http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/marcus-kuczynski/ Marcus Kuczynski is a senior online sub-editor, moderator and blogger with The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and has worked in print, electronic and web journalism in Australia and Europe for more than 25 years. He likes to know what makes people tick and what they think. He believes online forums are a valuable and instant source of tapping public opinion and trends, and will become more so in the future. As a reporter, one of his most memorable assignments was in 1990 when he sneaked inside Europe’s last bastion of Communism, Albania, disguised as an unemployed student (because foreign journalists were banned) to reveal what life was like in a country still locked away the rest of the world. By coincidence, the Communist regime collapsed a few weeks later. Before joining The Courier-Mail, Marcus did 10 years’ penance as the editor of a weekly religious newspaper. His main interests include politics and religion. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:00:46 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:00:46 +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/carbon-tax-labors-not-listening-to-the-people/ Who is Labor listening to when it comes to policy? Senator John Faulkner last week blasted his party for setting its policies based on focus groups tapping public opinion, instead of heeding the voices of its own members. He warned that Labor risked losing a generation of supporters and voters if it did not listen to its inner voice and accept that internal debate was not disunity. In that case, whose opinion is Labor heeding in persisting with its pursuit of a proposed carbon tax? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/carbon-tax-labors-not-listening-to-the-people/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/carbon-tax-labors-not-listening-to-the-people/#item6062 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:55:38 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolyard-scuffles-at-liberal-party-college/ You know all is not well when simmering playground tensions overflow among the senior boys at the nation’s top private school, aka the federal Liberal Party. At the centre of the sparring are school captain Tony Abbott and senior prefect Malcolm Turnbull, who is reportedly keen to reclaim his captaincy after losing the previous student election. The latest incident has been blamed on a roll call tallied by chief classroom monitor Warren Entsch and a tattle tale note passed around the school naming five students who had missed class, including Master Turnbull for being absent on five occasions.  In his defence, Turnbull has questioned the record of attendance and says he was only absent for two lessons of any consequence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolyard-scuffles-at-liberal-party-college/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schoolyard-scuffles-at-liberal-party-college/#item5952 Sun, 29 May 2011 18:30:27 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Tough-times-in-taxpayer-land-only-if-youre-greedy/ When the going gets tough, life only gets tougher. That’s the feeling among many voters after last week’s federal Budget. In trying to spread the burden of cuts in order to return the economy to a fiscal surplus in two years, the Gillard Government’s self-proclaimed “tough” Budget managed to land a blow to almost everyone from the unemployed to double-income households. But it was the effect on middle-class families that has become one of the main battlegrounds in the aftermath of this Budget, with plans to freeze family payments to families on a combined income of more than $150,000 a year - saving the Government $2 billion. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Tough-times-in-taxpayer-land-only-if-youre-greedy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Tough-times-in-taxpayer-land-only-if-youre-greedy/#item5843 Sun, 15 May 2011 18:35:09 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-what-a-night-a-right-royal-retro-revival/ It was the night that Australia turned back the pages of history and showed its love affair with royalty is far from dead. Featuring a handsome prince and a beautiful bride, Friday’s fairytale wedding between William and Catherine captured the hearts of millions of true blue Aussies as they tuned in to televisions in living rooms, pubs and party venues around the nation to watch the regal celebrations unfold in London. The pomp, ceremony and celebrity of the occasion were enough to give hardened republican supporters a bad case of indigestion, but for once their complaints were swamped by the royal euphoria. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-what-a-night-a-right-royal-retro-revival/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-what-a-night-a-right-royal-retro-revival/#item5736 Sun, 01 May 2011 18:40:43 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/ Forget Iraq, Afghanistan and any other theatres of battle Australia has been involved in recent years. The Australian Defence Force is in the middle of a battle of its own - and the enemy is within. The latest flashpoint started just over a week ago after revelations that a young female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy was allegedly secretly filmed having consensual sex with a male counterpart, and that he had allegedly broadcast the tryst to other soldiers via webcam. Defence Minister Stephen Smith’s forthright and outspoken condemnation of the way the incident was handled and military culture in general blew the lid off a simmering internal dispute over incidences of bastardisation, bullying and the gender divide, and opened the wider question of whether women should be allowed to fight on the front-line. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/defence-battling-the-enemy-within/#item5648 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:35:51 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/yep-most-people-still-really-hate-dole-bludgers/ “GET a job!” It was the response to a protester from Prime Minister Paul Keating during his ill-fated 1996 election campaign that epitomised the “dole bludger” tag. The nation’s unemployment rate had spiked during his previous term and many school leavers were seen as aimless, finding it easier to rely on government welfare than to look for paid work. More than a decade on, the jobless figures have done an about-turn. In some areas there are more jobs than willing workers. But it seems the legendary dole bludger is alive and well. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/yep-most-people-still-really-hate-dole-bludgers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/yep-most-people-still-really-hate-dole-bludgers/#item5544 Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:35:06 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/online-chatter-goes-nuclear/ While Japan 2011 will be remembered for the tragic earthquake and tsunami that swept a destructive path through coastal communities, it will also go down in history as a date with destiny on the nuclear energy debate following the fallout from the Fukushima reactor emergency. Fears surrounding the ongoing crisis at the Japanese nuclear plant have seen it described as the “New Chernobyl”. The immediate scale of the disaster may not be as dire as Chernobyl but, like the Ukrainian accident, its potential to set back for years the proliferation of nuclear energy as an alternative to carbon-based sources of power is equally as significant. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/online-chatter-goes-nuclear/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/online-chatter-goes-nuclear/#item5425 Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:35:20 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/myschool-revives-the-private-vs-public-debate/ My school is better than yours - it’s the seesawing debate that never ends when it comes to the class divide over state versus private education. Rather than helping to resolve the argument, the launch of the revamped My School website on Friday – for the first time allowing parents to compare funding levels for individual schools – has drawn criticism from both state and private school supporters and has only deepened the row. Dispelling the old bang for your bucks theory, the site found the most elite private schools have at their disposal at least twice the income of the average government school, but their students do not necessarily perform any better in national tests than their state school system cousins. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/myschool-revives-the-private-vs-public-debate/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/myschool-revives-the-private-vs-public-debate/#item5308 Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:45:14 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/multiculturalism-is-Australias-great-divide/ It’s the great Australian amnesia. We sometimes forget who we are and where we came from. For a nation of immigrants, whose cultural diversity helped shape this adopted homeland, there are those who would like to keep Australia just as it is – or was. The ongoing debate over who to let into the country and who to keep out found new impetus last week when Immigration Minister Chris Bowen delved into a 1970s timewarp and resurrected the multicultural mantra - the policy that launched a melting pot of ideals on living together in perfect harmony. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/multiculturalism-is-Australias-great-divide/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/multiculturalism-is-Australias-great-divide/#item5188 Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:35:15 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pain-will-persist-well-beyond-this-summer-of-disasters/ FLOODS, cyclones and bushfires have torn apart people’s lives and communities in recent weeks, but it’s their legacy that could be even more painful. Hearts went out to the victims of the Queensland floods in particular, galvanising a wave of support around the country and raising hundreds of millions of dollars in donations. At the same time, floods and bushfires spanning the eastern states through to the west spread the suffering. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marcus Kuczynski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pain-will-persist-well-beyond-this-summer-of-disasters/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pain-will-persist-well-beyond-this-summer-of-disasters/#item5065 Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:35:43 +0000 Marcus Kuczynski | Author bios | The Punch