http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/war-room/ 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 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/oh-what-a-lovely-war-room-pm/ A cynic might query the timing of the announcement - as a devastating tsunami hits the Pacific, news sneaks out that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is spending $35 million on a White House-style “situation room” or war room. It will certainly come in handy when New Zealand finally declares war on us. And if you’re going to devote yourself to a life of sacrifice in public office, it seems only fair that you get your own room with big maps and lots of pins in it, so you can chart the performance of the ADF along the eastern front running from Dubbo to Orbost as our boys repel the Kiwi invaders. But maybe it’s just a huge waste of money. It’s certainly a lot of money. Seventy times more than the $500k John Howard wanted to spend on expanding meeting space in the PMO, which he was hounded over in estimates by John Faulkner and Robert Ray.  penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-what-a-lovely-war-room-pm/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/oh-what-a-lovely-war-room-pm/#item1367 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 M30o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr