Defence

The alliance between Australia and the United States is currently being managed by a Labor prime minister and a Democratic president – a situation that has not existed since the period 1993-1996, under Paul Keating and Bill Clinton.

The relationship between John Howard and George Bush was famously close, however the replacement of these two leaders by Kevin Rudd and Barack Obama has turned out to good news for the alliance. Howard was wildly out of synch with the new Democratic rulers in Washington and his regrettable comment in February 2007 that Al-Qaeda in Iraq should pray for a victory by Obama and the Democrats might have presented us with real diplomatic difficulties had he been re-elected.

Bush’s retirement has also benefitted the alliance. It is good news for Australia when our strategic ally is well-liked around the world rather than disliked.

Continue reading "Kev and Obama’s friendship bolsters the Alliance" »

Joel Fitzgibbon hasn’t just been skating on thin ice: he’s been hosting rave parties on it.

It seems Kevin Rudd has been left with little choice but to sack Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon after it emerged that a meeting had been organised in the Defence Minister’s office between defence officials, Mr Fitzgibbon’s brother Mark who is head of NIB and US insurance company Humana.

While no doubt the victim of some white anting by his own shambles of a Department, Fitzgibbon has proven himself to be one of the few genuine liabilities on the Rudd front bench and the Prime Minister should have done this months ago.

Continue reading "Joel’s gone: about time" »

The question of whether Kevin Rudd is a rude, ill-tempered sook is a valid one, there’s another issue that deserves some examination. How hard is it to get the bloke a cup of tea?

Continue reading "Goodbye. Now can someone get me a f***ing cup of tea?" »