It’s official! Small l liberalism is the new black. The Liberal leadership contest is being conducted in a surprisingly civil way. It looks as if it will be decided on merit. People from the backrooms are staying mum. Everyone is being very polite. So polite that no one will talk about Malcolm Turnbull and money.
Opposition leader
MacCormack: The life and death of Peter Costello
Maybe Peter Costello has a cunning plan. More likely, he hasn’t got the stomach for opposition. He didn’t have the guts to be Prime Minister. He certainly won’t have the guts to be Opposition Leader, writes David MacCormack.
Mayne: In defence of Peter Costello
Peter Costello has done the right thing by himself and his family in pulling the plug on politics and deserves to have a highly successful career in the commercial world, writes Stephen Mayne.
Kerr: Costello, bastardry and brilliance
Bastardry or brilliance? How about a bit of both? It’s an almighty piece of petulance from Dollar Sweetie, but it’s not without its logic. Costello has given the ALP another scalp, but has also denied them a target, writes Christian Kerr.
Abjorensen: What will the Liberals do now?
Malcolm Turnbull has put his hand up and Peter Costello has withdrawn from the leadership race - two tiny positives for a party facing the bleakest crisis in its 62 years, writes Norman Abjorensen.
Campaign lite
All things to all people … School sux for politicians … A horse of course … the nutritional benefits of ear wax.
Debate Reactor: slow and steady wins the race?
The polls are still good – but Kevin Rudd has five weeks, 16 seats and a Prime Minister who finishes strongly, according to Roy Morgan’s Reactor.
Tax, China, rates and revenue: listen in to lunch with Rudd
Listen in to questions from the floor after a speech given by Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd to a lunch hosted by Australian Business Economists.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
There’s a chance the Poms will head to the hustings before we do, perhaps as soon as November 1.
Rudd’s hale and hearty next to no-ticker Beazley
Liberal election tacticians always reckoned they did well when they described Kim Beazley as having no ticker. But perhaps it was a clumsy attempt to denigrate Kevin Rudd in a similar way that led to the leaking yesterday of details of the heart valve transplant that the Opposition Leader had 15 years ago.
Who wants to lose the 2007 federal election?
Shrubhuggers and Stalinists provide most of Crikey’s commentary nowadays – and they seem very, very worried that Labor might win this year’s federal election.
Will Rudd’s arrow through the forest hit its target?
There is in fact no substantial evidence to suggest the 2004 forest policy made a difference in any seat in the country apart from Braddon (Tas), writes Peter Brent. So Rudd should beware.
John Howard’s forgotten people
There’s more qualitative Newspoll research in The Australian this morning. According to Newspoll, the PM is seen as being far more arrogant than the opposition leader, and to have slightly less vision for the future.
Rudd: zero tolerance – except in the press office
Kevin Rudd has drawn “a line in the sand” over offensive behaviour by union officials. If he’s consistent, he should be sacking the standover merchants in his media office.
