http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/leo-shanahan/ Leo started in journalism when he published a family newspaper after reading a book called “What To Do When You’re Bored”. Fortunately being from a family of 11 the readership of the newspaper was larger than any article he has published since. He also worked out that journalism was indeed a good thing to do when you’re bored. While spending years studying arts/law at the Australian National University Leo was an enthusiatic reporter and deputy editor of the student newspaper Woroni, wrote music reviews for the Canberra Times and hosted a alternative music radio show.  While completing his honours degree in Political Science and European studies he started at The Age’s Canberra bureau as a researcher for The Age’s political editor Michelle Grattan. He soon started contributing for the Sunday Age and Sun-Herald, breaking numerous news stories and several photocopiers. Leo completed a traineeship with The Age newspaper and online in Melbourne working as a reporter in general news, business, sport and the 2007 election campaign. In an ingenious attempt to make him somebody elses’ problem Leo was sent to Canberra as a political reporter for The Age in early 2008. He joined The Punch in mid 2009 as a staff writer where he is based in Melbourne and Canberra. Leo has travelled widely, including stints studying at the University of Stockholm and working in kitchens in Italy, and he enjoys wandering the streets aimlessly until he is hungry and then eating large amounts any kind of Asian noodle soup. He has a really nice blue and white striped t-shirt. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +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/the-party-at-the-end-of-the-party/ Arriving at the Randwick Labor Club for Saturday night’s ALP election function, the staff at the desk were joking about having voted Liberal. This was obviously going to be a bad night for the Labor Party.  Like residents waiting for a massive cyclone, the Labor faithful knew when it was coming and where from; the only thing for it now was to buckle down together and wait. Needless to say, it was weird. One benefit of this particular bunker was the open bar, which was probably the most useful bit of campaign spending the NSW ALP had made in the last six weeks. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-party-at-the-end-of-the-party/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-party-at-the-end-of-the-party/#item5487 Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:05:56 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/ VB doesn’t strike you as a brand that needs protecting from being viewed as overtly cheap piss. This isn’t to bag VB, but there’s probably a reason it chose David Boon and not David Marr as a mascot. News yesterday that Foster’s stopped supply of its beers to Coles and Woolworths for a short period this month, after it emerged the warring retail giants were planning to sell VB (and possibly other brands) for as low $28 a case. Carlton & United, Foster’s beer division, have said that they stopped supply to the supermarkets out of fear their beer brands were being undervalued; according to CUB it was done to protect “the brand equity – the image of our brands”. Now you might be asking yourself how it’s possible to undervalue the Australian gold standard of cheap beer? Well you can, and it’s got something to do with the amount of beer we’re drinking - or more accurately, not drinking. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/#item5464 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:00:05 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/ While the enormity of the Japanese earthquake disaster has pushed the importance of other news to one side, there has in the last week been growing troubles at our immigration detention centres which at another time would be front page news. Last night there was another riot at the Christmas Island detention centre, involving 250 asylum seekers who armed themselves with improvised weapons, threw rocks at police and set tents and sheds alight, forcing another 280 detainees to be moved for their own safety. The Australian Federal Police have taken over security for Christmas Island which now, while already being packed, has now been further damaged according to the Department of Immigration. The death of a 20-year-old Afghan detainee at the Scherger centre in Queensland overnight has also been reported. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/#item5413 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:05:28 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/for-garnaut-its-de-ja-vu-all-over-again-carbon-price/ There was a telling first line from Professor Ross Garnaut during the launch of his latest carbon trading paper: “Well, here we are again.” It was the release of what is now Garnaut’s sixth paper, and his tomes are beginning to take on the appearance of some tragic existentialist in terms of both their size and themes. “We are living through an awful contest of knowledge versus ignorance,” was one of his more memorable lines. Like Garnaut’s previous presentations it was worthy, intelligent and held a message that the Government itself has been unable to articulate: that a price on carbon won’t raise your cost of living. Putting aside some problems with that theory, the real problem for Garnaut’s latest volume lies in the political realities it exists in. