http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/laurie-oakes/ Laurie Oakes, one of Australia’s foremost political commentators, has had a distinguished career in journalism that spans more than 30 years. Oakes is renowned for his probing interviews and Canberra-shaking scoops, including the travel rorts saga, the Evans and Kernot affair and breaking stories on the Kevin Rudd-Julia Gillard leadership fight that changed the course of the 2010 election campaign. By the age of 25, he was The Melbourne Sun-Pictorial’s Canberra bureau chief. While reporting for this paper, Oakes also provided political commentaries for the Seven Network’s Willesee At Seven program. In 1978 he started his own political journal, The Laurie Oakes Report. The following year he joined Channel 10, where he stayed for five years before moving to the Nine Network. For several years Oakes wrote about politics in The Age in Melbourne and The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney as well as the Bulletin magazine. Oakes is Channel Nine’s Political Editor at the Canberra Press Gallery and News Limited columnist. In 2010 he won the Gold Walkley Award for stories he broke during the 2010 election. en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +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/abbotts-jokes-are-no-laughing-matter/ He’s a card, that Tony Abbott. If he’s not widely known for his sense of humour, he should be. He must surely have been joking yesterday morning, when he told journalists:“One thing you’ll never see from me is any attempt to divide Australians on the basis of…where they were born”. This form of humour is called irony - the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. There was another apparent example of Abbott’s fondness for irony earlier in the week when he said: “I’ll tell you what we’ll never do.We won’t run around the place criticising foreigners.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-jokes-are-no-laughing-matter/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbotts-jokes-are-no-laughing-matter/#item10742 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:00:42 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-labor-to-plan-what-to-do-when-they-lose/ The federal election might still be seven months away, but things are so grim for the Labor Party that minds are almost certainly being turned to a 2013 version of The Embassy Rooftop Strategy. “It’s time to start wheeling the choppers out of their hangars,” an ALP veteran said yesterday, in reference to an operation mounted by a handful of MPs, party officials and government staffers before the 1996 election. There is very little doubt now that Julia Gillard’s government is going to lose on September 14, and lose badly. Labor realists predict privately that the result will be worse than Paul Keating’s 1996 defeat; worse even than the anti-Whitlam routs of 1975 and 1977. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-labor-to-plan-what-to-do-when-they-lose/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-for-labor-to-plan-what-to-do-when-they-lose/#item10661 Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:35:57 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-election-campaign-is-still-about-these-two-men/ As Tony Abbott pressed the flesh at a community morning tea in suburban Melbourne on Wednesday, there was a moment of delightful candour. “If I don’t win this election I’ll have to leave the country,” he told a well-wisher. “I’d be the world’s greatest pariah.” Just a couple of hours after that, Julia Gillard fired the starter’s gun for the longest campaign in Australian history with her announcement that polling day will be September 14. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-election-campaign-is-still-about-these-two-men/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-election-campaign-is-still-about-these-two-men/#item10530 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:59:28 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-will-be-an-apocalypse-under-the-government-I-lead/ There’s precious little fun in politics these days. When our elected representatives are not slagging off at each other, they’re reciting lifeless slogans scripted by media advisers. Humour, for the most part, doesn’t get a look in. It’s too risky. Better to stay slavishly on message, even if it bores the pants off the punters. So congratulations to Julia Gillard for having the guts to enjoy a bit of a laugh by joining in a radio station spoof about the end of the world. The prime minister’s YouTube address - “My dear remaining fellow Australians , the end of the world is coming” - revealed a comic talent she usually keeps well hidden. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-will-be-an-apocalypse-under-the-government-I-lead/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/there-will-be-an-apocalypse-under-the-government-I-lead/#item10187 Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:00:08 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-parliament-put-the-Christmas-grinch-out-of-work/ When parliament adjourned on Thursday night and MPs left Canberra for the long Christmas break, any sane person would have been thinking: “Good riddance!” It had been a toxic day to end a toxic parliamentary year. Even when Julia Gillard attempted to pay tribute to Ricky Ponting after his retirement announcement there was uproar. “Good example. Why don’t you follow it?” yelled an Opposition member. Others on the Coalition benches joined in the shouting. “Order!” cried speaker Anna Burke. “I think the nation would be rather disappointed that, when we are talking about one of our cricket greats, you cannot even allow it to be heard. That is just ridiculous.