Author Archives: lentern
Rupert and the Dreaded Editorial Interference
The arrival of Rupert Murdoch on Twitter some fifteen months ago was the source of considerable excitement. As is the case with many politicians who operate their own Twitter account, Twitter enabled the public, perhaps for the first time, to hear directly from the media mogul rather than carefully crafted media performances, distilled into even […]
Governor General: What Kind of Job Is that?
Note: Heading is a reference to this very old Max Gillies sketch Julia Gillard has many reasons to dislike Kevin Rudd but just this once she might want to send him a little thank you note. When Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister and the most popular politician in history he was trusted with appointing Michael Jeffery’s successor […]
China Talks: What’s In It For Them?
Julia Gillard’s recent China trip was undoubtedly a success. Even most of her harsher detractors are prepared to concede that annual heads of government talks with the PRC are wholly desirable and given how rare a thing a political consensus is these days this bipartisanship is to be encouraged. Over the last week the mainstream […]
Narratives: Gillard Labor and New Labour
Today in the Fairfax press Waleed Aly has kindly offered us a theory as to the reasons behind Labor’s electoral woes. He suggests that Labor’s problem is that it needs to be more ideological, so it can have more purpose in government. From a philosophical perspective he might have a point but in terms of […]
The Death of the Death Tax
This year for the first time in living memory we will have an election in which no parliamentary party supports estate duties. The Greens have been the long time standard bearers for taxing inheritance but even they have finally spat out the political poison. In a former life the Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh also believed […]
Should Katter leave Kennedy?
When Bob Katter launched his new Katter’s Australia party in 2011 he presumably did so to broaden his sphere of influence from that of one solitary Independent MP to a small (or perhaps not so small) bloc of parliamentary votes. Katter’s attempt to cultivate a larger presence is a noble objective, but these things require […]
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