Month: March 2016
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Tony Abbott’s mission to destroy Turnbull unfolds
A political “insider” in Canberra asked me last week: “What is Tony Abbott’s worst nightmare?” While I hesitated, he answered his own question: “The election of Malcolm Turnbull.” Think about it: Abbott is so consumed by hateful vengeance that he may prefer the election of Labor’s Bill Shorten to that of his nemesis, Malcolm Turnbull.…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – ABC presenter Amanda Vanstone, the Liberal Party and the Mafia
I trust someone will phone ABC Radio presenter Amanda Vanstone, the former Howard government immigration minister, and ask why she granted known Mafia figure Frank Madafferi a permanent visa. Madafferi, a notorious Calabrian criminal, applied for permanent residence in July 1996 but his application was turned down by then immigration minister Philip Ruddock. When Vanstone…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – The significance of Senator Bernie Sanders
With very good reason, most of the coverage of the US presidential primaries is occupied by billionaire Donald Trump, a New York real estate huckster. Regrettably, however, it has overshadowed the performance of Bernie Sanders, the Democrat senator from Vermont and self-described socialist. The 74-year-old Sanders, born in Brooklyn in 1941, is being outpolled by…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Abbott’s operational HQ centres on Defence Dept
As predicted, Tony Abbott, aka The Revenant or the Mad Monk, is on a vengeful mission to destabilise Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. As a bonus, he’d also like to reclaim the nation’s top job from which his own party room sacked him six months ago. It’s still early days, but the main elements of his…