By Kim on September 4, 2010
There’s an interesting article in The Australian today by Gabrielle Chan, looking at the rural discontent embodied in the rhetoric of the country Independents: The 2010 episode of “bush leverage” is a result of a backlash by conservatives against a [...]
Posted in Australiana, Economics, federal election 2010, Howardia, Markets, Policy, Politics, Sociology | Tagged Barnaby Joyce, Bob Katter, country independents, Culture, economic policy, Federal Election 2010, globalisation, hung parliament, John Howard, Nationals, neo-liberalism, neocons, Paul Keating, Pauline Hanson, Red Ted Theodore, rural and regional economies, Sociology, the bush, The Greens, tony windsor |
By Mark Bahnisch on September 1, 2010
The three rural Independents are meeting this morning with Treasury Secretary Ken Henry to discuss the state of the economy. Yesterday, in her address to the National Press Club [see previous LP discussion here], Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a [...]
Posted in Economics, federal election 2010 | Tagged ALP, andrew wilkie, Bob Katter, economic policy, Federal Election 2010, hung parliament, Independents, infrastructure australia, Julia Gillard, Ken Henry, Labor, Nationals, pork, reserve bank, Wayne Swan |
By Kim on August 6, 2010
A report in The Australian this morning has one Nationals MP, Darren Chester of Victoria, going on record against the Coalition’s parental leave plan in its current form. Chester feels it ought to be extended to support “stay at home [...]
Posted in federal election 2010, Parenting | Tagged Coalition, Darren Chester, Federal Election 2010, Nationals, parental leave, Policy |
By Mark Bahnisch on May 5, 2010
In a neat piece of timing, Queensland LNP MPs Aidan McLindon (Beaudesert) and Rob Messenger (Burnett) chose the eve of a John Howard love in with the party’s caucus to announce their defection and decision to sit as Independents. Both [...]
Posted in Federal Elections, Howardia, Politics, Queensland, State/Territory Elections | Tagged Aidan McLindon, ALP, amalgamation, Anna Bligh, Bligh government, Federal Election 2010, Independents, John Howard, John-Paul Langbroek, Kevin Rudd, Labor, Labour Day, Lawrence Springborg, Liberal National Party, Liberal Party, LNP, Nationals, privatisation, Queensland politics, Rob Messenger |
By Kim on March 31, 2010
If the South Australian election proved anything, it proved that to win in a tight race, you need hard working and appealing candidates in the marginals. For all the headline talk (now somewhat diminished) about Tony Abbott’s alleged momentum, what [...]
Posted in Federal Elections, Politics, Queensland, State/Territory Elections | Tagged candidates, Coalition, election campaign, Federal Election 2010, George Brandis, Liberal Party, LNP, Longman, Mal Brough, marginal seats, marginals, Michael Johnson, Moreton, Nationals, preselections, Queensland, Ryan, South Australian election 2010, Wyatt Roy |
By Mark Bahnisch on February 2, 2010
Presiding as he has been over the Nationals-isation of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott might pause to consider one of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s bon mots: You can’t straddle both sides of a barbed-wire fence. The first stage of selling the Coalition’s [...]
Posted in Climate change, Media, Politics | Tagged 7 30 Report, Barnaby Joyce, carbon emissions, climate change denialism, Coalition, cprs, ets, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Kevin Rudd, Lateline, Nationals, political communication, retail politician, Tony Abbott |
By Mark Bahnisch on February 2, 2010
… and no, I won’t be posting a photo of Tony Abbott in any form of swimwear to answer that question. But it’s interesting to observe the blue thread that runs through all of Abbott’s pronouncements – a mindset that [...]
Posted in Authoritarianism, Climate change, Economics, Elections, Howardia, Markets, Philosophy, Policy, Politics | Tagged Authoritarianism, classic liberalism, climate change policy, Coalition, conservatism, conservatives, dirgisme, economic policy, Economics, Federal Election 2010, free markets, Howardism, ideology, Liberal Party, libertarians, Markets, Nationals, neo-liberalism, paternalism, the state, Tony Abbott |
By Mark Bahnisch on December 17, 2009
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been preoccupied with festive socialising and the fact that you haven’t bought any Christmas presents yet. But, in the rarefied circles of political tragedy, there’s a frisson of excitement, or perhaps manic enthusiasm, unrelated [...]
Posted in Howardia, Media, Politics, Sociology | Tagged Andrew Elder, anti-Labor, Arthur Sinodinos, Churchill, Churchillian, Coalition, election funding, fundraising, ideology, John Howard, Liberal Party, Nationals, Pauline Hanson, political parties, Polls, populism, redistribution, ressentiment, small business, socialism, Sociology, Spartacus, tax, Tony Abbott |
By Mark Bahnisch on December 9, 2009
Tony Abbott appears to have taken that gospel saying about being “cunning as a serpent” to heart, if not the bit about being “gentle as a dove”. The problem with the media cycle these days for the political obfuscator is [...]
Posted in Climate change, Howardia, Politics | Tagged Alan Jones, battlers, climate change denialism, climate change policy, cprs, ets, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Lateline, Liberal Party, market solutions, Nationals, political strategy, Politics, spin, Tony Abbott, WorkChoices |
By Mark Bahnisch on November 25, 2009
At 1pm AEDT today, the Liberal Party will meet for a leadership vote, with the only declared challenger to Malcolm Turnbull being Kevin Andrews. I stand by the analysis I offered last night – Turnbull has the numbers, and if [...]
Posted in Politics | Tagged Climate change, Coalition, cprs, George Brandis, Kevin Andrews, leadership challenge, liberal leadership, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, Nationals, Nick Minchin, party room, Tony Abbott |
By Mark Bahnisch on November 24, 2009
In the wake of today’s extraordinary events in the Coalition party room, Malcolm Turnbull could put to good use the very qualities he’s usually been panned by his right wing colleagues and the commentariat for having – displaying some courage [...]
Posted in Climate change, Media, Politics | Tagged andrew bolt, Annabel Crabb, climate change denialism, climate change denialists, climate change policy, Coalition, coalition party room, cprs, emissions trading, Francis Urquhart, front bench, George Brandis, Kevin Andrews, Lateline, liberal leadership, Liberal right wing, Malcolm Turnbull, Nationals, Nick Minchin, party meeting, Peter Van Onselen, reshuffle, shadow cabinet, spill, The Australian, Tony Abbott, Wilson Tuckey |
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