“Ridiculous, yes. Childish, ugly and stupid as well. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-parliament-put-the-Christmas-grinch-out-of-work/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-parliament-put-the-Christmas-grinch-out-of-work/#item10130 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:55:08 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-my-god-gillard-and-abbott-agree-on-something/ We are about to embark on the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, and it promises to be ugly. Speaker Anna Burke will earn her money. The complete collapse of the Government’s measures to discourage boats loaded with asylum seekers from reaching our shores has the Coalition even more fired up than usual. Julia Gillard no longer seems to have any defence against the charge that Labor opened our borders to people smugglers when it dismantled the Howard government’s policies. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-my-god-gillard-and-abbott-agree-on-something/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-my-god-gillard-and-abbott-agree-on-something/#item10073 Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:00:08 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whirling-dervish-tony-needs-to-keep-fighting-smarter/ In a radio interview during the week, Tony Abbott gave a vivid description of his style in the ring when he won boxing blues as a student at Oxford University. “I was basically a whirling dervish,” he said. “I just went in, arms flailing. My intention in the ring was to knock them out before they had the chance to do the same to me.” He added: “I had four fights. I had four wins. What do you expect? They were all Poms.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whirling-dervish-tony-needs-to-keep-fighting-smarter/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whirling-dervish-tony-needs-to-keep-fighting-smarter/#item10010 Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:55:46 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pinnocchio-the-future-of-australian-politics/ Back in March, when the US presidential election campaign was in its early stages, the Washington Post newspaper awarded Barack Obama four Pinocchios. This signified that, in the eyes of the newspaper’s full-time political fact-checker, the president had been caught out telling a blatant porkie. Obama had claimed that Grover Cleveland, who served two terms as president in the late 19th century, disliked technology and was opposed to the telephone. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pinnocchio-the-future-of-australian-politics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pinnocchio-the-future-of-australian-politics/#item9949 Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:00:46 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/standing-on-the-edge-of-a-fiscal-cliff-in-a-stiff-breeze/ Wayne Swan will be Johnny-on-the-spot on Tuesday, holding talks in Washington on the day Americans vote to decide who will be their president for the next four years. Debate over economic policy dominated the campaign and will almost certainly be crucial in determining whether Barack Obama gets another term or is replaced by Republican Mitt Romney. Swan will obviously take a keen interest in the result. But the Treasurer will be more concerned about a matter that - while it hardly got a mention in the campaign - could plunge the US into recession within months, with inevitable consequences for Australia. It is known as “the fiscal cliff”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/standing-on-the-edge-of-a-fiscal-cliff-in-a-stiff-breeze/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/standing-on-the-edge-of-a-fiscal-cliff-in-a-stiff-breeze/#item9894 Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:00:46 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/joe-hockey-sticks-up-economic-opportunism/ The policy bigwigs who heard Joe Hockey’s provocative speech to the Institute of Economic Affairs in London back in April could hardly help but be impressed. Here was a leading politician arguing for cutbacks in welfare payments. Voters, he said, must be told that “the age of entitlement is over”. Indeed, that was the title of his speech. You can imagine the audience thinking: “What courage! There should be more politicians like this - prepared to tell unpalatable truths and ignore the political risk.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Laurie Oakes) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/joe-hockey-sticks-up-economic-opportunism/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/joe-hockey-sticks-up-economic-opportunism/#item9836 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:00:22 +0000 Laurie Oakes | Author bios | The Punch