Who stole the Australia Day long weekend? Once upon a time, not very long ago, it was the ultimate take time out, end of summer holidays three days! The image of Australia Day was beaches and barbies maybe (but not with a national prescribed meat, sponsored by advertisers), symbolising shrugging off summer sloth! And it [...]
The world of politics, policy and public life
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Elections matter – just ask the Tamils
January 26, 2010 – 10:56 pm
Sri Lankans have been voting today in a “tense” presidential election. President Mahinda Rajapakse has another 22 months of his term to run, but – most unusually for presidential systems – he has the power to call an early election, and did so to cash in on his presumed popularity from the defeat of the [...]
Honour the flag – turn!
January 26, 2010 – 12:12 pm
Every school day of my Bjelke-Petersen era Queensland childhood, my classmates and I were lined up for a military-style parade – attention. Stand at Ease! Honour the flag – turn! Every morning, we watched as the flag was raised and swore to “always honour my Queen, my flag and my country”. I don’t feel as though I am violating [...]
Why is Kevin Rudd Australian of the Year?
January 24, 2010 – 3:57 pm
Silly season reached a sort of climax this weekend, when The Australian announced Kevin Rudd was its Australian of the Year “because of the way he dealt with the global financial crisis.” That was a bit odd, to put it mildly, to put it as understatedly and blandly as possible. The national broadsheet spent 2009 [...]
Politics, not earthquake, is the real killer
January 22, 2010 – 10:07 am
I think I’ve remarked before on the media’s ability to give exhaustive, even obsessive, coverage to an issue but still manage to ignore the more interesting aspects of it. Last week’s disaster in Haiti provides another good example. We’ve had seemingly endless footage of ruined buildings, homeless children, dead and injured Haitians, overloaded aid efforts [...]
Stay away from polygamy, Keysar – it’ll only break your heart. Literally.
January 16, 2010 – 8:28 pm
Keysar Trad has campaigned for legal recognition of polygamous marriage on Crikey. And I didn’t exactly hold back in expressing my disagreement. But despite this history, my motivation for revisiting the issue now is concern for Keysar’s wellbeing, after reading a Sisters In Islam report on opendemocracy on polygamy in Malaysia. Sisters in Islam found that polygamous marriages [...]
Eva Cox: Why 2010 is a year full of hope
January 14, 2010 – 12:15 pm
A speech by Eva Cox from the Sydney Festival on hope. 2010: a hope-full starting point for renewal to fix the crises caused by the last thirty odd years of bad policy and politics.
Cold comfort on climate change
January 11, 2010 – 8:34 pm
Even as temperatures in South Australia and Victoria soared into the mid-40s today, in north-western Europe they’ve been languishing a similar distance below zero. Last Friday, SBS news screened a BBC report (you can watch the original here) that combined dramatic pictures of the freeze with a discussion of how it has given heart to [...]
Daily Mail
Elsewhere
Policy
Partners
Independent news, blogs and commentary on politics, media, business, the environment and life.
Copyright © 2012 Private Media Pty Ltd, Publishers of Crikey. All Rights Reserved.
Web development by Valegro
Editor: Jason Whittaker
Publisher: Eric Beecher
Political Correspondent: Bernard Keane
Level 6, 22 William St, Melbourne, 3000
Ph: 1800 985 502
Fax: (03) 8623 9975