September 21, 2009 – 6:57 pm
A new light on the hill | The Australian
In Saturday’s Australian Tim Soutphommasane had a long piece on where Rudd and Labor stand in ideological terms. Part way through reading it I started to notice that there was a lot missing from his account of the ALP’s current relationship with its traditional ideology. What was [...]
September 4, 2009 – 6:34 am
From The Australian:
(Rudd) has asked Terry Moran, secretary of his Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to put together an advisory panel which will develop a discussion paper seeking ideas for reform by the end of this month.
Unfortunately the syntax here is confusing but I guess that it means that the advisory panel will be [...]
September 3, 2009 – 8:34 am
Multi-employer awards are an Australian phenomenon and so is the herculean task of modernising them.
As time goes by, and given the legalistic approach we take to these things, our award system starts to take on some of the characteristics of an archeological dig with layers of regulation piled on top of each other. Faced with [...]
August 30, 2009 – 5:24 pm
In recent days I have secured some good media coverage for my research comparing the first speeches of the 2007 and 1983 ALP MP intakes; which I luridly titled “Whitlam’s Grandchildren: What the Class of 2007 tells us about the ALP”.
Annabel Crabb wrote it up in the SMH Thursday (In Gough we Trust) which prompted [...]
August 11, 2009 – 8:37 pm
Changes of government typically result in a flood of new members into the House of Representatives, especially, of course, on the winner’s side. After winning the election in 2007, 32 ALP members sat, and spoke, in the House of Representatives, for the first time, 39 per cent of Labor’s representation in the lower house. The [...]
From my son: Rudd talked about a kid called Matt Jenkins who busted his arse to become a carpenter, “Matt the carpenter”, like “Joe the Plumber” at least it wasnt “Joesph the carpenter”
Malcolm Turnbull has failed on two fronts this week, political donations and the ETS legislation. The idea that the Opposition will oppose the Government’s reforms on political donations because they don’t go far enough is pure poppycock. More serious is the admission that the Opposition will oppose the Government’s ETS legislation but will not put [...]
As widely reported, but over-shadowed by other scandals and fiascos, was Stephen Conroy’s decision to censor the internet more extensively than previously thought. This decision is likely to alienate a large swag of voters who are otherwise favourable to Labor.
Inquisitr: “The Australian Minister for Censorship has today confirmed what I’ve been reporting for nearly two [...]
Godwin Grech, a hard-working and intelligent bureaucrat, has fallen foul of the gap between myth and reality in the senior echelons of Australia’s public service. The myth, fondly recounted by the mostly faceless senior bureacrats in Canberra, speaks of independence, impartiality and fearless advice. The reality is that your career only progresses if you do [...]
After all, everyone else has got one mummy.
The media is at its rancid worst this morning bemoaning the technical absence of a recession when everyone reeaalllly knows the whole place is f#cked.
Ross Gittins defends his right to call it a recession no matter what the data say. Interestingly, a week ago he was writing on [...]
