The mathematics of the Speaker
Rob Oakeshott’s now abandoned candidacy for Speaker [see previous post here] has shone a light on the arcanae of the Speaker’s voting rights, and how they were envisaged to operate under the Parliamentary Reform Agreement the government and opposition both [...]
Bob Katter supports Coalition; Windsor and Oakeshott to reveal their hand at 3pm
Bob Katter has supported the Coalition; and the other two Independents will reveal their hand at 3pm. Crikey has a liveblog, and ABC News 24 and News Radio are carrying Bob Katter’s press conference live. Update: Bernard Keane summarises Katter’s [...]
Last chance New Gubbermint divination thread
Whether Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott know which way they’re going to jump is something I don’t know. But hopefully we’ll all know this afternoon, at around 2pm if Windsor and Oakeshott’s statements this morning to the press [...]
Professorial piffle
BobKat showed last night on Q&A that he could name drop De Tocqueville, Mill and Shakespeare just as well as David Burchell, but with more actual sense (and fewer allusions to Montesquieu, Rousseau and “the ancient Athenians”). Funny how political [...]
Interregnum mythbusting: “naturally conservative electorates”
One of the most amusing aspects of the hung parliament negotiations has been the discombobulation of MSM opinionistas. David Penberthy is one stellar example. His most recent piece for The Punch is a strange concoction of weirdness, unified only by [...]
The Left, the independents and “new politics”
There was an interesting micro-debate on Twitter the other night between me, Tad Tietze and Jason Wilson, riffing off Dr_Tad’s scepticism about the “independents are our saviours” meme. That’s expanded on at much greater length at Left Flank. I’d thoroughly [...]
What the Independents want; and what Julia Gillard will give them
Here’s a list of requests from the three rural independents. And here’s the Prime Minister’s response.
What should a Gillard minority government be like?
If there’s one thing that’s clear from the events of recent days, it is that a minority government led by Julia Gillard could not represent business as usual for the Labor party. So what should a Gillard minority government look [...]
Oakeshott on Lateline
I found these answers to Leigh Sales’ questions by Rob Oakeshott on Lateline very interesting:
Guest post by Ben Harris-Roxas: The independents and parliamentary and public policy reform
Ben Harris-Roxas is a Research Fellow at the UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity. When he’s not talking about health impact assessment he makes a nuisance of himself on Twitter: @ben_hr. The entrails of the weekend’s result [...]
Taking our time
Two of the most unedifying aspects of the aftermath of the election result, from the time when it became apparent that we would have a hung parliament, have been the pressure for a quick resolution and the endless rehashing of [...]
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