Are we left with the right centre?
The other day, on the AusVotes2013 Facebook page, we received a concisely-worded piece of feedback.
labor
Whither the progressive voter?
As Australia careers towards an Abbott government, a question that routinely occurs to me is: “is it really conservatives voting for this party?”
There really is nothing conservative about what the Abbott coalition is offering. Rather, it is a strangely inverted conservatism; a big-government, socially regressive proflicracy.
How Values influence Policy
This word ‘values’ flys around the politicians and media players; but like many English words it seems to have many meanings. This is not in the slippery or weasel-wordish way, it is just a word that most people seem to feel they understand, and are entitled to use in any old way that they mean it.
The Budget: What's in it for...
Labor's 2013-14 Federal budget deserves a close look. First, an ALP video for the true believers: The Federal Budget in 3 minutes
Parenting leave – two strong policies with a deep divide
Stupid hashtag misquotes of Tony Abbott (and equally stupid reporting thereof) aside, recent weeks have seen a bump in the presence of policy discussion in Australia. Both parties have been forced to discuss substance in view of the upcoming budget and in the absence of parliamentary sitting days to fill with ephemera and shouting.
Comrades Bramston & Kenny proven right in ‘Cut & Paste’ while lesser mortals are shamed #ausmedia
The Australian’s Cut & Paste column today even-handedly reminds Fairfax and News Limited folk like Dennis Atkins …
Farm finance assistance: friend or faux?
I have been trying to make sense of the Government’s announcement of additional financial assistance for farmers last week. Not the what so much as the why. Let’s work through it a bit.
Safety Trampolines, One World Government and Giving People a Reason To Join A Party – The Whitlam Institute gives time for Thought
On this May Day that has passed, the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute organised a political forum called It’s My Party, as a part of the Behind the Lines exhibition that is being hosted at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres. Labor’s John Faulkner, the Liberals’ Joe Hockey and the Greens’ Bob Brown were invited to outlay the underlying philosophies of their respective parties. The audience were then invited to ask questions about those philosophies afterwards.
SNEAK PREVIEW: VIP ALP must-see staffer diary sneak-leaked to VEXNEWS
Senior federal government staffers are Very Important People. Just ask them. Some are so important - and erudite - that they have at least a book or two in them. Dr Professor Jim Chalmers PhD (Hons) important work named in honour of a Springsteen anthem 'Glory Days', sneak-leaked to your favourite news source offers some important insights into what went wrong with the Labor government.
“Twitter” and “Teh Left”
In the wake of Leigh Sales’ most recent interview with the Opposition Leader, the Kabuki-like response began right on cue.
Prior to the interview, after Sales announced on Twitter that she would be speaking to Tony Abbott, the usual suspects began salivating over the prospect of an evisceration akin to his previous 730 effort, when he tried to blame BHP’s Olympic Dam postponement on the carbon price when the company had said everything but.