Category: Federal
-
Why is Kevin Rudd selling his mansion in Yarralumla?
If a millionaire politician puts his home on the market in Canberra, it’s not much of a story. When it’s Kevin Rudd, that’s another matter. Kevin Rudd’s mansion in Yarralumla is up for sale, prompting more speculation that he hopes to return to his former Canberra home, The Lodge, the official residence of the prime…
-
Julia Gillard fails judgement test
Close your eyes and imagine last year’s race for the White House between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. As election day draws closer, Obama makes a headland speech saying: “Make no mistake about it, if Governor Romney is elected in November, African Americans will be excluded from positions of power in America. The…
-
Ms Gillard prepares a legacy for herself
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has switched her attention from winning the next election to legacy-building. As her re-election hopes grow dimmer, Australia’s first female Prime Minister is concentrated on establishing her place in Labor history. Take the May Budget, the final budget before the government faces the electorate on September 14. It was not a…
-
Tony Abbott aka the new Dr No
Prime Minister Julia Gillard scored a significant diplomatic success in China. She reached agreement with Beijing to hold annual ministerial talks, a status only enjoyed by a very small group of nations. The question is: when will Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his shadow foreign minister Julie Bishop denounce the Beijing-Canberra “axis of evil” and…
-
Event for Sydney readers: Alex Mitchell with Hall Greenland
Tuesday April 16, 6pm, Better Read Than Dead Bookshop, 265 King Street, Newtown (upstairs room). Alex and Hall Greenland (pictured), author of Red Hot and Greens candidate for Grayndler, will discuss the current ICAC inquiry, the future of the NSW Labor Party and the upcoming federal election.
-
Cyprus, the pundits and Geldof
Yesterday the media across Europe were full of the news that Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and head of the Eurozone group, had let the cat out of the bag. Cyprus, he had said, showed the way forward in dealing with bailouts, by going after private investors and bank accounts. He had to water down…
-
Why the Rudd plot was sunk by farce
Suddenly the Rudd for PM fiasco makes sense. One of the key plotters was Sam Dastyari, the NSW ALP general secretary and one of the party’s most spectacular lightweights. His part in the abortive back-stabbing farce was revealed by Peter Hartcher in Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald. As Hartcher doubles as unofficial public relations officer for…
-
Behind the law and order frenzy
John Lawler, chief executive of the Australian Crime Commission, is a seasoned cop who is well acquainted with the political system and how it works. He read the pre-Christmas 2012 reports that Treasurer Wayne Swan proposed to inflict sweeping cuts across government departments and all agencies. He did what you would expect him to do.…
-
The Rooty Hill debacle
When Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she was moving to Rooty Hill in Sydney’s western suburbs for a five-day pre-election campaign I checked the mainstream internet sites to discover how many “hits” the story had received from readers. The answer: very few. It didn’t rate in the Top Ten list of any of the sites…
-
Media drongos
Every time a federal Labor MP announces he or she will not stand at the next election, the lazy and predictable Canberra Press Gallery rushes into print with the same old names of possible candidates. How often have we been forced to read speculation that former Premier Steve Bracks, former Premier Morris Iemma, former Premier…