sink a lot further to match the likes of Downer, Peacock and Crean.
Finally, the Opposition stop looking like idiots
It’s taken the Federal Opposition quite a while, but it’s now making the government the issue, not itself, writes Lenore Taylor. Now Turnbull just has to make sure Coalition members keep their heads down and mouths shut until the next election. Good luck with that.
Hartcher: Rudd spears the centre while the Opposition misses the target
Kevin Rudd’s handling of asylum seekers is a pure numbers game, says Peter Hartcher. Rudd’s aiming at the centre because the lefties will just vote Labor anyway. Lucky for him, the Opposition have forgotten their audience.
Why the Opposition is stuffed
The Federal Opposition nearly managed to get through an entire sitting week last week without making themselves the issue, says Bernard Keane. Nearly. But Nick Minchin and Barnaby Joyce had other ideas.
Shanahan: Rudd’s moral compass has lost its direction
The only reason things aren’t looking worse for Kevin Rudd on asylum seekers is because the Opposition is such as shambles. Both are operating on outdated and flawed immigration ideas, writes Dennis Shanahan.
Not clean, not dirty … Turnbull masters inactivity
This Opposition is good at neither the high road nor the low road politics. The scandal over Malcolm Turnbull’s office proposing tactics for getting media attention just demonstrates this further.
The $20b CPRS amendments with no budget impact
The Opposition believes its proposed CPRS amendments will have little or no fiscal impact, despite a suggested significant increase in compensation for trade-exposed polluters and the removal of coal emissions from the scheme.
Not even fear mongering can save the Opposition
Many in the Opposition are pushing an anti-ETS line, but it’s hard to run a scare campaign when you’re not in power. A time will come when voters don’t view Kevin Rudd as Father Christmas, but not for awhile, writes Peter Brent.
Who cares what the Opposition say?
The Coalition is finally learning that since they’re not in government, media focus is on personalities not politics. But what is their latest debt reduction strategy and is it a good plan?
Interest rates: the difference between reality and chatter
Amid the media chatter today about what the interest rate rise means for the “stimulus debate”, news from the real world is that the majority of Australians reckon the government is handling the economy very well.
Crikey Says: Abbott’s Question Time antics
Yesterday Tony Abbott was booted from Question Time. Today he’s threatened that the Opposition might boycott it. His dummy-spit is particularly egregious as a senior member and, better yet, Leader of the House.
