Posts on sundry matters of life the universe and everything: Culture, Environment, Life, Politics & Government, Science, Social Science and Society, Technology etc.
Three articles from the weekend news media go a long way to sum up the parlous state of politics in Australia.
Guy Rundle has a piece in the Saturday Paper The political caste playing student politics in Canberra which goes a long way to explaining how this state of affairs has come to pass. Continue reading The state of politics: weekend political commentary
That’s the view of Laura Tingle in the AFR. She has plenty support.
Judges have to appear impartial. Justice Dyson Heydon has said so very forcefully in the past as a judge. Continue reading Saturday salon 15/8
On the morning before the joint party room discussion on same sex marriage I received an email from the Courier Mail with the headline
Abbott has maintained on pollie travel entitlements that the system is broken, it’s not so much the actions of individuals. Bronwyn Bishop, however, erred and was Abbott’s pick. If the system is broken, then the party in government is held responsible. Either way Abbott can’t escape. Continue reading Abbott still in the mire
As I compiled the 12 posts on our Simpson Desert crossing photos from the other nine cameras drifted in. Those from Patsy and Don, however, arrived after the series was complete. Their collection contains some excellent landscapes I certainly would have used, had they been available. This selection tells the story of our crossing with links to the earlier posts in the headings. Continue reading Simpson Desert crossing: photos from Patsy and Don
Bronwyn Bishop will have to get by on a pension of $255,000 plus 10 free domestic return flights a year if she were to take the Prime Minister’s hint and quit Parliament at the next election. Continue reading Saturday salon 8/8
Last week’s Morgan poll had Labor ahead 54-46, Essential continues at 53-47. There was no Newspoll this week but the Abbott Government’s political fortunes remain decisively buried. Interest turns to how the leaders are tracking. Here the news is that “Don’t know” and “Anyone else” are performing very well indeed. Continue reading Poll stuff 5/8
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March last year with 239 passengers and crew onboard. Now 16 months on, what appears to be the wing section of a plane has been found washed up at Reunion, a small French-owned island east of Madagascar. Continue reading Saturday salon 1/8
The Roy Morgan poll, taken over the past two weekends, headlines:
Support for the LNP is down 3 points to give Labor a lead TPP of 54-46. The Greens support is at 15% (up 1.5%) – the highest Greens vote since September 2010. Continue reading Politics after Bronnie and the ALP conference
Turning back asylum seeker boats can only be done legally and ethically, in my view, with the agreement of transitional countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Unfortunately the form of the decision made at the ALP conference makes clear that the ALP would seek to act without such agreement. Continue reading Turning back boats – only by agreement
On Wednesday, prior to COAG on Thursday, our political leaders held a summit or retreat to dicuss taxation and the future of the federation. By all accounts they enjoyed the talkfest – Jay Weatherall said it was “very positive” and that “in my sense and my operation in COAG over the last five years, this is probably the most constructive I have ever seen”.
Despite that there is no evidence they actually decided anything except lowering the threshold at which the GST applies to offshore online purchases. Continue reading Saturday salon 25/7
