Despite my election-related criticisms of the Greens political party, the deal announced today between Julia Gillard and Bob Brown is a good one. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has agreed to a swag of demands from the Greens as part of a formal deal to join forces as Labor tries to secure a parliamentary majority. Immediately [...]
Tag Archives: Labor
Election Diary, day 35: Why I’m betting on Labor
On the eve of the election, I’ve punted $300 on Julia Gillard being elected as Australia’s first female Prime Minister. I’ve also already voted – on Tuesday – joining over 12.5% of my fellow Australians who voted before Saturday. (I voted Labor, in case you were wondering, both in the House of Reps and the [...]
The Greens Party support citizens’ assemblies on everything but climate change
Adam Bandt (or maybe one of the Greens Party apparatchiks) wrote on the official Adam Bandt Facebook page: We already have a “citizen’s assembly” to deal with climate change, Prime Minister: it’s called Parliament. I’ve already spoken to people in Melbourne who are disappointed and angry at Labor’s latest climate greenwash and delay. People often say [...]
Labor in Melbourne
I’ve written here about how the Greens Party are burying the record of first ever Federal Greens MP Michael Organ in order to promote Adam Bandt yet another white male lawyer (a second being the Greens candidate for the state seat of Melbourne). Cath Bowtell is the Labor candidate for Melbourne. If elected, she would [...]
A case for reforming the election of Labor leaders
Labor members are able to directly elect the Federal President, and through representative delegates at conferences both rank-and-file members and union affiliates are able to elect State Labor Presidents. The most important leadership position, that of Parliamentary Labor Leader, is solely the preserve of Members of Parliament. This state of affairs had led to leadership [...]
Gillard and the Labor leadership
Gillard makes history as Australia’s first woman prime-minister. Today marks an important historical milestone for Australian politics and civil society. Julia Gillard is without a doubt Labor’s best political operative and most effective communicator. She has shown she can cut through. Ultimately, this is what sealed Kevin Rudd’s fate. Rudd was only able to communicate [...]
Lessons from the (Modern) Prince, Part 2: Timing of reform
Following from my previous post on the lessons that Machiavelli’s The Prince can give us today, I thought I’d discuss the timing of policy reform. This is applicable, in my view, for most policy makers, especially political policy makers, and for large reforms. This series of posts is part of Project 52 – one post [...]
Some semi-live blogging of SA and Tas elections
Got some semi-live blogging of the South Australian and Tasmanian elections tonight. (Trying out the Google Wave integration with WordPress. Google Wave didn’t work. Old school now.) Make sure you refresh the page every now and then to get updates. There is discussion around the influence (or otherwise) of Nick Xenophon, who came out this [...]
Lessons from The (Modern) Prince, Part 1: The CPRS
As part of my Project 52 posts, I thought I’d spend a few weeks musing on the lessons of Niccolo Machiavelli not learned in our modern times. I’ve added a parenthetical “Modern” as a reference to my favourite theorist Antonio Gramsci‘s famous treatise The Modern Prince. In The Modern Prince, political parties are cast in [...]
Alan Kohler shows he doesn't know about politics
Alan Kohler, of Business Spectator fame, wrote yesterday in Crikey: Against all expectations, Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt have actually come up with a clever climate change policy, and certainly one that will change the debate in Australia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will now have to quickly do a deal with the Greens to get [...]
Going local – social networking for politicians
While there’s a million and one articles on the internet about how Obama built his success on social networks. There are fewer articles about how local candidates’ campaigns used social networking to promote their candidacy. I’ve previously written about one instance of a local campaign – the governor race in Virginia – using text message [...]
More double dissolution speculation
With the spectacular self-immolation of the Liberal Party this week (see the spill Twitter chatter here), speculation about a double dissolution on climate change is mounting. Last night, several political insiders expressed their belief that it was in Labor’s interests to go to a double dissolution when (if?) the Liberals delay the Carbon Pollution Reduction [...]
Coalition ETS amendments shows denalists have won
The amendments proposed by the Coalition (really, the Liberal Party, since the Nationals outright oppose any ETS) are simply a way to divert more money to heavy polluters and will do nothing for the environment. If the amendments are accepted, the already compromised CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Australia’s cap and trade scheme) will achieve [...]
Letter in Crikey
My letter in Crikey today Regarding “Make the World Pay“: I’ve noticed it is fashionable for Crikey to publish CPRS-bashing articles from the Greens Party and others (e.g. Bernard Keane). There is no doubt that the CPRS is less than many people hoped it would be — especially the excessive industry assistance. The simple fact [...]
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Lessons from the (Modern) Prince, Part 4: Understanding the Greens in Tasmania
- No Clean Feed campaign needs to drop their "censorship" obsession
- Alan Kohler shows he doesn't know about politics
- The Robin Hood Tax
- Seven ways for unions to use Twitter
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The Labor-Greens deal
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Blogging will recommence when the count is resolved
- Five articles I’m reading today
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Election Diary, day 35: Why I’m betting on Labor
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Good news for Tony Abbott: Off the deep end on climate change
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Jeremy: Oh, you're right that Labor hasn't been ...
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Alexander White: In the last term, almost everything that Labor tri...
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mark: Tony Abbott would like to pensioners and old austr...
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