Labor’s problems summed up in one Tweet
Interesting @PGarrettMP tries to get the strong economy line across but AAP journo just keeps asking about “real Julia” and debate #ausvotes That’s Katina Curtis, on Twitter just now. How much more meta can this campaign get? It poses real [...]
Garrett's job shrinks again
According to ABC News: Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has been stripped of responsibility for the household insulation scheme and other energy efficiency programs. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced he is establishing a separate, stand-alone department for Climate Change [...]
Possum dissects risk and incompetence in the insulation affair
A number of commenters have drawn attention to a couple of very interesting posts from Possum on other threads about the Peter Garrett/pink batts imbroglio, so I thought it was worth setting up a dedicated thread. In his first post, [...]
Pink batts politics
As the opposition continues to increase the noise level of the Peter Garrett pursuit beyond any decibel levels Midnight Oil ever generated, it’s worth pausing to consider whether there’s a chance that their campaign might be counter-productive. Tony Abbott’s relish [...]
Lessons from the insulation stuff-up
The grilling continues for Peter Garrett over the now-cancelled insulation scheme. Whether Garrett was specifically incompetent in his oversight responsibilities or not, the stimulus package was bound to result in some stuffups. Spending so much money, so quickly, is always [...]
Balance?
I’m not sure how this one slipped through: What the longevity of almost all state and territory governments suggests is that it is difficult for an opposition to come to power except through the electorate’s view that it is time [...]
Should Peter Garrett resign?
Peter Garrett is in all sorts of strife, over the deaths caused by unsafe foil roof insulation installations under a Federal Government programme. Writing at The Stump, Bernard Keane argues that the Opposition’s pursuit of Garrett has been lacklustre. A [...]
Australian cultural policy; and whatever happened to the 2020 summit?
I wrote in an earlier post about the “summer of culture” feature at New Matilda. Ben Eltham has now wrapped up “the state of the cultural nation” with a thoughtful essay integrating the various pieces with some broader thoughts on [...]
Guest post by Tim Hollo: So what just happened with the National Academy of Music?
[Cross-posted at GreensBlog] So what just happened with the National Academy of Music? Tim Hollo – Advisor to Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne Yesterday, after a whirlwind six week campaign, Melbourne Uni and the National Academy of Music put out [...]
Peter Garrett and the ANAM defunding debacle
There’s been a bit of discussion about Arts Minister Peter Garrett’s defunding of the Australian National Academy of Music on another thread, so I think it probably warrants a post of its own. Long time observers of arts and cultural [...]
Bill Henson, visual shock and the democratisation of art
As no doubt everyone has noticed, there has been a vigorous discussion in comments about the latest Bill Henson brouhouha. I don’t want to comment explicitly on the issues raised by David Marr’s “revelation” that Henson had visited a primary [...]
Recent Comments