The opposition’s broadband policy argues that achieving the good is better than hanging out for the perfect, especially when you have to pay more and wait longer for the latter, which you don’t really…
- Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Universities spend $280 million a year on complying with federal and state government regulations and reporting requirements, according to a submission by Universities Australia to the Opposition’s deregulation…
Those wanting to see the Coalition put out more policy will have one to wrap their heads around this week when the opposition unveils its broadband plan on Tuesday. Broadband was a major disaster area…
While no doubt there will be devils in the detail, the government’s superannuation changes are mild and appear fair. They should not be subject to a scare campaign. But they will be. Tony Abbott immediately…
No doubt the money helps create jobs and investment but Labor backbencher Ed Husic surely had a point when he said the government’s $21.6 million grant for the Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea…
No one underestimates the political difficulty of clamping down on the generous superannuation tax concessions for high income earners. Even so, the government is making such a hash of things that it needs…
Labor’s proposed reforms to the electoral funding law are again up in the air after last week’s ministerial reshuffle. The former Special Minister of State Gary Gray had committed the government to trying…
One of the most interesting aspects of Julian Assange’s bid for a Victorian Senate seat is who will be his running mate. If Assange happened to fluke a win – which electoral experts say is a very long…
Next month’s federal budget will hit the generous superannuation tax breaks received by the very richest Australians. The target will be the highest one to two per cent of earners, with the government…
Speaking recently at a function to mark his 25 years in the Canberra Press Gallery Paul Bongiorno, respected journalist for the Ten Network, emphasised the importance of maintaining an outlook that is…
Julia Gillard hardly had time for some deep breathing after the cyclone of last week, before her government was hit by fresh buffeting winds. A new round of speculation that the budget would hit superannuation…
Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten is bringing private sector legal firepower into the Fair Work Commission, including appointing the President of the Law Council of Australia, Joe Catanzariti as…
Julia Gillard will be among the first heads of government to meet the new leadership when she visits China in just over a week. After the government’s traumas, stepping back onto the international stage…
Tertiary Education Minister Craig Emerson, who will have to juggle his new job with his old one of Trade Minister, brushes off fears that he won’t have enough time for both. Rather, he sees the two as…
Julia Gillard’s reshuffle heavily rewards her supporters but also, notably, one senior member of the Rudd cabal. The changes load up senior ministers with extra responsibilities, putting key areas shed…
Julia Gillard, the adrenalin presumably still pumping, had quite a weekend. On Saturday she attended the wedding of one of her press secretaries, Laura Anderson, outside Byron Bay, an occasion where the…
Could anything be worse for the Gillard government than Thursday’s leadership farce? Possibly what has happened on Friday. The events were not so jaw dropping as those surrounding the fizzing spill. But…
Update 3:20: Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, highly respected in the business community, has announced his resignation declaring it the honourable thing to do. Ferguson called on Labor to…
An extraordinary orgy of self-destruction has left Labor looking a shambles, with Julia Gillard now facing a reshuffle and an almost impossible task to get her government into fighting form for the September…
The Labor party this week has given the impression of losing its collective mind. The Rudd forces over-reached as they tried to get a leadership change before Parliament adjourned for a seven week pre-budget…
Michelle Grattan’s live updates on a dramatic day in Canberra. 2:10pm: The federal opposition leader Tony Abbott moves to suspend standing orders for a vote of confidence. The fate of the government in…
Julia Gillard has called a ballot for the leadership at 4:30pm. Gillard announced the ballot at the start of question time. “In the meantime, give it your best shot,” she told the house. Veteran Labor…
They were the odd mob – a group of crossbenchers who gathered on Tuesday night in the office of Bob Katter, the Queensland maverick with a party bearing his own name. The meeting had been organised by…
In one of those strange twists of politics Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce’s ambition to switch to the lower House at this election, which had been apparently thwarted, could now be fulfilled. Joyce…
The latest shot in the Labor leadership battle – a Fairfax story saying that two cabinet ministers were “reconsidering their support for the Prime Minister” – has both helped and hindered its promoters…
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