In retrospect, John Faulkner’s shift to Defence in the wake of Joel Fitzgibbon’s series of unfortunate events was a turning point in this Government’s approach to accountability and transparency. The Rudd Government had started off strongly with a series of measures intended to improve accountability and transparency across a range of issues such as Government [...]
READ MOREMay, 2010
Conroy goes Google: the transcript
The Hansard transcript of Stephen Conroy’s Senate Estimates assault on Google is finally online (thanks to the real-time web, I have all the patience of a three-year-old with ADD these days. Surely it’s time Hansard became a liveblog?), confirming it was very much a pre-meditated attack. The edited highlights:
READ MOREFairy tales and the RSPT
Sure, I’d like to see the miners pay more tax as they make money out of our reserves of minerals. Like the evil capitalists in early cartoons in socialist magazines, the mining companies’ bosses make very good villains. They earn ridiculous amounts of money and often come with strange accents and dubious corporate antecedents. Who [...]
READ MOREFrom the doors: Robb wants it kept above the belt, not a Henry reference in sight
Crikey Doorsman Tiernan Kelly reports from a cold, wet House of Reps entrance: It was an emotional day at the doors, possibly because of the dreary Canberra conditions that roll out every May, possibly because of dreary government attacks that roll out every time they get a sniff that the Coalition could be fading. With [...]
READ MOREThe Age‘s leaked ALP email doesn’t stack up
The Age‘s state political editor Paul Austin missed an interesting email last Thursday that might have shed some light on the latest ALP branch stacking allegations.
READ MOREConroy: We’ll block 50,000 sites
In Senate Estimates last night, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy warned the Government would consider blocking up to 50,000 websites based on new filtering technology that may become available in the future. The Government’s net filter trials early last year had found there were substantial technical limitations with blocking any more than 10,000 sites using a [...]
READ MOREFrom the Doors: Ken Henry “deliberately deceptive”
by Crikey intern and Doorsman Tiernan Kelly Federal Treasury Secretary Ken Henry capped off a week to forget as the Coalition today questioned his integrity as a public servant. Henry found himself a drive-by casualty of Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey’s Budget Reply last week when Hockey refused to guarantee his employment should the Coalition win [...]
READ MOREGauleiter Bolter, lays down the law on Jew-aboriginal race mixing
One tunes into the Bolter’s blog less and less these days. Like MySpace and torturing children in desert prison camps, he seems so early ‘zeroes. But this one caught the eye: “How can the ABC ban whites, Irish and Jews from applying for this nice job: Administrative Assistant Job No.:491663 Department:ABC International Location:Southbank Work type:Ongoing [...]
READ MOREBeing in Politics – some parts are good, some parts not so much
From the very first day after I’d finished my term in the Senate in July 2008 – in fact for many weeks before I’d even formally finished – there would be no question I have been asked more frequently that the one about whether I miss being in politics and whether I’m enjoying being out [...]
READ MOREHockey’s bizarre media management obscures Budget Reply
Joe Hockey’s Budget Reply has come badly unstuck after he refused to provide details of savings costings despite Tony Abbott’s commitment last week that he would spell them out in his traditional Shadow Treasurer’s reply. He also refused to guarantee that Ken Henry would be reappointed under a Coalition Government, signalling that the Howard-appointed Treasury [...]
READ MORE
