http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/government/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +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/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/ It all started with the empty fruit bowl on a stark kitchen bench in Altona. The Fairfax profile of Julia Gillard in her first early days of prime ministership was a sign of times to come. Being Australia’s first female PM was going to be far from easy. From grooming, decorum and the sound of her voice, to the appropriateness of her relationship with de facto partner, Tim Mathieson. To the lack of emotion displayed on cue from the devastation of the Queensland floods.  When it comes to scrutiny of the personal nature, as a politician Julia Gillard has copped more than most.  As a prime minster it’s been unprecedented. The only real question is why. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-it-sexist-weve-got-nothing-to-compare-it-to/#item7694 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-our-alternative-australian-citizenship-test/ Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-our-alternative-australian-citizenship-test/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/take-our-alternative-australian-citizenship-test/#item7612 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-fought-the-public-service-and-the-public-service-won/ It is one of life’s rich curiosities that the primary function of any government department is to make its citizenry despise it. This is most pronounced at the national passport office, where prior to confirming you are a citizen of Australia the bureaucratic apparatus feels it must first provide you with a host of reasons why you would not want to be. Australian passports last for 10 years, because that is how long it takes the Department of Foreign Affairs to process a new one. But recently there have been some great breakthroughs in this area. Now it only takes them two weeks to renew your passport - still slow by real world standards but the blink of an eye in the public service. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-fought-the-public-service-and-the-public-service-won/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/i-fought-the-public-service-and-the-public-service-won/#item7398 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/anyone-but-gillard-vs-anyone-but-rudd/ When Julia Gillard walked into a press conference on Monday to announce a new ministerial line-up, it was already being reported that she had been stared down by her own ministers. Just weeks after the triumph of securing an extra number in parliament via Peter Slipper’s appointment as Speaker, her limited authority in the party, evident at National Conference, had been graphically laid bare. Two ministers, the popular but factionally unaligned Peter Garrett, and the ultra-cautious Attorney General Robert McClelland, had simply refused to fall on their swords. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/anyone-but-gillard-vs-anyone-but-rudd/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/anyone-but-gillard-vs-anyone-but-rudd/#item7390 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/loyalty-rewarded-as-gillard-shuffles-cabinet/ Revenge or reward? News broke this morning of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet reshuffle. Out with (some) of the old, and in with (some) of the new. It’s alleged that ministers who have expressed their support for Kevin Rudd, will fare the worst. Loyal supporters can expect a promotion. Small Business Minister Nick Sherry has already stepped down. Follow all of the action as it unfolds at News.com.au. The Kevin Rudd hoo-doo will be linked to every appointment made by Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Each new minister, and the relocated ones, will be weighed on the Gillard-Rudd scales. The ministerial overhaul is aimed at filling a vacancy and reinforcing the Government’s campaign to make jobs and economic stability the central theme for 2012. Small Business Minister Nick Sherry provided the vacancy and few would question that the Government needs a sharper focus for the coming year. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/loyalty-rewarded-as-gillard-shuffles-cabinet/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/loyalty-rewarded-as-gillard-shuffles-cabinet/#item7356 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-long-road-that-leads-away-from-struggle-street/ News.com.au has today published the results of its exclusive Cost of Living survey, and the results are a major eye-opener. The take home message is this: a huge number of us say we’re struggling. Reading the survey, which was taken by 30,000 Australians, you wouldn’t know that we’re one of the world’s 10 wealthiest nations in raw GDP per capita terms. Neither would you think we managed to surf out the worst of the global financial crisis. Or crises. Or whatever. The national breakdown is as follows. Forty-eight per cent of us say we are “managing to get by”, 28 per cent of place ourselves on “Struggle St”, 17 per cent are “barely coping” while 7 per cent of us are on “Easy St”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-long-road-that-leads-away-from-struggle-street/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-long-road-that-leads-away-from-struggle-street/#item7309 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbott-cant-give-a-straight-answer-on-gay-marriage/ The intense gay lobby is still furious that Labor has declared a conscience vote on same-sex marriage, and Tony Abbott probably is just as angry. But from that point, the two camps divide. The Opposition is under no obligation - moral or political - to allow its MPs a conscience vote on same-sex marriage just because Labor needed to approve one to rescue Julia Gillard’s authority. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott would be perfectly entitled, should his shadow cabinet back him, to tell his troops the Coalition would have a fixed position which all would be asked to support. And it is likely that position would be one of total rejection. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbott-cant-give-a-straight-answer-on-gay-marriage/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/abbott-cant-give-a-straight-answer-on-gay-marriage/#item7300 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-inject-some-rational-thought-into-anti-vaxxers/ The Government has hoisted up a large and slightly unwieldy carrot to boost immunisation rates. Families could miss out on around $2100 if the kids don’t get their jabs. The announcement comes in the midst of a whooping cough outbreak, and at a time when clusters of non-vaccinators are allowing preventable diseases to incubate. The Government’s changes, which will mean those who don’t immunise will not be eligible for three payments of $729 under Family Tax Benefit A, is well intentioned, if clumsy. Under the current system families get an immunisation allowance – even if they are “conscientious objectors” – but this will now be scrapped, while more immunisations will be added to the schedule. Here’s the likely outcome. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-inject-some-rational-thought-into-anti-vaxxers/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-inject-some-rational-thought-into-anti-vaxxers/#item7254 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Shock-and-awe-in-the-war-over-ore/ West Australia’s Pilbara is populated by oversized creations, from trucks which can carry 360 tonnes to ships which can cart close to 150,000 tonnes of ore around the world. But perhaps nothing is bigger than the brawl between the big iron ore producers, and the smaller outfits represented most loudly by Fortescue Metals Group. This is an eye-gouging, rolling-in-the-red-dust, steel-capped boots affair which will barrel into Parliament this week as the Government attempts to pass the $11 billion Minerals Resource Rental Tax (MRRT). feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Shock-and-awe-in-the-war-over-ore/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Shock-and-awe-in-the-war-over-ore/#item7193 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up! http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-junk-the-junkets/ When I was working at Melbourne’s Herald Sun, I reported on an MP who’d used taxpayer funds to fly herself and her partner to Europe for a guided bus tour of the Continent. The trip was justified as a fact-finding mission on the use of public rubbish bins, which she’d dutifully photographed out of the window of her comfy Trafalgar bus. Needless to say she wasn’t too happy with the story, which ran with a headline along the lines of “MP’s tour of rubbish”. And when Victorians next went to the polls, democracy left her on the heap. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-junk-the-junkets/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/time-to-junk-the-junkets/#item7189 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Around Australia today as the snags sizzle and the beers flow cold and bitter, people will also be becoming Australian citizens. The Government says a bunch of boring questions plus a bit of pomp and ceremony allow someone to declare ‘I am Australian’. Which is a great thing, don’t get us wrong. We just thought the questions are probably due for a revamp. So here’s our Alternative Australian Citizenship Test. Answers are in! Yet-to-be-confirmed prize at this stage goes to S.L because he looks like he needs some cheering up!