http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/james-norman/ James Norman is a Melbourne based journalist, author and communications coordinator for an international NGO. He has been widely published in the Australian media including The Age, The Australian, Financial Review, Herald Sun, etc. James is also an author published by Allen & Unwin. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Who-wants-to-be-a-Milne-heir/ Since the huge news of Bob Brown’s retirement last week, new leader Christine Milne has emerged as a leader just as canny as her predecessor, crafting her own stamp on the party leadership rather than walking in anyone’s shadow. Despite her somewhat school matronly exterior, the new leader is emerging as a tough, razor sharp and sophisticated player in Federal politics. Bob Brown has left the party in its strongest ever position. The reality facing the Labor Party now is that it can’t survive without the Greens. With the latest polls showing the ALP at 29 percent and the Greens around 14, there are only 15 percentage points now separating the two parties in terms of popularity among voters. The Greens have cemented themselves as the third political party in Australia, and the ALP had better look out the Greens don’t swallow them up. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Norman) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Who-wants-to-be-a-Milne-heir/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Who-wants-to-be-a-Milne-heir/#item8264 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:55:35 +0000 James Norman | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Your-taxes-hard-at-work-making-mushroom-clouds/ When David Gonski fronted up to his first day of work as the new Chairman of the Future Fund this week, he walked into a flurry of controversy from unexpected quarters. Not only was Gonski’s appointment ungraciously questioned by Peter Costello (who felt entitled to the position himself) but he was also subjected to a small band of gas-mask wearing demonstrators outside the Fund’s Melbourne office demanding that the Australian tax-payers money should not be channeled through the Future Fund into companies that manufacture nuclear weapons. By midweek, online activist group GetUp! had send an email to hundreds of thousands of Australians about the future fund’s activities and, by Thursday, over ten thousand had signed an online petition. It was clear that Gonski may have inherited more toxic skeletons in the Future Funds closet from its former Chairman David Murray than he had bargained for. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Norman) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Your-taxes-hard-at-work-making-mushroom-clouds/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Your-taxes-hard-at-work-making-mushroom-clouds/#item8187 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:55:58 +0000 James Norman | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bob-brown-must-face-down-the-extreme-greens/ It came as a surprise to some that Bob Brown was acknowledged as our most influential politician in The Australian‘s Top 50 survey of Australia’s most powerful figures in politics. If the claim had been made by the ABC or Fairfax it might have been easily dismissed as preferential bias - but coming from the Oz it can only be taken as a disgruntled admission of the Green leader’s success and political prowess. Despite what we might personally think about the Greens’ policies, if we look at the current state of play in Canberra its hard to argue with The Australian‘s assessment. The Greens leader is the most stable and secure party leader in the Australian parliament. Despite being just a few years younger than John Howard, Brown appears to be in his political prime. His status is international - as the man who founded the world’s first ever Green Party in Tasmania in the 1970s and took his vision all the way to the national stage. As a politician, he has outlived them all. Bob Brown has even been described by Tony Abbott as the “real Prime Minister” of Australia. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Norman) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bob-brown-must-face-down-the-extreme-greens/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bob-brown-must-face-down-the-extreme-greens/#item7722 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:40:11 +0000 James Norman | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/go-directly-to-jail-do-not-pass-year-six/ In Texas and in many other parts of the US, the government has hit upon a neat new approach to dealing with troublesome students in schools. Instead of old-fashioned methods like detention or sitting in the corner of the classroom, the State has employed a legion of armed police to patrol the state’s school corridors. That means hundreds of students are finding themselves charged in the school grounds with offences such as ‘disrupting class’ and are being forced to appear in court. For many, the charges lead to prison terms, in what has been described as a ‘schools-to-prison’ pipeline. These are not rare or extreme cases. This is not a nightmare vision conjured up in the pages of a George Orwell novel. In fact right now, hundreds of students are being charged daily with offences ranging from swearing in school, being late to school, playing up on the school bus, smoking cigarettes or wearing inappropriate clothing. In 2010 close to 300 000 tickets were issued to schoolchildren as young as six in schools - resulting in fines, community service and prison terms. feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Norman) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/go-directly-to-jail-do-not-pass-year-six/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/go-directly-to-jail-do-not-pass-year-six/#item7669 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:45:54 +0000 James Norman | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/ Stepping out for a fun night and a few drinks sure isn’t as simple as it used to be. In case you hadn’t noticed, an increasing number of Australian bars and clubs are introducing security technology that would be more fittingly encountered in a Police state than a casual night out for a drink in one of Australia ‘s cities. In a dystopian display of modern surveillance technologies overtaking common sense, nowadays if you feel inclined to venture out for a dance in one of Melbourne or Sydney ‘s bars or clubs, you can expect to have your ID scanned into a computer. And in extreme cases, be prepared to have your irises scanned as a pre-requisite for entry. Talk about a party killer! feedback@thepunch.com.au (James Norman) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#item7562 Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:00:04 +0000 James Norman | Author bios | The Punch