Coalition

In music, “polyphony” is when a composition has more than one melody playing at the same time. This term should be adapted for the political sphere. So, all and sundry, I hereby declare the label ‘polliephony’ be applied to those times when pollies try and win both sides of the argument - in other words, when they try to walk both sides of the street.

Polliephony is unfortunately a technique that is pervasive in almost all Australian political debates. However, for purposes of “programmatic specificity”, I’ll focus on its use in the asylum seeker debate.  This is because the asylum seeker debate is ripe for the use of polliephony, as it has two distinct sides of the street to walk on: one ‘tough’ and the other ‘humane’. 

Which brings us to one of the more remarkable and indelible uses of polliephony in modern Australian politics. Kevin “Bonhoeffer” Rudd’s notorious “tough but humane” approach to border protection.

Continue reading "Phony pollies and polyphony on asylum seekers" »

On Tuesday, Tony Abbott implored his troops not to blow it. But some in the Coalition worry that it’s not their ill-discipline that could derail them so much as his unflinching faith in populism.

Dragged to Canberra for an unwelcome interruption to his barnstorming “stop the carbon tax” tour, Abbott is solidly on track to become the country’s next prime minister. If there is an “embuggerance” to the plan, as military types say, it is that the next election is more than two full years away.

Still, his success is remarkable given how improbable it seemed when he emerged as the wild-card winner of his party’s late 2009 leadership conniptions.

Continue reading "The next federal election is Abbott’s to lose" »

Julie Bishop late yesterday confirmed that there had been some throwing of crockery in the shadow cabinet room and the office of her leader Tony Abbott.

It was a comment which also confirmed that the Opposition lost the week to the Government because it could not get its leader out of the spotlight.

``It’s a shame that the Labor Party doesn’t have robust policy debates within its cabinet,’’ Bishop told Parliament.

Continue reading "Clashes mean Coalition loses first week of Parliament" »

It’s time to put an end to all this partisan negativity. At a time when people are looking to our leaders for vision, it is great to see a political party step up with a long-term vision for the nation.

I am referring of course to the Coalition’s decision to destroy the National Broadband Network and all who promote it and instead uphold Australian values by promoting a more leisurely pace of download.

While the public may be firmly behind the NBN as detailed in today’s Essential Report, I wonder how many have really thought through the implications of faster efficient broadband on their already busy and cluttered lives.

Continue reading "10 reasons why the Liberals are right about the interweb" »

While Tony Abbott managed to resurrect the Coalition from its electoral death bed, to come so close and not seal the deal leads to questions of how the Coalition ultimately failed.

Here’s five things that they stuffed up in their bid to form Government:

1. Broadband:

Tony Windsor said this was critical in his decision to back Labor. The Coalition’s decision to spike the National Broadband Network policy in its entirety is questionable, but it was compounded by Abbott’s almost wilful ignorance of the issue during the campaign.

Continue reading "5 reasons Abbott didn’t seal the deal" »

UPDATE 4.40pm: Barnaby Joyce has just put out his first press release as Shadow Finance Minister. You can read the full text after the jump - believe me, it’s worth it.

Tony Abbott has just announced quite an extensive reshuffle of his front bench, which, incidentally, rewarded a raft of Punch contributors including Scott Morrison, Bronwyn Bishop and Kevin Andrews with promotions.

You can read Sam Maiden’s news report of his press conference here. (The best line related to The Punch’s own Bronwyn Bishop, who’s been appointed Shadow Minister for Seniors - as Mr Abbott said: “She will be one of them” as well as representing them.)

But the biggest move was the appointment of Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce as Shadow Finance Minister. “Barnaby is an accountant from St George. He knows what it’s like to ensure the books are in order,” Mr Abbott said.

We’d thought we’d re-introduce you to some of the world according to Barnaby, as posted on The Punch, starting with this line from his debut:

What is it that differentiates the political parties? Or is philosophy now no more than a bib handed out to be worn before the political chamber game, a contrived or acquired vocal tribalism?

Continue reading "Shadow Minister Barnaby Joyce, sublime or ridiculous?" »

It’s a somewhat over-worn cliche that in politics disunity is death. Malcolm Turnbull may have emerged from yesterday’s party room with a result, but there’s no denying at the moment the Federal Coalition is far from unified, and voters have started wondering if indeed it might be fatal for the political career of the Opposition Leader.

Two weeks ago The Punch set out to explain exactly why Kevin Rudd was so wildly popular according opinion polls. This weekend we wanted to find out what it was that has driven the Opposition Leader’s polling figures into the mud.

And we found Mr Turnbull’s biggest problem is the perception he’s lost authority over his troops.

Continue reading "Why is this man so unpopular?" »

In conventional Wayne Swan fashion, he was triumphant as he unveiled Treasury’s stern rebuttal of Frontier Economics research report into an alternative emissions trading scheme.

Given the Rudd Government’s deeply flawed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the Coalition had commissioned the report in order to inform discussions about a better carbon trading scheme. But yesterday Mr Swan informed reporters that a $3.2 billion hole had been found in Frontier’s alternative by the Treasury Department.

So where is the modelling? Mr Swan has refused to release it and until he does, Treasury’s alleged rebuttal amounts to zip.

Continue reading "Hey Wayne, show me the money problem with our ETS" »

Whether you sit on the left or right side of the political spectrum, it is important the Australian public are aware of the coalition’s current agenda. It is an agenda which puts at risk everything this country has worked hard to achieve, including financial prosperity and security. It is an agenda which is self interested and is not in the best interests of this country.

The job of any opposition is to hold the government of the day to account and to stand up to legislation it believes is not in the best interest of the Australian people.

This is a job the Labor Party did extremely well towards the end of Howard’s reign as Prime Minister. However, since that fateful day on 24 November 2007, the Coalition has done nothing to help this country or hold the government to account.

Continue reading "How the Coalition gave up on the national interest" »

This first piece should inspire the question about the political basics.

What is it that differentiates the political parties? Or is philosophy now no more than a bib handed out to be worn before the political chamber game, a contrived or acquired vocal tribalism?

A tribalism based on the coincidence of the party a person joined, rather than what they believe - as what they believe has either no genuine differentiation, or does not exist.

Continue reading "The world according to Barnaby Joyce" »