Bashing unions or the political class? No contest
Saturday, 16 June 2007 Tactics Comments Off
What seems objectionable in this fairly normal political activity, is the idea that money can buy influence and that the government and its property are open to sectional interests. But running government on sectional interests has been the basis of Australian, and most other Western democracies for over a century.
Asia: the last refuge of scoundrels
Saturday, 16 June 2007 Tactics Comments Off
No one in this country likes to say it, but international politics determines the parameters of Australian political debate. It is the government’s falling out of step with the shift in the global agenda that has been the ultimate source of its problems this electoral cycle.
Mandarin stays out of love-in
Thursday, 14 June 2007 Tactics Comments Off
If The 7.30 Report’s Kerry O’Brien was right that IR is one of the main political fault lines of our time, they all seemed remarkably happy discussing it in parliament yesterday – from both sides.
The glue that binds
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 State of the parties Comments Off
There is a sleeper of this election year that has been largely missed by the media but is guiding the actions of the leaders, which is the demoralisation and internal weakness of their respective parties.
Business says: cut the crap
Monday, 11 June 2007 Tactics Comments Off
So it is not only Paul Keating who feels like telling it like it is.
Only when it’s stupid, is it the economy
Sunday, 10 June 2007 International relations Comments Off
If the economy is the coalition’s trump card, then they seem to be taking a long time to play it.
Why they will never forgive Keating
Friday, 8 June 2007 Key posts, State of the parties Comments Off
Keating is disowned by the political class because he reminds them that their traditional roles are over and their domestic differences are largely a sham.
Trust Howard to try it again
Thursday, 7 June 2007 International relations Comments Off
Let’s start by getting one thing clear. The winner for Howard on the ‘trust’ issue in 2004 was not interest rates or Latham’s character.
Polls that nobody wants to analyse
Wednesday, 6 June 2007 Media analysis Comments Off
After months during which the commentariat used every incident to predict the end of Rudd’s honeymoon, it is curious that after two polls (Galaxy, Morgan) showing a drop in Labor’s primary support, nobody now seems willing to link it to the events preceding it.
Bush’s U-turn more helpful than Rudd’s
Monday, 4 June 2007 State of the parties Comments Off
The public’s thrill that Rudd has a modern marriage probably had less impact than the publicising of Ingeus’s employment conditions had on Labor’s IR attack.
