Summing up the Baillieu government
It’s been roughly six months since the election of the Baillieu government in Victoria. Elected on a platform of – essentially – fixing the perceived infrastructure screw-ups of the Brumby era, Laura Norder, and Baillieu coming across as less of a smart-arse than John Brumby, it was unclear what else, if anything, they stood for.
Giving away the pokies?
If you take the figures in the Victorian Auditor-General’s report on the auction of pokie licenses as gospel, it’s arguably the most single most financially costly mistake the Bracks-Brumby government made. The report estimates that a fair market value for [...]
Quick link: Brumby concedes
ABC News confirms.
Timbertop for all
Prince Charles apparently loved Timbertop, the bush boarding house to which Geelong Grammar sends its Year 9 students. John Brumby (and Ted Baillieu’s) old school, Melbourne Grammar, sends its Year 9s “crewing a square-rigged sailing ship off from Adelaide to [...]
Disasters disengage brains – exhibit #123
I hate to repeat myself from my previous post, but: Imagine a submission came in to the Victorian Cabinet from a government department. It was clearly going to cost an nine-figure sum annually, but beyond that it was uncosted. There [...]
Victorian government’s climate change package
It will take a while to go through Victorian Government’s climate change white paper, so I won’t try to pronounce judgement the quality of the individual actions proposed. At first glance, shutting down part of Hazelwood is a good start. [...]
The politics of health: COAG and beyond
With the Council of Australian Governments meeting for a second successive day to deliberate on the federal government’s National Health and Hospitals Network plan, the usual suspects are proclaiming that there will be no deal, which will be a disaster [...]
Brumby vs. Rudd (and sundry other premiers)
With the announcement of substantial funding for aged care closing the Commonwealth’s offer to the Premiers on health policy ahead of the COAG meeting next week, the National Health and Hospitals Network roadshow reaches the penultimate stage in the drama. [...]
Black Saturday: What are state governments good for?
The latest controversy to emerge from the inquiry into the Victorian bushfires revolves around Christine Nixon going off for dinner in the middle of the conflagration. The usual partisan football stuff, you might think. Guy Rundle disagrees. In a powerful [...]
So, how about that hospitals plan?
Tony Abbott’s performance in question time today, and the timing of his parental leave thought bubble more generally, suggest that his major imperative was to switch the topic of debate from health. That’s despite the Coalition running a very active [...]
Blame the Minister?
Media reporting suggests that Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky’s departure was indeed for “family reasons”. Whatever the details (and they of course aren’t our business), good luck to her and her family as she confronts what sounds like a [...]
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