For a place ostensibly lacking in conviction politicians, we’re seeing a lot of appeals to Principle over Pragmatism in Australian politics. For example, the Greens claimed the high moral ground on the original incarnation of the carbon price and did it again last week in the debate on asylum seekers. At a more modest level, the [...]
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TERRY MULDER
Are these contenders for 'spin doctor' of the year?
There’s never any shortage of creativity when politicians, business and the media want to put a particular ‘spin’ – meaning an interpretation that furthers their own agenda, sometimes irrespective of logic, truth or salience – on an issue. I saw a couple of interesting ‘spins’ this week when the Victorian Government announced the public transport [...]
READ MOREDoes the media neglect policy?
In this short clip, Jon Faine from ABC 774 takes Victoria’s Transport Minister, Terry Mulder, to task for point-scoring over the Regional Rail Link (RRL). Despite criticising the proposed new $4.2 billion rail line while in opposition, the Baillieu Government has finally announced that the project will nevertheless go ahead. You’ve got to admire Jon [...]
READ MOREWill Rowville be a Clayton(s) rail line?
Sooner rather than later, the Baillieu Government is going to have to prove its credibility on public transport by making substantial progress on one of the rail lines it has promised. And I have an idea for where it should start. The easiest candidate is the promised Avalon rail line because its cost is estimated [...]
READ MOREIs Victoria's new public transport authority just the beginning?
Establishing the Victorian Public Transport Development Authority before Christmas is a smart move by the new Government. Such early action signals its commitment to tackling the problems with public transport. But the Premier and the Minister for Public Transport should not get too carried away – as so many others have – with the idea [...]
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