http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/kelvin-bissett/ Nine Network Investigations Editor Kelvin Bissett believes there is a public right to know. And he especially wants to know what it is that the politicians and their bureaucrats desperately want to keep secret. Reportage based on spin and strategic leaks are for others - Kelvin’s desire is to reveal the truth and untold stories behind government decision making. After a brief cadetship with Cumberland Newspapers, Kelvin joined the Daily Mirror in 1990 and after its closure, the Daily Telegraph. With the election of the Carr Government in 1995, Kelvin spent a marathon seven-year stint on the NSW Parliament press gallery covering transport, education, health and legal reform. He tried his hand at a number of senior production roles and Business Editor before being appointed in 2004 to pioneer the newspaper’s Freedom of Information investigation program. Kelvin joined the Nine Network’s news team in March 2009. He lives on Sydney’s North Shore with his adored wife Didi and their children Jemima and Joseph. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +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/myschool-wowsers-trying-to-lock-out-parents/ School league tables splashed across newspapers earlier this year, heralding an unprecedented era of education openness in this country, are on death watch. A coalition of teachers unions, academics and public education advocates are well advanced with their mission to strangle through technological modifications any further league tables in 2011. The tables ranking of individual schools for literacy and numeracy were the most sensational outcome the MySchool website, arguably Prime Minister’s greatest reform triumph as Education Minister. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kelvin Bissett) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/myschool-wowsers-trying-to-lock-out-parents/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/myschool-wowsers-trying-to-lock-out-parents/#item3694 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:45:30 +0000 Kelvin Bissett | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Another-43117-Aussies-are-suddenly-disabled/ A cash giveaway to millions of pensioners last year has triggered an outbreak of crook backs. The nation has for years watched on as a growing army of pensioned-off disabled workers, many of them dispirited middle-aged blokes, has emerged.  But it can now be revealed the Rudd Government’s generosity on September 20, 2009 in giving Australians on the Age Pension and Disability Support Pensions a one-off pay rise of to $65 a fortnight had the unintended result of adding tens of thousands of new recruits to the army disabled workers. Centrelink documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal how in the six months after the pay rise a further 43,117 new Disabled Support Pensioners joined the ranks. In October alone, in the weeks after the pension pay boost, 8,615 applicants were approved. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kelvin Bissett) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Another-43117-Aussies-are-suddenly-disabled/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Another-43117-Aussies-are-suddenly-disabled/#item2876 Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:55:48 +0000 Kelvin Bissett | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pimp-my-mp/ When it comes to the cars parked in the garages of our Federal parliamentarians, saving the planet for the kids and grandkids doesn’t get a look-in. Our Federal MPs, apart from a few Opposition hard heads, for some time have been issuing worthy public words about the need for urgent global action to stop greenhouse catastrophe. As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said earlier this month, referring to the need for his Emissions Trading Scheme to get through parliament: “Denying climate change is bad for our kids, it is bad for our grandkids”. But it’s clear that big, Aussie-made, carbon fuel-gulping grunt that MPs from all major parties want to drive under a taxpayer-funded perk costing about $5 million a year. They want a big donk under the bonnet. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Kelvin Bissett) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pimp-my-mp/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pimp-my-mp/#item1989 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:00:42 +0000 Kelvin Bissett | Author bios | The Punch