September, 2008

There is an old saying, attributed to former NSW Labor Premier and firebrand Jack Lang, that a politician should always back the horse called self-interest, as it will be the only one really trying. This quote is often used to portray politics as an activity that is ultimately driven by cynicism, but it can also [...]

The story in Crikey about Kasian Wililo, an Australian resident being chased for a debt of over $161 000 for the cost of keeping him in immigration detention for years, has drawn a lot of public comment. Apart from being a major injustice, this case also highlights a key test for both for the government [...]

The main reason I was interested in blogging when I was a politician was to provide another way for people to access information about aspects of the political process, and to see if I could get useful feedback from people about some of my ideas and activities. To me, the comments are the most interesting [...]

Next week is National Vegetarian Week, so be prepared for a larger than usual number of examples of people seeking to inform you of the environmental, health and ethical arguments in favour of eating less meat. If you’re interested in looking at some of the detailed scientific outline about the severe greenhouse impacts of meat [...]

Having spent Sunday morning grumbling to myself about newspapers putting irrelevant personal gossip about a government MP’s marriage breakdown on their front pages, I unexpectedly found myself asked to appear on Sunrise this morning to talk about the topic. There isn’t always an easy dividing line on this principle, as there a range of different [...]

Give Petro a go! I’ve been pondering the possible makeup of Malcolm Turnbull’s new shadow ministry (likely to be announced on Sunday), looking at who is in it at the moment, who could be dropped and who would be good to promote. Although the need to minimise internal unrest probably means there won’t be a huge [...]

Following on from my previous post on the conflicting message of a merged Liberal National Party in Queensland and a determinedly differentiating National Party at federal level, is another small but rather telling example. The recently tabled Senate Committee report into legislation amending the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act contained a dissenting report from the [...]

There are continuing rumblings in Queensland that all is not going sweetly with the newly merged Liberal National Party.  It is a matter for the merged party as to how they want to operate, but I have to say I am getting more and more confused about how it is supposed to work. With Queenslander [...]

A commenter on a previous post asked a question about where the various parties might stand on Nick Xenophon’s “pokies Bill” which seeks to ban ATMs from poker machine venues.  I thought I would answer it through a specific post, so I could detail some of the current activity surrounding this issue. Senator Xenophon’s pokies [...]

I have a loathing for the excessive focus on the theatre of politics, especially when it coincides with an exclusion of any examination of the real world impacts of policy positions. (Well I think it’s excessive anyway, which is why I loathe it). So, apart from one mention on my blog where I asked why [...]