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/for-garnaut-its-de-ja-vu-all-over-again-carbon-price/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/for-garnaut-its-de-ja-vu-all-over-again-carbon-price/#item5406 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:50:36 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-things-happen-when-gangsters-play-actors/ The relationship between actors and the parts they play is an odd one. Directors in the pursuit of authenticity in their production often cast characters pulled from the same streets, and sometimes with associations to the same criminal societies from which they draw their artistic inspiration. When these actors start getting into trouble for much the same things as their characters did, it poses an interesting question: which came first, the actor or the gangster? Here’s a few notable examples of actors turned gangster, or is it the other way around? The Wire’s Felicia “Snoop” Pearson leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-things-happen-when-gangsters-play-actors/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-things-happen-when-gangsters-play-actors/#item5367 Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:40:17 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-gay-marriage-and-euthanasia-minefield/ Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been confronted by concerned members of the Labor Right over legislation that would restrict the ability of the Commonwealth to overturn territory laws. Their fear is that it would allow the territories to introduce their own laws on same-sex marriage and euthanasia, and the Prime Minister has been forced to delay her support for the bill.  Wayne Swan this morning has said the concerns are “legitimate.”  It’s a statement of the obvious that Julia Gillard is squeezed from the left by her coalition with the Greens, and from the right by the Labor party’s right wing concerned it will lose touch with increasingly angry base. Perhaps what is less clear is what the territories’ legislation will actually allow.  Legally it doesn’t actually allow gay marriage or euthanasia, but there is a divergence between legal and political realities which would open up the door to their legalisation. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-gay-marriage-and-euthanasia-minefield/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-gay-marriage-and-euthanasia-minefield/#item5296 Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:00:54 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/windors-world-of-death-threats-and-carbon-taxes/ Independent MP Tony Windsor has revealed this morning that he has received death threats following the Government’s carbon tax announcement. This follows yesterday’s decision to ask the media to gather around and listen to an abusive phone message he had received, calling him an “f’n dog” etc, etc. This is really nasty stuff and despite Windsor’s grizzled rural “she’ll be right” veneer, the member for New England is no doubt personally a bit concerned by his new role as pin cushion for anti-carbon tax hatred. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/windors-world-of-death-threats-and-carbon-taxes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/windors-world-of-death-threats-and-carbon-taxes/#item5280 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:08:07 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-01-03-11/ Expect another fiery Question Time from Canberra today with the carbon tax set to dominate the debate. Join us here on The Punch with News.com.au Political Editor Malcolm Farr from 2 PM for live blogging from the chamber, as well as anything you want to add on the days events.  Question Time Live   leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-01-03-11/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-01-03-11/#item5266 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:07:10 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-feb/ Well it’s back by popular demand: Cover it Live Question Time. Question Time We’ll be updating with Mal Farr in the House of Representatives and myself along with anyone else that wants to join in by clicking on the link above. The carbon price will dominate the debate, with both leaders desperate to claim the moral high ground with the issue. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-feb/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/question-time-live-feb/#item5248 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:30:05 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-make-or-break-carbon-price-plan/ Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced today that she intends to introduce a fixed cost for carbon emissions by July 1 2012, with the introduction of a cap and trade emissions trading scheme within three to five years after that. We’ve all known it was coming, but for a carbon price to move out of the abstract and back into the real world is a massive jolt to the political system. This announcement is a big one: for households, for business, for the environment and for Julia Gillard’s future as Prime Minister. As my colleague Samantha Maiden at the Sunday Telegraph tweeted this afternoon: “My considered if profane opinion on carbon price: Gillard is best when in combat mode. She’s just called on biggest s***tfight of her career.” True dat. leo.shanahan@thepunch.com.au (Leo Shanahan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-make-or-break-carbon-price-plan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-make-or-break-carbon-price-plan/#item5226 Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:10:02 +0000 Leo Shanahan | Author bios | The Punch