Category Archives: Candidates
The Old is New Again – The United Australia Party Reborn?
ANZAC Day saw a great many things – football, partisan voices continuing to whine about Leigh Sales, arguments about Catherine Deveny. I deal with all that here, back at my blog, the Preston Institute. The most interesting part of it for me, however, was Lateline, where we saw the re-entry of Clive Palmer on the national […]
Voters’ invidious choice between “fight” and “no”
In many ways, politics is the art of differentiation, regardless of whether it’s a battle of philosophies, personalities or policies. Keating prevailed in the unwinnable 1993 federal election by painting a stark choice between him and the Opposition’s GST (a policy he had previously supported). Howard knocked off Keating in 1996 vowing he would govern […]
Newbie parties and the classic mistake
“We’re going to stand candidates in all 150 seats”. How many times have you heard this? New parties, dying parties, wannabe parties seem to love this line. And it’s utterly stupid. It’s not the only mistake new parties make, but it’s the classic.
Cross Benchers – What Do You Think?
Much has been spoken about the ‘disproportionate power’ wielded by the cross bench MPs in the formation of the current Federal Parliament. I feel this view devalues both the concept of the Australian Liberal Democratic System and the intelligence of those who voted for these candidates in their electorate. The decisions made by those cross bench […]
Crean, Rudd and WTF?
If you’ve been left wondering what the hell happened this week in federal politics, you need to think back to June 2010. Remember how former Prime Minister Rudd was unceremoniously dumped as captain of the Labor team? This came as a shock to everyone but the parliamentarians involved. A lot had been made of Rudd’s […]
The State (Territory) of Play – ACT
Canberra celebrates its centenary this month; the hot air balloons are sailing above Lake Burley Griffin, there’s been festivals and light shows and while the rest of the country has been trudging on through the darkening days of autumn, the Nation’s Capital has been in party mode. Canberra isn’t exactly known for it’s frivolity and […]
The State of Play – NSW
“This election will be decided in Western Sydney.” Labor’s NSW Secretary Sam Dastyari, 26 February 2013 Well, sort of. The definition of “Western Sydney” varies widely depending on exactly what point you’re trying to make and what your vested interest is. But there can be no argument that Labor has some marginal seats there – […]
The State of Play – NT
Electoral analysis is a whole different ball-game in the Northern Territory. Until the year 2000, the Northern Territory was only one electorate. For complicated constitutional and electoral reasons, that representative did not even have full voting rights until 1968. The territory has two representatives in the House of Representatives, and two Senators, with the Senators […]
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