http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/simon-birmingham/ Simon spent his early years living with his grandmother, a war widow and school teacher, before moving with his parents to a horse agistment property at Gawler River in Adelaide’s north.  Educated at local public schools, Simon has been engaged in politics from his uni days. In between stints as an adviser and chief of staff to federal and state ministers, Simon chalked up extensive industry experience, firstly as the Australian Hotels Association’s National Public Affairs Manager and, immediately prior to his Senate appointment, as Stakeholder Relations Director for the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia. Simon was sworn in as a Liberal Senator for South Australia on budget day 2007, becoming the then youngest member of the Senate.  He has since been appointed Chair of the Senate References Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts. Simon holds a Masters of Business Administration and, despite the protestations of his Port Power following wife, can often be found in the stands or bars at AAMI stadium supporting the Adelaide Crows. 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/the-tender-trap-set-by-government-mired-in-emnity/ The commonly accepted choice between a stuff-up or a stitch-up is to go with the stuff-up.  Anyone reading the Auditor-General’s report into Labor’s botched tender for the Australia Network television service will reject that accepted wisdom and conclude a stitch-up was more likely. While the Australia Network may be Australia’s soft diplomacy channel into the Asia-Pacific, Labor’s internal wrangling over who should produce this service has involved anything but soft diplomacy.  A needless internal power game saw the most senior figures in the government face-off over the future direction of the Australia Network. Sadly, Labor wasn’t content to just battle it out amongst each other.  The owners of Sky News and the ABC were dragged into the fray as proxies in a war over a contract that need not have gone to tender in the first place. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-tender-trap-set-by-government-mired-in-emnity/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-tender-trap-set-by-government-mired-in-emnity/#item8164 Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:50:50 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-the-govt-wont-reveal-about-its-carbon-tax-plans/ If the Government really wanted us to have an informed debate on a carbon tax, it would share with us what it knows. However, we know there are things the Government knows but isn’t letting us know. The latest round of debate was sparked by Julia Gillard’s release of the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee’s paper on a carbon price mechanism. Never mind that this committee is chaired by Gillard herself, or that membership of the committee was based on preconceived support for a price on carbon. Or that Gillard solemnly promised to us before the election that there would be no carbon tax under a Government she leads. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-the-govt-wont-reveal-about-its-carbon-tax-plans/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-the-govt-wont-reveal-about-its-carbon-tax-plans/#item5350 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:45:01 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/preference-deal-paints-the-greens-as-a-pack-of-frauds/ Beware the politician who likes to claim moral superiority above other politicians.  They will likely be proven to be a hypocrite.  For today’s prize winner, meet Bob Brown. Brown likes to pretend that his party, the Greens, represent some form of new politics.  They claim to stand on principle.  In reality, they stand for themselves.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t try to con voters otherwise. Like the Christian crusader who gets outed visiting brothels, the holier than thou political change agent who strikes the same old political deals deserves our scorn.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/preference-deal-paints-the-greens-as-a-pack-of-frauds/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/preference-deal-paints-the-greens-as-a-pack-of-frauds/#item3588 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:00:44 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/green-loans-an-insulation-style-mess/ Deaths, house fires and safety concerns have seen the Rudd/Gillard Government and Peter Garrett take plenty of heat over the disastrous Home Insulation Program, but three damning reports released last week reveal the failed $300 million Green Loans program was mismanaged on a similar scale. The aforementioned deaths and house fires have understandably commanded more attention, but the scope of maladministration highlighted last week show that Peter Garrett has just as much to answer for over Green Loans and seriously calls into question the capacity of this Government to deliver whatever its latest climate change policies might entail. Of key concern is that the report of the Faulkner inquiry (conducted by former Victorian Department of Human Services secretary Patricia Faulkner) identified 149 breaches or issues with Government procurement and contracting guidelines and legislation, including deliberate and systemic breaches with allegations of kickbacks to departmental staff. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/green-loans-an-insulation-style-mess/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/green-loans-an-insulation-style-mess/#item3538 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:45:21 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/historic-meeting-makes-history-on-truly-historic-day/ Ever heard the joke about the “historic national agreement”? It was hard to miss the meeting of COAG this week, with the Prime Minister desperately offering imaginary buckets of money to bribe state Premiers into signing onto an “historic national agreement” on health reform. Funny though, I’ve heard those words used before.  And they now ring quite hollow.  