Day 15 of the election campaign was like one of those nil all draws at soccer - boring and hard to get excited about. The scoring for Crikey’s The Daily Verdict had the Coalition and Labor locked together with the lowest rating yet recorded for any day.
Politicians
Sparrow: Politicians aren’t like us
Here’s three other examples, more-or-less at random, of issues on which the people and their representatives move on entirely different tracks, writes Jeff Sparrow.
Ben Cousins and the futility of the war on drugs
Ben Cousins gets charged with possessing an illegal drug and thousands of dollars of Western Australian taxpayers’ money will be wasted on processing, charging and prosecuting him. Why not spend the money more wisely, argues Greg Barns.
The changing Australian voter: volatile but satisfied
Our 40-year retrospective on Australian voting behavior shows that voters are more interested in politics than they used to be, writes professor Ian McAllister.
Your vote returned to sender?
Many Australians will be denied their vote this year – and that’s not just under-eighteens, foreigners, prisoners and pets – and a number of those will only find out when they front up to a booth on election day to flex their democratic muscle, writes GetUp!’s Ed Coper.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Comments, corrections, clarifications, and c*ckups
Rudd - hypocrisy, Col Allan and Seinfeld’s bubble boy … Guy Rundle captured the whole scenario perfectly … Rudd’s statement and nit picking … Flint on Rudd … Dick Smith for PM …
The secret life of politicians — a brothel insider tells
So Kevin Rudd went to a strip club. Big deal! … I know the names of five current and former New South Wales politicians who are regulars at their local house of ill repute. What political party are they from? There is a slight leaning to the Liberal Party – but only just, writes Chris Seage.
Garrett goes to heaven, Howard goes to hell
Politicians who imagine that their public service improves their chances of getting into heaven may get an unwelcome surprise when they stand before the pearly gates, according to a new study published today by The Australia Institute.
Drug testing MPs and the Shultz defence
On Sunday, Senator Bill Heffernan called for random testing of politicians for illegal drugs. Heffernan claimed that the tests would send a message “that we are fair dinkum serious about stamping out drug use”.
