http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/nic-christensen/ Nic Christensen is a journalist, radio producer and self confessed ‘politics geek’. He is currently employed as a journalist with The Australian where he writes the ‘Twitterati’ column and does other assorted reporting jobs. On Sunday evenings you can also find him moonlighting as producer at Radio 2GB on the Reverend Bill Crews show. He has previously worked as a general news reporter with The Daily Telegraph and before that as freelance journalist for Fairfax Media. In 2009, his investigation of Chinese businessmen Dr Chau Chak Wing outed the Chinese born billionaire as the biggest foreign-based donor to Australia’s political parties. This investigation saw him awarded Student Journalist of the Year by the Walkley Foundation. At various times he has also tackled investigations on the NSW Liberal Party inter-factional war, waste and mismanagement in Australia’s foreign aid program and lax regulation of foreign investment in Australia’s agricultural sector. 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/ho-ho-ho-being-santas-a-pretty-tough-gig/ Rule 1 - Santa never asks children whether they have been naughty or nice. These days all kids are nice (apparently…) Rule 2 - Santa needs to regulate his ho-ho-hos to a moderate level so as to not scare small children. Therefore, the large bellowing ‘HO-HO-HO’ is a no-no. Rule 3 – Santa needs to keep his hands visible at all times, especially when photos are taken. This rule is legally in Santa’s best (legal) interests. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ho-ho-ho-being-santas-a-pretty-tough-gig/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ho-ho-ho-being-santas-a-pretty-tough-gig/#item4279 Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:45:03 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-just-did-what-the-rise-of-the-oversharers/ The image below is map of Australia but it’s not just any map, it is taken from a social media website called ijustmadelove.com. Yes, it’s a map logging the location, time and date of where people have had sex. It also allows them to detail what type of sex they had, whether it was inside, outdoors or on a boat and to rate it using a 5 star system. It is, in many ways, a sign of the increasing trend within society to reveal more and more private information and explains why in 2008 Webster’s dictionary had to create a new word – “overshare”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-just-did-what-the-rise-of-the-oversharers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/you-just-did-what-the-rise-of-the-oversharers/#item3298 Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:50:47 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ausaid-could-tell-you-but-then-theyd-have-to/ When you think of Canberra’s more secretive agencies, Australia’s spy agencies – ASIO and ASIS – usually come to mind. It’s likely that the agency responsible for delivering bikes to poor Aids ravaged Africans, in a country with little or no public transport like Namibia, is not top of the list. Yet as today’s News Limited investigation shows, AusAID is an agency with a secretive culture that rejects the accountability and transparency it demands of aid recipients such as the Bicycle Empowerment Network. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ausaid-could-tell-you-but-then-theyd-have-to/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ausaid-could-tell-you-but-then-theyd-have-to/#item3142 Sun, 23 May 2010 18:40:20 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerbilgate/ If you thought the Catherine Deveny-Fairfax-Twitter saga was over, think again. Another similar but less blockbusting sequel has unfolded which has already, uncharitably, been labelled Gerbilgate. (Photo from Art Sarah on Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0) It began on Saturday night when columnist Miranda Devine became involved in a “tweet war” with a 20-year-old university student named Justin Barbour. Devine suggested that Barbour “rogers” gerbils. In the wake of Catherine Deveny’s sacking last week, Twitterers have started baying for Devine’s blood – but before you make up your mind on this latest development, here is some background. (Justin Barbour’s reaction is below, too.) feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerbilgate/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gerbilgate/#item3034 Sun, 09 May 2010 10:13:24 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-week-for-free-speech-on-social-media/ We’re often keen to highlight the democratic benefits of social media, especially in bringing greater openness to a country such as Iran. But this week, in Australia, we’ve seen a debate over online political censorship, with the banning of Facebook groups such as “KEVIN RUDD = EPIC FAIL”, that it makes you wonder if we’ve forgotten that the power of social media lies in its ability to embrace dissent and criticism. In the online world, dissent is not just allowed. It is central to social media’s political power. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-week-for-free-speech-on-social-media/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bad-week-for-free-speech-on-social-media/#item2342 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:40:25 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-censorship-rudd-epic-fail-group-goes-offline/ Yesterday, we told you about the South Australian government’s attempts at internet censorship. Today, we can reveal that online political speech has been dealt another blow with Facebook, the popular social networking site, being accused of political censorship after it removed the group “KEVIN RUDD = EPIC FAIL”. Before it was removed the Facebook group is understood to have had over 3000 members and focused on building a list what it described as Kevin Rudd’s broken promises. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-censorship-rudd-epic-fail-group-goes-offline/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/more-censorship-rudd-epic-fail-group-goes-offline/#item2305 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:54:44 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/introducing-the-kevin-rudd-cliche-drinking-game/ Dear Mr Rudd, can I just say this that while there are no silver bullets to the problem could you take some decisive action, when it comes to your use of cliché; as working families would prefer you take whatever action is necessary to end your use of the phrase “course of action”?  Phew – the top seven Rudd clichés all in one sentence. I think I might just need a drink, in due season… As parliament resumes today, The Punch decided it might be worthwhile to use the Parliamentary Hansard take a look at Prime Minister’s favourite parliamentary clichés of 2009. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/introducing-the-kevin-rudd-cliche-drinking-game/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/introducing-the-kevin-rudd-cliche-drinking-game/#item2286 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:50:14 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/You-need-to-be-a-super-spy-to-find-a-Turnbull-supporter/ It’s Monday morning and my phone rings. The voice on the other end of the line booms “You mission should you choose to accept it is to find out what people think of Malcolm Turnbull. Do you accept?” Ok so sometimes in my head, interning at The Punch is a bit like working for a spy organisation such as the CIA, ASIO, or all too often CONTROL. I find myself sent on assignments all over the place, dealing with sometime hostile encounters and always gathering information to send back to HQ for analysis. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/You-need-to-be-a-super-spy-to-find-a-Turnbull-supporter/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/You-need-to-be-a-super-spy-to-find-a-Turnbull-supporter/#item1506 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:30:54 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/ High school students in NSW may not know how they are judged by prospective universities and the admissions system needs a review – according to the man who designed it. The scheme’s founder is calling for an inquiry into the university admissions system arguing recent changes have led to the loss of transparency for students and parents. In an interview with The Punch, Professor George Cooney listed a series of changes by universities to the admissions process that he believes are undermining openness in the admissions system. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/university-admissions-call-for-review/#item1245 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:53:17 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/poor-to-pretentious-in-one-generation-balmain/ Standing outside the Unity Hall Hotel, in Darling Street Balmain, Jan doesn’t hold back. She stands for everything that Old Balmain was, working class, down to earth, unpretentious and with a village atmosphere. VIDEO: Poser Australia The Punch speaks with locals in Balmain, NSW. // Jan doesn’t like how the place has changed. To her Balmain used to be a “kooky” place, with a sense of community but now “we call it Yuppieville… it’s the people moving in that can afford the extravagant rents and the house prices.” Further down the road at the London Hotel, you can still see the vestiges of the Balmain of yesteryear. It is buildings such as the London Hotel (built in 1870) hold an important place in Australia’s political and social history. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Nic Christensen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/poor-to-pretentious-in-one-generation-balmain/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/poor-to-pretentious-in-one-generation-balmain/#item1128 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:35:39 +0000 Nic Christensen | Author bios | The Punch