Does anyone remember the “historic national agreement” on the Murray Darling Basin?  It was year one of the Rudd Government, the blame game was being ended, a new era of cooperative federalism was being hailed and Labor’s focus groups had yet to pick up voters getting weary of the Prime Minister’s initial grab-bag of clichéd phrases. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/historic-meeting-makes-history-on-truly-historic-day/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/historic-meeting-makes-history-on-truly-historic-day/#item2887 Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:40:10 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-rudd-duck-questions-at-community-cabinet-today/ Today Kevin Rudd will hold his first Community Cabinet of this election year, bringing his road show to Adelaide, no doubt with much fanfare and pageantry. According to recent news reports it also comes at not insignificant cost with taxi and hire cars fares alone clocking in at $10,000 plus for the Labor promoting talkfests. If Kevin Rudd is serious about responding to community concerns there are a number of key issues he simply cannot ignore or baffle his way out of with his usual unintelligible answers.  He must tackle these issues head on if these visits are to be of any benefit. First and foremost for South Australians and anyone who cares about the health of our rivers and river communities is our ongoing water crisis. It is clear that Kevin Rudd has not managed to ‘end the blame game’ on water as he promised. His so-called historic agreement reached in 2008 is riddled with so many loopholes and concessions to the States that he clearly should go back to the drawing board if he is serious about attaining real national management of the Murray Darling. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-rudd-duck-questions-at-community-cabinet-today/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/will-rudd-duck-questions-at-community-cabinet-today/#item2185 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:40:22 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-letter-rann-should-write-to-rudd/ In their haste to get an agreement on national management of the Murray Darling Basin Kevin Rudd and Mike Rann quite literally sold the dream. Now, as Mike Rann realises the deal he signed has left the Southern Basin high and dry despite floods flowing into the system up north, the South Australian Premier has been left so impotent that all he can do is write a letter to the Prime Minister. It is reminiscent of the satirical movie Team America: World Police who lampooned former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix over his incapacity to bring North Korea to heel, with his character saying: feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-letter-rann-should-write-to-rudd/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-letter-rann-should-write-to-rudd/#item2119 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:00:52 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-it-an-isp-filter-kevin-but-your-logic-leaks-like-a-sieve/ Much like handing out condoms with the tip cut off won’t help fight STDs, the Rudd Government’s plan to filter the internet of Refused Classification material won’t make the internet safe for children. Before the 2007 election Labor promised they would “ensure that children are protected from harmful and inappropriate online material” by introducing mandatory content filtering of all websites at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level. One might have thought that they were promising to make the internet safe for children.  It certainly sounded like it.  With the great firewall of Australia in place parents would be able leave their children in the capable hands of Uncle Kevin, net nanny extraordinaire. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-it-an-isp-filter-kevin-but-your-logic-leaks-like-a-sieve/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-it-an-isp-filter-kevin-but-your-logic-leaks-like-a-sieve/#item1689 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:45:55 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lower-voting-age-risks-lower-voting-standard/ Theodore Roosevelt once said “A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user”. As the national voting age is again a topic of debate, thanks to a recent Government Green Paper on electoral reform, these are words that we should pause to consider. At what age is it likely a voter will carefully consider and target their vote instead of just shoot from the hip as they wander into their local polling booth? Some may say never… feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lower-voting-age-risks-lower-voting-standard/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lower-voting-age-risks-lower-voting-standard/#item1442 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:50:03 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/motherhood-health-report-tells-us-what-we-already-know/ Newsflash: smoking is bad for you.  So, apparently, is drinking to excess.  And, wait for it, regularly gouging on fatty foods is no good either.  It’s shocking, I know.  Better go get a coffee to help get over it all; but do make it one of those low fat, caffeine free types so as to look after yourself. Maybe, however, you happen to be one of the 99 per cent of people who knew these things to be the facts of life already.  You may still engage in one or some of them, but you do so knowing that there are risks. This informed consent that you grant yourself is under threat.  A new buzz-phrase is sweeping the bureaucracy and is being visited upon us all.  It’s called “preventative health”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Simon Birmingham) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/motherhood-health-report-tells-us-what-we-already-know/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/motherhood-health-report-tells-us-what-we-already-know/#item1088 Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:35:21 +0000 Simon Birmingham | Author bios | The Punch