A Crikey reader has proposed scrapping the Australian Public Service Commission and moving its functions to another department. The trouble is, administrative changes on their own don’t generate savings, writes Stephen Bartos.
Prime minister and cabinet
Ken Henry’s toughest week
Treasury Secretary Ken Henry won’t forget the first week of February 2008 in a hurry, writes Stephen Mayne.
2020 summit: Talk for the sake of a talkfest
First community cabinet meetings, now a 2020 summit. Labor’s approach of government by stunt is shaping up nicely, writes David MacCormack.
The Government’s bulging ad, sorry, information budget
The government has the biggest advertising budget of any organisation in the country. Luke McKenna and Thomas Hunter track where all the money is going.
The government advertising avalanche continues
The Howard Government not only invests hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising itself, but devotes considerable resources to controlling every detail of that advertising, writes David MacCormack.
Political bite-sized meaty chunks
Planning for change? … World exclusive: Peter Costello actually stands for something … Priorities … The campaign online … You might say that …
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
After APEC wraps up on Sunday, John Howard will slip out of his Mambo farting dog shirt and fly to Canberra for Monday’s joint sitting to honour the visiting Canadian PM Stephen Harper. How odd that it should be Canada.
Putting the poo bum dicky wee wee into Wikipedia
Kevin Andrews smells strongly of Roquefort cheese and hate. Or, at least, he did until some upright soul thought to reverse my amendments to the Minister’s Wikipedia page, writes Helen Razer.
Week in words, week in numbers
Instead of crunching 400 pages of ABC News radio transcripts into a tag cloud this week, we bring you the full catalogue of amendments by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to John Howard’s Wikipedia entry, squished into a tag cloud.
Tips and rumours
Joe Hockey is being courted by Jenny Craig. No joke.
Did the organisers of Make Poverty History approach the ALP offering to put the concerts in marginal electorates? Check out where it’s being held: Adelaide (Marginal Labor), Bendigo (Marginal Labor), Batemans Bay (Eden-Monaro, Marginal Liberal), Ballina (Marginal National)…that’s 4 out of 6 venues (way above the average […]
COAG and Aborigines. They knew
When the Prime Minister, Premiers, the Chief Ministers of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory and the President of the Australian Local Government Association sat down in Canberra back on 13 April for “detailed discussions on significant areas of national interest” child abuse in indigenous communities was on the agenda but there was no hint of crisis.
