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
From Roy Morgan today: If a Federal Election were held today the ALP would win easily (56.5%, down 1%) cf. L-NP (43.5%, up 1%) on a two-party preferred basis according to today’s multi-mode Morgan Poll conducted over the last two weekends – July 5/6 & 12/13, 2014. This Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted
By Leith van Onselen The Abbott Government seems to have picked a loser in announcing in the May Federal Budget that it would raise university fees and cut-back funding to universities, pushing the cost of higher education further onto young Australians. Extensive phone polling across 23 electorates and all states by UMR Research showed that
Cross-posted from The Conversation: The first sitting week of the new Senate has been a humbling experience for a government often too cocky for its own good. After fighting desperately to have the carbon tax scrapped by Thursday, a last-minute Palmer United Party amendment meant the tax’s life has been extended for at least a
By Leith van Onselen On Monday, the Canberra Times published an article claiming that the Abbott Government was considering a push by regional centres in northern Australia to decentralise the federal bureaucracy and shift public servants from Canberra to the north: The Abbott government has already indicated it is open to the idea and, if
Ask any grey beard of Australian economics about the pre-1980s period and they will describe a closed economy that relied upon protection, national champions, policy that favoured businesses not markets, comfortable relationships between unions and corporations and mateship. Although not without its flaws, Paul Kelly’s seminal work, “The End of Certainty” neatly described this as
Tony Abbott really is Australia’s answer to George W. Bush. His homespun slogans are attractive to the punters (we’ll call them the great unwashed) , as is his masculine demeanor. The same characteristics alienate the educated and chardonnay sipping middle classes (we’ll call them the wankers) who don’t really matter politically given most of Australia’s
From Crikey today: Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is the best-regarded government minister, while “Environment” Minister Greg Hunt, the author of “Direct Action”, and Education Minister Christopher Pyne are in a tight tussle for least popular minister . Turnbull has the highest approval rating and by far the highest net approval rating of any nominated minister
Roy Morgan released its latest poll today and the result will not please the government: If a Federal Election were held today the ALP would win in a landslide (57.5%, up 2%) cf. L-NP (42.5%, down 2%) on a two-party preferred basis according to today’s multi-mode Morgan Poll conducted the last two weekends – June 21/22 &
Cross-posted from The Conversation In deciding to vote against the restoration of fuel excise indexation, the Greens have let the perfect be the enemy of the good. They’ve gone against their own policy, and appeared to be all over the place in the process. The handling of the measure will reinforce the criticism of Christine
By Leith van Onselen Clive Palmer’s political theatrics are a sight to behold. Following the release of the Federal Budget, the Palmer United Party (PUP) brushed-off claims of an impending Budget emergency and vowed to oppose virtually every significant measure in the Budget, including “the imposition of a debt tax, huge cuts to public sector
By Leith van Onselen All opposition parties seem intent to follow Tony Abbott’s (aka “Dr No’s”) example in opposition and oppose nearly all attempts at sensible reform. Since the release of the Federal Budget, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has opposed the re-indexation of fuel excise, claiming that it is a broken promise by the
Find here a Lowy Institute podcast discussing the Iraq situation and whether or not Australia should send troops back in.
The news is that up to 30 diggers are returning to Baghdad to defend the embassy. Our first boots on the ground since 2011.
by Chris Becker Well its begun – here’s the first double dissolution trigger for Prime Minister Abbott to get testy on. From the ABC: The Greens and Labor today combined to vote down, by a margin of 35–28, bills which seek to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a multi-billion-dollar agency which funds renewable
It seems leaving the country has helped Prime Minister Tony Abbott rebound in the polls. From Newspoll, the Coalition clawed back one point on two-party preferred: It is more stark at Roy Morgan: If a Federal Election were held today the ALP would win easily (55.5%) cf. L-NP (44.5%) on a two-party preferred basis according
By Leith van Onselen For months, Tony Abbott’s $5.5 billion a year Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme has been condemned from every corner. Back in March, The AFR reported that former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, had cautioned against the Scheme, questioning whether it was appropriate as the Federal Budget comes under increasing pressure as the
