Why the Opposition is stuffedThe 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.
Nick Minchin
No happy endings for Coalition after Minchin’s stance on Telstra
Nick Minchin may succeed in delaying Stephen Conroy’s Telstra break-up Bill. But he is painting the Coalition into a corner on Telstra and it’s not going to end well.
A new Liberal climate position: the Minchin line
Climate change is being used by the Government to wedge the Opposition mercilessly, in far more savage a fashion than John Howard ever managed to do to Labor on refugees or national security.
Crikey Says: A study in alternative realities
Compare the meeting last week in Oxford of the world’s most eminent climate scientists with the divided mess of Australia’s parliament, with disagreements over the CPRS and Copenhagen.
Crikey wrap: Twitter tears up over NBN announcement
Rudd’s surprise announcement this morning that a new company, National Broadband Network Corporation, will be created to build the new Broadband network, has sent the twitterverse aflutter.
Left and lefter: Keane v Sparrow on political racism
There’s a lazy snobbery reflected in the assertion that our major political parties are casually racist, writes Bernard Keane.
This year the cut and thrust of the Budget is for real
This will be the toughest budget to frame since, probably, the recession budgets of the early 1990s, writes Bernard Keane.
Kruddiversary: The internet thanks you for 12 months of achieving nothing
One year on, precisely none of the NBN has been built. The Cyber-Safety Plan is trialling (again) unworkable internet filters while Senator Conroy accuses everyone of being a pervert, writes Stilgherrian.
Don’t laugh, Terria, this is serious
One of the would-be-builders of the national broadband network (NBN), Terria, is in trouble, writes AntiGeek.
Minchin heads down broadcasting deregulation path
New shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin is weighing into the broadcasting deregulation debate, like every other newcomer to the portfolio, writes Bernard Keane.
Turnbull’s front bench: clash of the chihuahuas
When it comes to female ministerial representation, the conservative side has lifted its game. 7 of Labor’s 30 ministers are women, compared to 7 of 32 on the Coalition side, writes Bernard Keane.
Minchin’s Liberals forget the Senate rules
Nick Minchin, in what appears an appalling knowledge of precedent and tradition, last week convinced his colleagues not to offer a candidate for the position of Senate President, writes Noel Crichton-Browne.
The Costello Memoir Part 1: the last Howard Budget
“Somebody needed to stand up to Howard and rein in his 2007 budget plans. Unfortunately, Nick Minchin said nothing.” A first exclusive peak at the Peter Costello memoirs.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
The Pope, in case you were too obsessed by the future fortunes of Peter Costello to notice, has recently spent a little time in Sydney.
Emissions trading
Who’s a good boy then? Who’s a good boy?
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government plus the daily reality check and the pick of other people’s political coverage. Richard Farmer writes.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
The Liberal Party must be cleared of its obstructive, distracting dead wood. By which we mean Costello and Lord Downer.
Tips and rumours
When Lin Hatfield-Dodds announced in a blaze of publicity that she was withdrawing from the Olympic torch relay, she gave the impression that she did so with the full support of the various organisations with which she claims allegiance - Uniting Care Australia, the Australian Council of Social Service and the Uniting Church. The only […]
Labor’s new federalism shows its first cracks
While the cooperative Labor federalism promised by Kevin Rudd had a relaxed start in late 2007, we’re now seeing the reality of different levels of government with different policy agendas and political needs trying to work together, writes Bernard Keane.
Bipartisanism shock: all hands in the pork barrel
Nick Minchin acted to gag the Australian National Audit Office. So did Robert Ray, writes David MacCormack.
Howard’s End: where was the bitterness?
As a clearer picture of the dying days of the Howard Government emerges, questions suggest themselves. Howard biographer Wayne Errington writes.
Senior Liberals now reconciled and relaxed
One suspects that in years to come, Brendan Nelson’s speech in reply to the Prime Minister’s apology to the Stolen Generations will be known chiefly for how it was jeered and rejected. Such an outcome is unfair on him and unfair on the Coalition, writes David MacCormack.
Turnbull v Minchin: a question of expletives
Claims in the Weekend Australian that Liberal Senate leader Nick Minchin “swore at Malcolm Turnbull during an ugly public clash over leadership tensions” are “a lie and defamatory,” according to a memo circulated to Liberal Senators and MPs by Minchin, writes Christian Kerr.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Libs take note of GOP choice … Turnbull’s on to something … Snazzing up the CV … a whale of a problem … Swan’s cheap cuts .. the pick of the morning’s political coverage … Daily reality check.
Who died and left Nick Minchin in charge?
It wasn’t what Malcolm Turnbull did, says Nick Minchin, it’s the way that he did it. He should’ve checked with his party colleagues before racing off and supporting an apology last year before the leadership ballot. Que? asks David MacCormack.
