Category: Federal
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Abbott’s “boats” general is embarrassing failure
When Tony Abbott’s election team needed a three-star general to bolster their cruel and absurd “stop the boats” election slogan they turned to Angus Campbell. He is now dragging the political impartiality of the ADF through the mud and his media performances are so hopeless he has made a laughing stock of the top brass.…
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Germaine Greer: a message of hope from the rainforest
Germaine Greer’s new book, White Beech, is essential reading for everyone who cares about the future of the planet – and a revelation to anyone who, like me, has ever fallen in love with the area of the Mount Warning caldera and the Numinbah Valley. In Byron Bay on October 24 we joined a packed…
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Albo and Billy Boy: Pygmies go to war
Anthony Albanese says: “What you see is what you get.” And what do you get? A gold-plated dill. Forget all the spin, Albo is an authentic machine politician, a product of Sussex Street, the notorious address that has come to symbolise the bureaucratic dysfunctionality of the NSW branch of the ALP. After five general secretaries…
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The case against Roger Corbett
Complaints have been made to the Reserve Bank of Australia over bipartisan political remarks made by board member Roger Corbett supporting Tony Abbott in Saturday’s federal election and rubbishing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. An RBA official said all complaints would be investigated and the findings made public. Senator Doug Cameron, a Labor frontbencher, called on…
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Roger Corbett puts foot in mouth and breaches Reserve Bank protocol
Fairfax Media chairman Roger Corbett has breached Reserve Bank Board protocol by publicly commenting on party politics, attacking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and supporting Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. His widely-reported comments created a storm of comment in today’s mainstream media with Mr Rudd saying: “It’s a free country, anyone can what they like.” Up to…
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Murdoch’s war on Labor voters
For Australian voters, the September 7 election comes down to this: “Do you want Kevin Rudd to be in charge of the country or Rupert Murdoch?” That’s the election take of a friend of mine. He, like everybody else, is appalled by the conduct of Murdoch’s vile rags – the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Brisbane Courier-Mail,…
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Obeid’s gopher heads to Senate
It’s all over bar the shouting – former Eddie Obeid gopher, Sam Dastyari, will be the next ALP senator from NSW. Dastyari, current general secretary of the NSW Labor Party, used to work as a researcher in Obeid’s 10th floor office in the NSW Parliament. As a 24-year-old Young Labor operative he joined Obeid’s staff…
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The political corruption of a Senator’s selection
As widely predicted by Sam Dastyari, general secretary of the NSW Labor Party, the “pea” to take Matt Thistlethwaite’s vacancy in the Senate is going to …. Sam Dastyari. Thistlethwaite has resigned from the Senate to contest Kingsford-Smith in south Sydney which is being vacated by former Education Minister and Julia Gillard supporter Peter Garrett.…
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Faction bosses decide Labor candidates
Labor’s newest faction, the pro-American Ruddites, is claiming the mantle of party reformers. But an investigation of the pre-selection in critical seats previously held by Cabinet ministers (and the prime minister) show that powerful factions remain in charge. Trade Minister Craig Emerson (Rankin), Climate Change Minister Greg Combet (Charlton), Education Minister Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith),…
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Rudd’s party reform: the real agenda
When the Federal Parliamentary Labor Caucus meets in Canberra on Monday, July 22, it will be a red letter day in the 120-year history of Australia’s oldest party. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has seized his return to the Prime Ministership and his soaring popularity to insist on a dramatic reform of the Labor Party. He…