http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/simon-benson/ Simon Benson is Chief Political Reporter for The Daily Telegraph. He was the former State Political Editor and the past President of the NSW Press Gallery, and a good mate of Penbo’s. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +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/butchers-papering-over-the-cracks-in-caucus/ Julia Gillard will need to do more to win over the MPs who have deserted her than the offer of a sizzled sausage and a weekend whiteboard session. The love may have come too late. With Parliament due to resume in less than two weeks, the fragility of the PM’s leadership will be the issue she most has to deal with. And for her, there can be no moving forward from the horrors of last year, until she gets the monkey off her back. For that reason, Labor MPs are left with little doubt that the so called special caucus “planning day” scheduled for the Sunday before Parliament resumes, is all about Kevin Rudd. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Benson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/butchers-papering-over-the-cracks-in-caucus/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/butchers-papering-over-the-cracks-in-caucus/#item7603 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:45:58 +0000 Simon Benson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/PM-beware-former-foes-dining-in-fancy-restaurants/ BY all accounts it was an extraordinary sight. Kevin Rudd was in flying form. As were his guests. Last Saturday night, while dining at Noosa’s trendy eatery, Bistro C, adoring patrons mobbed the foreign minister’s table. They flattered and fawned over the local celebrity, who was born nearby in the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. An obliging Rudd did his best to accommodate them, leaving his guests at the table to stand arm in arm for group shots with his fans. He was in his element. But that wasn’t the most extraordinary of things. Few people noticed the other man sitting at the table with him. And why would they. The former Attorney General Robert McClelland, dumped only last month in Julia Gillard’s frontbench reshuffle, is hardly a household name in Queensland or a face that many would necessarily recognise. But there he was, the political cuckold, dining with Rudd and several members of their families, as if they were long time friends. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Benson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/PM-beware-former-foes-dining-in-fancy-restaurants/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/PM-beware-former-foes-dining-in-fancy-restaurants/#item7526 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:55:17 +0000 Simon Benson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/backroom-politics-crash-the-party/ WHEN Abraham Lincoln famously said that a house divided against itself cannot stand, he didn’t have the Liberal Party in mind. But had he been born 250 years later, he may well have. Although, in the case of the Libs it’s more of a church than a house. Tony Abbott and Barry O’Farrell may be breathing a sigh of relief after the party’s NSW upper house preselection vote on Friday which saw David Clarke, the so called head of the party’s “religious right” fend off a challenge from the less religious right. But what will concern them is that Clarke won by only 14 votes, which means in real terms that 7 more people voted for him than David Elliot, the former Australian Hotels Association executive being backed by Clarke’s former staffer Alex Hawke. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Benson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/backroom-politics-crash-the-party/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/backroom-politics-crash-the-party/#item2454 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:00:29 +0000 Simon Benson | Author bios | The Punch