Steve Fielding is looming as the biggest threat to passage of the Government’s stimulus package through the Senate. And that’s exactly how the Government wants it, writes Bernard Keane.
Nick Xenophon 
Fielding the full sausage in stroganoff-gate
I do confess I have never tried the stroganoff, but the “Parliamentary Burger” – now, I fear, renamed something less creative – is a meal, not just a snack, writes Bernard Keane.
Getting to know the Senate
Maiden speeches from our new Senators…
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government, Richard Farmer writes.
The Media Monitors’ Top 20
Big movers of the week come from those pea in a pod South Australians, writes Patrick Baume.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Canberra’s new man of influence … Cash for trash at Family First … Getting good at this … First hand experience … The Daily Reality Check … The Pick of this Morning’s Political Coverage …
Take note AFL: pokies have undone the NRL
The AFL is increasingly reliant on gaming machine revenue. But it’s not the path to financial security, as the NRL would attest, writes Jeff Wall.
Everyone loves a moral panic
Booze. Gambling. Porn. It’s everywhere, at epidemic levels, apparently, but luckily our politicians are on the case, ready to shake their heads in dismay and demand tougher regulation of stuff that’s nobody else’s business, writes Bernard Keane.
The campaign cashpoint pays out
The votes have been totted up, and now the Electoral Commission is doling out the dosh. The final public funding figures were announced by the AEC yesterday, with seven parties and 15 independent candidates divvying up $49,002,638.51 between them, writes Christian Kerr.
The Senate comes through again for democracy
Four weeks after the election, we finally have the full Senate results. There were no surprises; the only state that was particularly close was Victoria, where the ALP beat the Greens for the last vacancy by about 17,000 votes, writes Charles Richardson.
The campaign lottery pays out
The votes have been totted up, and now the Electoral Commission is doling out the dosh. The initial public funding figures were announced by the AEC yesterday, with seven parties and 15 independent candidates getting lucky, writes Christian Kerr.
Ignore the Senate at your peril
Senate numbers are always important. Indeed, the Coalition’s control of the Senate was a major issue in the election campaign. So why didn’t we hear more from the major media on the lead Senate candidates from minor parties? Sure, there were a handful of profiles, but there was virtually no coverage of policy positions.
A tight Senate and some good excuses
It’s been an awful election for Labor in the Senate. The ALP needed to get at least 33 seats – preferably 34 – to help them steer their legislation through the Senate. They didn’t. South Australia and the West denied them, writes Christian Kerr.
The story so far … in numbers
Did those last minute polls rattle you? Did you detect a whiff of Major/Kinnock ’92 in the air? Relax. Compulsory preferential voting tends to smooth down those last minute anomalies.
How will the various independents go?
Anti pulp mill candidate Dani Ecuyer has made a bigger media impact in Wentworth that most of the rest of us independents put together, moans Higgins independety Stephen Mayne.
Pollbludger: Forecasting the Senate
Like so much else this year, speculation about the Senate election has been guided by “the narrowing”. That means it is necessary to revise the view that the Coalition will be strong enough in the Senate to make life difficult for an incoming Rudd government, writes William Bowe.
Abjorensen: 15 things we won’t see (unfortunately) in this campaign
Industrial Democracy, an Aboriginal treaty, a ban on rich MPs and twelve other things we won’t see (unfortunately) in this campaign.
Press gallery missing in action on Senate preferences
After the press gallery completely missed the Senate story last time, you’d think the papers would be all over the group voting tickets, which are one of the few concrete events of the campaign, writes Stephen Mayne.
Stephen Mayne explains his crazy Costello campaign
Anyone for a spot of bank bashing? That’s what I’ll be doing for the next 24 days having yesterday successfully nominated to be the first independent candidate Peter Costello has faced in the seat of Higgins for many years, writes Stephen Mayne.
Xenophon sets the cats amongst the pigeons
The emergence of anti-pokies campaigner Nick Xenophon as a South Australian Senate candidate is the most exciting development in the struggle for upper house control that we’ve seen all year, writes Stephen Mayne.
