Crikey media wrap: Troubled MP Craig Thomson took to Parliament yesterday to finally address the slew of allegations that have been made against him. Here’s a look at how the commentariat viewed Craig Thomson Day.
Wayne Swan
Follow Crikey’s latest coverage of Wayne Swan. Crikey’s Wayne Swan coverage includes independent news, blogs and commentary.
Swan’s swansong will still be about the rich
Wayne Swan was so dramatic in his latest comments lamenting the rich that we can be sure he’ll continue this line well into retirement, says The Power Index.
Essential: thumbs down to budget, Gillard loathed but Abbott not far behind
Last week’s budget has been poorly received by voters, and Julia Gillard’s approval ratings have worsened. But Tony Abbott hasn’t benefited.
podcast Canberra Calling: The surplus years are here podcast
In her final Canberra Calling as Crikey editor, Sophie Black joins Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane in discussing the politics and the fallout of this year’s the federal budget.
Fiscal lessons for a new budget era
There are lessons to be learned from the Budget, not all of them negative for Labor.
Greece, fear and loathing on agenda, although falling $A good news
What confronted the Treasurer this morning contained a sliver of good news, an Australian dollar weakening towards parity.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Swan the appeaser
Crikey readers have their say.
The Media Monitors' Top 20: Only one gig in town this week
There was really only one gig in town this week, according to our charts, headlined by Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Political snippets: Will Wayne Swan’s budget be enough for Labor?
Wayne Swan has done his best to stop the rot of declining support for Labor. I very much doubt that it will be enough.
Behind the scenes: the lowdown from the lock-up
The budget lockup, it’s more cliquey than a high school recess, writes Andrew Crook, who braved the officious security, pie eating journos and decrepit men’s toilets to give you the lowdown of what happened behind the scenes.
Swan presser: relaxed and comfortable Wayne bats off pack
At a few minutes past 4pm, Wayne Swan ambled to the podium and remarked that unlike the global economy, not much had changed in the press gallery in the last four budgets.
Quiggin: is Australia prepared for a crisis?
Treasurer Wayne Swan is now taking the pre-Keynesian view that, if weak economic growth leads to lower government revenue, the appropriate solution is to cut spending even harder, writes John Quiggin.
Kohler: Wayne’s blaze of glory — no smoke, no mirrors
At its core what Wayne Swan has handed down today is a big taxing, big spending budget - and in the end there was little need for smoke and mirrors.
Welcome to the new era of banal budgeting
Wayne Swan’s fifth budget contains few surprises. The government will return to surplus — although it’s an almost negligible result of $1.5 billion — and most of the major new spending has been announced already.
The speech: Wayne Swan’s 2012 federal budget address
The full unedited 2012 federal budget speech by the Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Media wrap: Labor’s ‘cash splash’ and rich ‘smash’
Crikey media wrap: Welcome to Wayne Swan’s “cash splash” budget, as the papers have dubbed it, although it also promises to return the budget to surplus for the first time since the 1990s.
Swan’s spending list: was there anything new in the budget?
Wayne Swan’s no frills home brand budget still manages to cram in a smattering of new spending initiatives, but just three that differed in any way from what had previously been leaked.
Clouds over Europe throw a shadow on Labor’s surplus
Wayne Swan made the proud boast that “not even a sovereign debt crisis in Europe or unprecedented natural disasters here at home could deny Australia this substantial achievement”. As Bill Clinton might say, it all depends on what you mean by “could”, writes John Quiggin.
Educating Wayne: Labor’s overblown schools rhetoric
It’s hard to square ‘Labor values’ with a budget that does virtually nothing for education, writes Crikey economist John Quiggin.
Budget at a glance: all the numbers you need to know
The 2012 federal budget at a glance …
Crikey Says: Budget marks a return to pre GFC orthodoxy
For a Labor federal budget this looks awfully like a set of Liberal numbers.
At last, a real cancer breakthrough (and why Labor leaders deserve a hug)
We need to build on, and improve, high quality systems to ensure a world-class screening program, writes Terry Slevin, education and research director, Cancer Council WA.
Video of the Day: Clarke’s and Dawe’s budget balancing masterclass
Want a sneak peak at the juiciest bits of tonight’s federal budget announcements? You won’t find them in this characteristically duckspeak-driven round of verbal volleyball featuring John Clarke (as Wayne Swan) and Bryan Dawe.
Crikey Says: A budget day of biblical proportions
March 22. The last time parliament sat. And lo, many things have come to pass since then.
Budget surplus with added sex scandal
Crikey media wrap: Journalists will be locked up for seven hours in Parliament House today to pour over Treasurer Wayne Swan’s latest budget offering, which promises to return a $1.5 billion surplus.
