Opposition makes public the losersThe Opposition politicians are lazy and don’t provide a clear political alternative. Instead their main aim is oppose everything: even things that will come back to bite them later, writes Alister Drysdale.
Federal Opposition
Mungo MacCallum: It’s time for Turnbull to lighten up and celebrate the great escape
Malcolm Turnbull and his colleagues appear unable to come to terms with the single most pertinent fact about the government’s stimulus measures: they worked.
The Opposition standpoint: oppose everything
The world wide agreement seems to be that economic stimulus packages worked. So, should opposition leaders disapprove of sensible policies just for the sake of opposition? asks Tim Colebatch.
Crikey Says: The Coalition does Opposition very, very badly
The Coalition is at odds with itself, unable to get its act together even when its leaders have committed to passing legislation of which it professes to be supportive.
Coalition’s a muddle, but that doesn’t make Wong right
Penny Wong’s relentless insistence that the real question is always Mr Turnbull’s leadership is doing the government no favours in its so-far successful campaign to use climate change as a political weapon.
It’s Malcolm Turnbull Jim, but not as we know him
Bernard Keane went to bed in a universe in which Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership was damaged, but not terminal, and awoke in one in which he was about to be deposed by “senior Liberals”, “within days”. It’s like a bad episode of Star Trek.
Malcolm’s ‘mission accomplished’ falls very, very flat
Turnbull’s “mission accomplished” comment was about the most childish thing he has said in his four-and-a-half years in politics.
Turnbull’s ETS deferral is only a distraction
Malcolm Turnbull’s decision on emissions trading is a sort of Frankenstein’s monster, sewn together from bits of National Party hostility, climate scepticism and moderate enthusiasm.
A big parliamentary fortnight, by any estimate
In the aftermath of the budget, the next fortnight should be a target-rich environment for Opposition senators. If they can’t score some points now, it may be time to give up.
A day Malcolm Turnbull should probably forget
Malcolm Turnbull had a bad day at the office yesterday, with a bad Press Club speech and an ill-tempered interview on The 7:30 Report.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Memo to Opposition: demonising boat people won’t work anymore
There is a risk for the current opposition that in taking too old-school a line on boat people they will be seen as Howardite relics.
Kohler: rich payouts and poor politics
Australians are being very poorly served by their politicians at present. They are consumed by combat and we are being spiflicated by spin, writes Alan Kohler.
Carry On Question Time: Opposition at a loss in the House
In a week when the Government should have been under pressure, given its inability to get key legislation through the Senate, Question Time has been like shooting fish in a barrel, writes Bernard Keane.
Coalition stymies donations transparency. Again.
The Government’s electoral reform bill has been blocked by the party that lost the election and a senator elected on the vote of 1.77% of Victorians, writes Bernard Keane.
Turnbull walks the path of Opposition Leaders past
One of the toughest walks in Parliament House is from the Opposition Leader’s office out to the “Opposition Leader’s Courtyard”, writes Bernard Keane.
Costello rising: Labor braces for an early election
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Liberal Party has decided to drop Malcolm Turnbull and recall Peter Costello to lead them at the next federal election, writes Alex Mitchell.
Estimates schmestimates: Opposition goes soft on the ALP
You get the impression from senior Coalition senators that they’re not prepared to do the hard work of sifting through material and building a case in the search for embarrassing revelations, writes Bernard Keane.
Mafia scandal should make O’Farrell and Turnbull very nervous …
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, it now seems the Federal Police have been investigating links between the Liberal Party organisation and a local franchise of the Calabrian mafia, writes Irfan Yusuf.
Penny Wong is a cipher for Kevin Rudd
Penny Wong isn’t really to blame for the growing debacle of the Government’s emissions trading scheme plans. She’s a cipher for Kevin Rudd, writes Bernard Keane.
Turnbull is just a bad poll from implosion
Turnbull’s leadership could implode very quickly if there are any further polling reverses, writes Bernard Keane.
The coalition got it really, really wrong on the financial crisis
Looking at the Essential Report from yesterday — the magnitude of how wrong the Coalition not only got the stimulus package, but the broader GFC starts to become apparent, writes Possum Comitatus.
Opposition backflips on stimulus package
Turnbull this morning told the Coalition joint party room that while he was happy to take a short-term political hit, he was willing to negotiate with the Government to pass the package, writes Bernard Keane.
No asylum from the Opposition’s xenophobia
It’s okay for Coalition Governments to seek investment from Middle Eastern countries, but when a Labor Government does it, it’s Whitlamesque mendicancy to swarthy Arabs types, writes Bernard Keane.
Kevin the bureaucrat and the petitions committee
The House of Representatives petitions committee, which could be used by the Opposition as a sort of mini-Estimates process if they had their wits about them, writes Bernard Keane.
