federal government
K-Dudd: The heartless wonder
Kevin Rudd gets far too much credit. Those who say he is being dragged to the Right – that he takes a more cautious, more conservative approach to appeal to John Howard’s battlers – discount the increasingly obvious reality that Rudd is already there. Certainly, as we’ve seen over the last few days, on refugee policy. Is there hope for this Prime Minister?
Dismantling the Liberal bomb…
The two most important things we’ve learned about Malcolm Turnbull of late are these: that he should probably have joined the Labor Party, and that he’d probably make a very good prime minister. The former is a hypothetical; the latter fast becoming one. For many reasons, the former barrister and investment banker is the proverbial square peg in the round hole.
Fielding inept, no matter spelling
Steve Fielding is an incompetent legislator, blinded by personal prejudice and laughably ignorant of some of the very weighty issues he must sit in judgement of. But of course, criticism of the man who puts Family First is never taken as read. It leads to my all-time favourite excuse for political ineptitude – that of elitism. To knock Fielding, the argument goes, is to dismiss the contribution of those not blessed with tremendous intellect or afforded higher education. Merely bullying from the nasty latte-sipping intellectuals who think they’re better than everyone else.
A social cost to our choking cities
There is a significant economic and social cost in traffic congestion. A lack of planning, and more importantly, a lack of long-term vision, is condemning our rapidly-growing population centres to the same choking fate as many in Asia. What do we want our cities to look like in a decade?
Forget marriage, it’s in the vows
Like many political debates, the outcome is less important than the debate itself. And like debates on all the other progressive issues in society, the ones that so rile and consume conservatives, the issue of gay marriage once again got hijacked. The words used in the debate – and the words that weren’t used – were much more hurtful.
How Bartlet made me an idealist
The juxtaposition between the fictional White House of The West Wing and the real-life geopolitical events played out on the news stoked a burning cynicism of the political process. More than that, it planted the seed of romantic idealism of how the world should work that continues to nag me every day.
A symbolic step means so much
Today we celebrate another ‘birthday’ of our reigning monarch. The old biddy turned 83 in April, in fact, but generously gives us a June holiday each year. It is an annual reminder of the really big symbol the country has been on the verge of adopting for over a decade yet can’t quite make happen. It is a symbol, yes; tangibly immeasurable in its impact like most. But it is a symbol so brilliantly bright as to potentially embrace all Australians under one flag like nothing before.
The Right does love you. Mostly
The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen writes of the myth – “based on lazy and crude logic” – that conservatives lack compassion. But her brand of tough love isn’t love at all. At least not the inclusive style of love the Christian Right likes to preach. Conservative compassion comes with many conditions.
Gutless politics of protecting coal
There is a great, immovable dichotomy of the climate change debate: governments in this country support emissions reduction AND the coal industry. The two are clearly opposed. Governments continue to prop up dirty, redundant industries for fear of having job losses and economic ruin on their watch. It is bad economics, and a politically gutless act.
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