Day Two of the election John Howard had to have (possibly after checking with constitutional lawyers for any get out) and News Limited is already in full spin mode, from both those with a modicum of respectability (Paul Kelly), to the ratbags (Piers Akerman), writes Guy Rundle.
WorkChoices
Is a Liberal Party donation deficit delaying the election?
Here’s a theory for you: donations to Liberal Party are drying up and that’s what’s holding up the election, writes Bennelong resident Andrew Elder.
Socialist pedigree of the other WorkChoices academic
Recently, academic John Buchanan was exposed as anything but politically impartial. Readers may be interested to find out that David Peetz, a Professor of Industrial Relations at Griffith University, and the other academic involved with the recent and highly questionable study on WorkChoices, is another socialist bitterly opposed to labour market reform.
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World Youth Day … Flint, WorkChoices and myth … Turnbull and the pulp mill … Job Network and single mums … more sustance, less carping in Crikey … Iran and Israel …
Flint: New book explodes WorkChoices myths
A new book examining WorkChoices explodes some myths about IR system, including the misconception that it replaces a system which worked well. The old system was appalling and had to go, writes David Flint.
A portrait of the week that was…
What a week! And First Dog On The Moon reports from the political wilderness.
McKinnon: FOI review the worst of politics
Long election campaigns can bring out the worst in politics but Attorney-General Philip Ruddock’s announcement of a review of Freedom of Information law plumbs new depths for sheer, gob-smacking cynicism and hypocrisy.
Business telling “Porky’s” over WorkChoices ads
As The Age reported yesterday, the “union thugs” gracing our televisions are actually real life criminals, hired by the Business Coalition for Workplace Reform. Why should we be surprised? writes Jeff Sparrow.
Errington: Living in Howard’s PR State
Those of us waiting for the phony campaign to end have heard plenty of reasons why the PM is procrastinating. One plausible reason appears to be the avalanche of government information campaigns still coming at us, writes Howard biographer Wayne Errington.
The PM gets lost in translation
Heavy Kevvie can yak in Mandarin? So what? The Prime Minister is no slouch in the language department. He’s taken out an ad in the Sing Tao Daily – but seems to have used some loose language, writes Christian Kerr.
Groundhog Day for the polls… again
The lead article in today’s Oz has “news” that the ALP has a “crushing” 59-41 2PP lead on the Coalition — the same lead they had months ago, and the same lead they’ve had pretty much consistently since Rudd took over as leader of the Opposition.
A day in the life of a psephologist: MacKerras tells all
As a consequence of the publication this morning of the Newspoll in The Australian newspaper the Melbourne ABC personality John Faine rang me to talk about the marginal seats. However, he did not really do that. He began by asking me about this poll. Why was it so bad for Howard?
Has WorkChoices won in the IR reform debate?
Is it possible to declare that Howard has won most of the work reform policy debate? This is a counter institutive idea but look at how much of WorkChoices Rudd has adopted.
The Economy: No Bernanke backflip, IR Rollback
US equity markets slumped again after US Fed minutes were released overnight. And the big news today is Labor’s IR Rollback. People who earn at an annual rate of $100 K are grownups and do not need Labor’s nanny state to protect them.
Media briefs and TV ratings
Religious right driving Bolt’s anti-smut crusade … Dining out on a Fairfax error … Surf Patrol lost at sea? … Last night’s TV ratings.
Bass resident: A national debate is what we want
Christian Kerr obviously takes the pro-business view in relation to the proposed pulp mill, but like the Tasmanian Government has only looked at the suggested benefits rather than the costs of the proposed mill.
On IR, Kevin Rudd chooses WorkChoices
Kevin Rudd’s further announced changes to the ALPs industrial relations policy make one wonder what the policy will look like come the election. For all the hysteria surrounding WorkChoices the ALP’s policy is starting to replicate that of Howard’s,
Cutting red tape with more red tape isn’t working
It’s time to inject some fresh ideas into the problem of red tape. On the government “hit list” since Bob Hawke announced the policy of “minimum effective regulation” in 1986, regulation has nevertheless continued to burgeon.
Rudd caught between a buck and a hard place on IR
Kevin Rudd’s biggest challenge is probably coming from a direction he didn’t expect, industrial relations. The union campaign against WorkChoices has been so supremely successful it appeared that opposing WorkChoices offered a cruise to electoral success. But ground is shifting. What and why?
Election 2007: a Don’s Party re-run
The coming 2007 election is being viewed, with some justification, as a rerun of the Don’s Party election of 1969. (That is, almost there for Labor, but not quite), writes Norman Abjorensen.
Workplace Authority head asks: am I right for the job?
Even a highly paid public servant needs reassurance sometimes, writes a Canberra insider..
Electoral pork or lipstick on a pig?
It’s pork barrelling season once more. But is the government biting off more than it can chew? And will the electorate be left with a nasty taste in its mouth?
Kevin Andrews: moronic, not mendacious
As all the sophisticates who read Crikey know, Kevin Andrews is at the centre of a vast wedge campaign to blacken the name of Mohamed Haneef.
