There’s a lazy snobbery reflected in the assertion that our major political parties are casually racist, writes Bernard Keane.
Reconciliation
Rundle: No competing visions, just competing offers
No doubt the lights are burning and the heads are aching in Labor HQ as I write, as the wonks pour over such figures as are available, desperate to find a hole in the $34 billion great new tax giveaway, writes Guy Rundle.
Mungo: first fibs from Dear Leader
“Like me or loathe me,” he told a numbed press conference, “people know what I stand for.” But we don’t; not any more, writes Mungo MacCallum.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
There’s a wicked whiff of irony in all this sudden talk of reconciliation. You hear it ringing with shadow spokeswoman Jenny Macklin’s endorsement of the Prime Minister’s sudden epiphanous sympathy for black Australia.
Rundle: Howard wants reconciliation … with Bennelong
Howard’s new reconciliation isn’t aimed at Australia - it’s aimed at Bennelong. He doesn’t want the ultimate shame of a double lay-down misere. Holding a slice of Sydney and then resigning from it will count as a victory, writes Guy Rundle.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Comments, corrections, clarifications, and c*ckups
Whatever happened to reconciliation? … Abdel Bari Atwan … the Tabcorp credit bet prosecution … Law of the gun at work in Burringurrah … Liberal Party leadership … Terry Hicks on David Hicks …
Jon Altman: Yet another failed Howard experiment in indigenous affairs?
Compared with the period 1991-96, the early Howard years of 1996-2001 indicated that, in relative terms, indigenous socioeconomic status, as measured by health, housing, education and employment indicators, was declining. Later this year, we will have 2006 census data that will provide evidence about how the Howard Government has fared in its later, perhaps last, years, writes Jon Altman.
