The evidence is everywhere that we have a dilettante government: in failed policy ideas and process, a political tin-ear, butchered budgets, negotiating ineptitude, shifting values and whacky ideologies. That doesn’t mean that the Government won’t learn and improve. Sure it will. It’s slowly backtracking from it’s more outlandish budget ideas, is crawling back to the political
Some months ago, Prime Minister Abbott declared his resistance to the idea that Australia commit any air power to strikes upon Syria because it was a case of: “It is not goodies versus baddies, it is baddies versus baddies, and that is why it is very important that we don’t make a very difficult situation
By Leith van Onselen The AFR has revealed today that Prime Minister Tony Abbott has finally conceded to the Coalition party room that he needs to give ground on paid parental leave (PPL) if the policy is ever to come to fruition: Coalition MPs are predicting Tony Abbott will water down his paid parental leave
The think tank loon pond that underpins Coalition ideas these days appears to have overreached. A shakeout of sorts has begun and one wonders if it can transpire without further deleterious impacts upon the economy. Tristan Edis reports that: Alan Moran, who has been one of the most vociferous and long-standing opponents of renewable energy and
From Newspoll: Looks like Tony and Rupert may have finally have picked themselves a winner in “terror”. Meanwhile, from Roy Morgan: ALP support fell to 55.5% (down 0.5%) still well ahead of the L-NP 44.5%, (up 0.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. If a Federal Election had been held the ALP would have won easily
Cross-posted from The Conversation: Bill Shorten had little practical alternative but to name himself as the person police had been investigating in relation to an alleged rape in the 1980s. The opposition leader told reporters that the “easy option would have been to say nothing”. But that would not have been a sustainable option, let
Clive Palmer’s spectacular personality explosion continues to wreak havoc in politics. Following the last few weeks of conservative hand-wringing and bluster over free speech and the “right to be a bigot” ensconced in the now withdrawn repeal to section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act, conservatives are now queuing up to condemn and shut down that
Lot’s of ringing condemnation today for Clive Palmer’s Q&A spray against the Chinese last night. Here it is: Pollies lined up to bash the big fella for his outburst and rightly so. The problem is, it is they that are responsible for it. As a political entity, Clive Palmer is a nothing more than a vested interest
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government appears to finally be giving ground on controversial Budget measures, flagging that it might accept compromise packages that water down the proposed $7 GP co-payment and Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave (PPL) scheme. Regarding the GP co-payment, the Government is reportedly looking “seriously” at exempting vulnerable groups, such
It’s back into Iraq we go. From The Australian: PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has refused to rule out deploying Australian troops on the ground in Northern Iraq — the first such mission in more than a decade — to assist in the humanitarian protection of the Yazidi people stranded on Mount Sinjar. It is understood
From the SMH: Former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin has suggested a new election may be needed to resolve the Senate impasse holding up vital budget savings, and has hit out at the political populism of the Greens and Palmer United Party. Professor McKibbin, who left the RBA in 2011 and is now a
It’s polling day and take your pick. Newspoll has a bounce for the Coalition to 48-42: But Roy Morgan has the opposite: The ALP has increased its support to 56% (up 1.5%) over the L-NP (44%, down 1.5%) on a two-party preferred basis after last week’s ABS unemployment figures showed Australian unemployment rising to
By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Grace Collier has written an interesting article imploring the Abbott Government to tackle cost-of-living concerns, such as “The Australia Tax” on consumer goods, rather than pursuing policies that will drive-up costs, such as its internet policy: THE government should not work to eliminate internet piracy without working to bring
As we all know, Rob Oakeshott can be a gas bag in a way that gives him the trappings of a 19th century orator. However, he is also one the most earnest and clear-thinking pollies we’ve had in the past few years and he offered the below horrible and truthful assessment of the state of Australian policy-making last
Rather than take responsibility for a difficult economy and butchered Budget, employment minister, Eric Abetz, has today blamed Labor: Unemployment has hit its highest level in a decade at 6 per cent with 720,000 people now out of work. The last time that many people were on the dole queue was in the late 1990s.
