In the early days of Federation a party to represent the special interests of the outback made sense, but now its days are clearly numbered, writes Mungo MacCallum.
State & Territory
Tips and rumours
Forget a love-in with Queensland Nationals, forget the warm and fuzzy leadership of Dr Nelson. Down in front of the student union office at Melbourne University today, the Young Liberals are back to core Liberal values. A sign is being displayed “End Poverty, Get a Job”. Regarding Friday’s tip concerning Big W’s plasma TV let-down. Maybe you should […]
Tips and rumours
Big W delivered a very, very large broadsheet sized glossy catalogue to my home on Wednesday, heavily promoting a 42” Sanyo plasma TV for $794. On arrival at the store yesterday morning at 9am, on the first day of the sale, I was told by a smiling shop assistant that all of the TVs had sold out […]
Merger II: ads get the Brough end of the pineapple
So arrogant have the Queensland Nationals been in assuming the merger with the Liberals was a done deal that they went ahead and commissioned and booked “Liberal National Party” advertising for next week. With one slight problem — they didn’t tell the Liberals, writes Bernard Keane.
NSW Labor appoints Liberal mate
The NSW Labor Government has raised some eyebrows by appointing a Liberal Party councillor to its Greater Western Sydney Economic Development Board, writes Alex Mitchell.
Imploding, Iemma calls on Channel Nine News
NSW premier Morris Iemma is hoping a band of ex Nine staffers can save his hide, writes Alex Mitchell.
Sydney infrastructure edges closer to breaking point
The signs of infrastructure collapse in Sydney keep coming yet nobody in government seems willing to connect the dots, writes, Ben Sandilands.
40 black swans shot. ABC wants more
When Bairnsdale locals found out that 40 black swans had been shot in a DSE authorised cull, the contacted ABC’s Stateline with the story. That’s when it got interesting, writes Lionel Elmore.
Lib/Nat merger: Santoro rises from the ashes to be really annoying
Brough’s proposal that Shane Stone come in as a compromise president for the new Liberal National Party was rejected by the Nationals because Stone was unacceptable to Liberal factional chief Santo Santoro. Remember him? writes Bernard Keane.
WYD is the best PR the Catholic Church could pray for
World Youth Day has re-positioned the Catholic Church, two millennia old, as alive and well and relevant to a whole new generation of enthusiastic adherents, writes Trevor Cook.
Firepower: something rotten at the heart of Perth
With Four Corners taking on the Firepower story tonight, it will be interesting to see if anything new will be drag into the light, writes Michael Pascoe.
Does the media distort health policy?
The media has much to answer for in trivialising issues concerning the health system, writes Andrew Podger and Professor Stephen Leeder.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government, Richard Farmer writes.
How are state governments balancing the books?
Has anyone yet heard from a single Australian government about the effect of the global credit crunch on borrowing costs and revenue? asks Stephen Mayne. Let’s take a look at Victoria.
Liberals saddle a trojan horse for Warringah election
The local council elections in NSW in September promise to be a riotous affair but nowhere more colorful than in Warringah on Sydney’s northern beaches, writes Alex Mitchell.
Morris Iemma is an ex-premier, bereft of life, no more, etc.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma’s days are done, writes Alex Mitchell.
Nepotism watch: how dad’s union supports daughter’s footy team
The nurses’ union donated $5,000 to a football club in north-west Sydney. A strange choice … until you realise the general secretary’s daughter is a club member. Alex Mitchell reports.
The hunt for Iemma-Costa replacements begins
For Labor MPs, the long winter recess is time to get on the mobile to discuss what to do about the two architects of the government’s self-destruction, writes Alex Mitchell. That is, Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government, Richard Farmer writes.
The great international student rort
Among modern-day business rorts, the privately-owned colleges selling education courses to overseas students are in a category of their own, writes Alex Mitchell. Crikey has the inside word from a former Sydney college executive.
It works, so why is Kings Cross injecting centre still on trial?
There is no doubt that Australia’s first Medically Supervised Injecting Centre has improved the health of the most marginalised injecting drug users. So why is it still on trial? asks Dr Ingrid Van Beek
Catholics, s-x and other major events
The World Youth Day is merely one more symptom of the obsession with “major events”, another function of modern politics, writes Bernard Keane.
ALP fires off warning shot at Iemma
Can the Iemma Government continue to call itself “Labor” in the full meaning of the term? asks Alex Mitchell.
Why the Murray-Darling Basin is doomed
Yesterday’s COAG was a test of whether our Federation is capable of managing Australia’s water resources. They failed again, writes Peter Cosier from the Wentworth Group.
Hey Rudd, when you bribe someone, you should get something back
Yesterday at COAG Kevin Rudd’s “cooperative federalism” met old-style politics, and came off second best – along with the Murray-Darling Basin and, in particular, the immensely stressed lower reaches of the system in South Australia.
