Category Archives: Greens
Whither the progressive voter?
As Australia careers towards an Abbott government, a question that routinely occurs to me is: “is it really conservatives voting for this party?” There really is nothing conservative about what the Abbott coalition is offering. Rather, it is a strangely inverted conservatism; a big-government, socially regressive proflicracy. How could the fictional classic conservative that exists […]
Safety Trampolines, One World Government and Giving People a Reason To Join A Party – The Whitlam Institute gives time for Thought
On this May Day that has passed, the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute organised a political forum called It’s My Party, as a part of the Behind the Lines exhibition that is being hosted at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres. Labor’s John Faulkner, the Liberals’ Joe Hockey and the Greens’ Bob Brown were invited to outlay […]
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 […]
Stop the boats. Seriously.
The sun rose over the eastern expanse of the Indian Ocean at 5.31am on December 15th, 2010 but not much of its light reached the decks of the 15 metre long wooden fishing boat, the Maju Jaya, as it struggled south through 4 metre seas. It was monsoon season, and thick, low cloud hung above […]
How many House of Representatives votes don’t go to the big-four?
After reading a post by @mrteidt I was left with the question how many of the 13 million or so votes cast in the Federal Election do not make it to the big-four (Labor, Liberal, National, and The Greens)?[1] Reviewing statistics published by the Australian Electoral Commission I learned just over 10% of House of Representatives votes (1.3 million) […]
Mining, taxation and the National Interest
The Gillard’s Government’s mining tax, or more correctly the Minerals Resources Rent Tax (MRRT), has been in the news a bit lately. This week, the High Court of Australia has been hearing a case that argues the tax is unconstitutional and just a couple of weeks ago the tax made headlines with revelations that in […]
We can’t all be right
Think back to the lead up to the 2007 election. Remember how unhappy conservatives were? Remember Denis Shanahan’s agony over the polls? Remember Janet Albrechtson’s touching plea to John Howard to step aside in favour of the free market genius of Peter Costello? David Hicks came home, the intervention was launched, and George Bush came […]
What is Western Sydney? Part Three – Education
One of the less discussed political issues over the past three years is education – well, less than things like carbon pricing, boats and whether Kevin Rudd should move back into the Lodge with his shaking sauce bottle. For the residents of Western Sydney, however, there are few more important priorities. This is because the […]
What is Western Sydney? Part Two – Transport
Do people remember the Eighties? Specifically 1983? Austen Tayshus’ Australiana was big, as was Bop Girl by Pat Wilson and Reckless by Australian Crawl. It was also when the NSW Wran Government built the section of the M4 between Mays Hill and Parramatta Rd at Strathfield. I was living in Greystanes, 10 minutes west of […]
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