News
Archived news for August 2010 | Recent news
The state we're in: redrawing Australia
The Force from the North, Bob Katter, doesn't do anything by halves. His independent compatriot Rob Oakeshott has spent the last week pushing out...
Replace this partisan Treasury with an independent budget office
The independents have asked for Treasury briefings and advice on ALP and Coalition policy as part of their decision-making process. At face value...
Informal ballots: blame compulsory voting
Don't blame Mark Latham's 60 Minutes spot for the increase in informal ballots last Saturday. Blame compulsory voting. The 2010 election saw the...
Moving forward mantra Gillard's biggest mistake
In retrospect, Julia Gillard's big mistake wasn't calling the election so quickly, or negotiating with the miners, or even announcing the climate...
Power struggle leaves mining tax in flux
With a hung parliament delivering rounds of political horse-trading between the two major parties and independents over the next days and weeks,...
Surely the election can afford debate on housing
As a concern among the electorate, housing affordability ranks above industrial relations, interest rates and asylum seekers. But until yesterday,...
Keep ambitions modest
If Julia Gillard wins the election tomorrow you can only hope she'll lead a better administration than Kevin Rudd. If Tony Abbott wins you can only...
NBN: Crippling government regulation to blame
At the Labor Party launch on Monday, Julia Gillard made the National Broadband Network central to her pitch for reelection. And if you were...
Green protectionist folly
Under environmental disguises, industry and labor unions are running parallel campaigns with environmentalists seeking to roll back free trade. For...
Budget honesty charter corrupted
It's that time in the election campaign when it disintegrates into arguments about which party has been most careless ensuring their budget numbers...