By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Adam Creighton has written a cracking article today on the huge blow-out in spending on Australia’s securities agencies, which are due to receive a huge slab of additional funding under the Abbott Government’s new counter-terrorism program: [Securities agencies] combined funding between 2000 and 2010 grew at a compound annual
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government appears to be coming apart at the seams. Wit the Budget in tatters, infighting about Tony Abbott’s paid parental leave (PPL) scheme took hold, and now the Government’s flawed data retention plan – which will require telecommunications companies to store detailed information about the calls and internet use
Another stellar lineup of mewling today from Australia’s greatest whinger, Joe Hockey, via the AFR: In an outburst following months of criticism over his failure to win broad public and Senate support for his first budget, Mr Hockey complained it was “bloody hard” explaining the complexities of Australia’s challenges after two decades of economic growth.
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government’s plan to require telecommunications companies to store detailed information about the calls and internet use of its customers for two years has been slammed by the commentariat. The Guardian’s Geordie Guy has written a cracking piece telling George Brandis to get a warrant if he wants our metadata:
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government sure does hate the internet and civil liberties. Following its plans to require internet services providers (ISPs) to police copyright (effectively removing the burden of enforcement from the digital creators and the courts), which could add around $100 million a year to the cost of providing broadband in Australia
By Leith van Onselen Fairfax Media has stepped up its attack on Joe Hockey following the Treasurer’s hissy fit over the weekend in which he accused Fairfax of “malevolent attacks” in relation to its Budget reporting. Following yesterday’s exchange, where Fairfax economics correspondent, Peter Martin, challenged Hockey to release the Treasury’s detailed modelling showing the
By Leith van Onselen After Fairfax Media revealed details yesterday of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request showing the Budget’s adverse impact on lower income earners, Treasury Joe Hockey cracked a tantrum, accusing Fairfax of “malevolent attacks”. From The Australian: Mr Hockey claimed Fairfax Media’s coverage of the Treasury analysis… failed to take account of
By Leith van Onselen What is it with the Abbott Government at the moment? Last week we learned via Treasurer Hockey’s biography that Tony Abbott’s universally condemned paid parental leave (PPL) scheme was nothing more than a thought bubble between Abbott and Rupert Murdoch, and that the Coalition party room had no input into the
From Roy Morgan: The L-NP (45.5%, up 2%) has increased its support after the Abbott Government’s strong response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, but still trails the ALP (54.5%, down 2%) on a two-party preferred basis according to today’s multi-mode Morgan Poll conducted over the last two weekends – July 19/20 &
By Leith van Onselen The fallout from Treasurer Joe Hockey’s new authorised biography – Hockey: Not Your Average Joe – continues, with The AFR’s Laura Tingle slamming the book’s poor timing and the portrayal of Hockey as a “very hollow vessel”: Unfortunately the book has emerged at perhaps the worst possible time: the budget sales pitch
By Leith van Onselen The Australian’s Dennis Shanahan has reported that Treasurer Joe Hockey’s new authorised biography – Hockey: Not Your Average Joe – has invoked the wrath of the Coalition party room, with many viewing Hockey’s public statements as an act of self-indulgent treachery: That Hockey wanted an even tougher budget with even more
By Leith van Onselen A new biography of Treasurer Joe Hockey has dropped a bomb on Tony Abbott’s contentious Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme, revealing that Abbott gave Rupert Murdoch a “full rundown” of the proposed scheme before announcing the policy in 2010 and without consulting his shadow cabinet or MPs. From The Guardian: “The
From Nielsen via the AFR comes news of Tony Abbott’s ongoing poll nightmare: Mr Hockey has lost a 17-percentage point lead he had over Mr Bowen two months before the budget and the men are now statistically tied at 43 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. Despite the fulfilment of the government’s biggest election promise, Labor leads the
From Crikey’s Poll Bludger: …The other notable feature of BludgerTrack this week is the result for Palmer United, which has tested the bounds of the error margin with an increase from 6.3% to new high of 7.5%. Here we encounter a complication, in that the model does not account for the very different picture of
By Leith van Onselen When we look back in 30 years, we are likely to view the current political term as one of the most divisive eras in Australia’s political history. Debate over the Budget has reached shambolic proportions with some $40 billion of savings measures at risk of being blocked in the Senate. We’ve
