Joe Hockey

The Reserve Bank has decided the economy is ticking along for the moment, and airline passengers lists confirm that many Australians have had a bit of cash to spare. On the day the central bank left official interest rates untouched, the Bureau of Statistics revealed millions of Australians have been in a position to take advantage of the dollar’s golden powers abroad.

Last year, short-term departures by Australians reached a new record of 7.8 million overseas visits, up from 7.1 million in 2010. Back in 2001 there were just 3.4 million visits.

Some 57 per cent of those who left the country for a short time last year did so for a vacation and a further 22 per cent said it was to catch up with relatives. That amounts to a lot of people with the dough to put to travel, a relative luxury.

Continue reading "The sun is shining but storms lie ahead for the surplus" »

Foreign investors have been snapping at the heels of Aussie farms. In spite of Cyclone Yasi, fires, floods, supermarket wars, the carbon tax and the coal seam gas industry, more than $180m worth of blue-chip farming land has been sold in south-eastern Australia since last spring, with continued interest reported from Europe, United States and China.

In other words, the world is hungry. According to the UN, the planet has 80 million new mouths to feed and by 2050, 70 per cent of people will live in urban areas. It’s no big surprise then that everyone wants a bit of Australia.

Aussie farms are a sound investment. Of the 135,996 farms in Australia, 120,941 operate as agricultural producers. The cattle, wheat and milk industries generate 12 per cent of the national GDP, a rate that’s growing. But if we sell it all off to the highest bidder, what will that mean for the future of Australian farming?

Continue reading "Is this the end of the Aussie family farm?" »

The political no-holds-barred clashes Australia is used to, are now being blamed for adding to our economic jitters.

This has raised the critical question of whether pulling apart the economic record of a government could damage the economic performance of the entire nation.

“I remain very confident about Australia’s medium term economic prospects,” shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said yesterday, using words Treasurer Wayne Swan would endorse.

Continue reading "Sure, keep Swan honest, but don’t talk down the economy" »

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" »

Whatever flapping around there might be in public as the Liberals sort out their lines on boat people funerals, the activity beneath the surface is a lot more manic.

The ``insensitive’’—his word—comments by Scott Morrison and the implied rejection by colleague Joe Hockey on Tuesday picked the stitches from some old Liberal Party wounds.

It’s not a matter of policy debate. The Opposition will be united in questioning the $300,000 charter bill for getting the 21 mourners from Christmas Island to Sydney.

Continue reading "Ugly asylum seeker spat sparks Liberal tensions" »

Leaf-blowers are often thought of as the bane of the suburbs but harried voters can take some comfort from the fact that even the mighty can be shouted down by these infernal devices.

In what some might unkindly dub, ``the battle of the blow-hards,’’ Opposition economic spokesman, Joe Hockey has used the Parliament to complain that he can’t be heard when on the ``blower,’’ because of well, another blower nearby.

Perhaps it’s best if he be allowed to speak for himself:

Continue reading "Did someone say Canberra is full of blow-hards?" »

This time yesterday Australians were merrily preparing for the Race that Stops the Nation, confident in the economists’ predictions the RBA would avoid the un-sportsmanlike act of hiking interest rates on Cup Day.

Just 24-hours later all hell has broken loose.

The RBA might have turned on the rates tap with its 25 basis points rise in official interest rates announced at 2.30 yesterday afternoon, but the Commonwealth Bank forced open the flood gates with an immediate move to put its own rates up 45 basis points.

Commbank boss Ralph Norris is not talking this morning, instead letting the Australian Bankers Association make the running.

Association chief executive Stephen Munchenberg said: “What the Commonwealth Bank is saying is that that marginal effect has built up 2 basis points or 0.2 per cent each month, and that’s now built up over nearly a year since the banks last moved interest rates, so there’s a cumulative effect there.”

Westpac just announced its profits have risen 84 per cent in the last 12 months. Yes, that wasn’t a typo - 84 per cent. In the 12 months to September 30 the Gail Kelly-steered Westpac made a net profit of $6.346 billion.

Apparently Kelly is due to make an announcement later today. Wonder what on earth that could be.

Continue reading "What a bunch of bankers" »

A bold prediction for Melbourne Cup Day - interest rates may or may not go up today. A slightly bolder prediction is that the next bank which argues it has to increase its standard variable home loan rate, without any corresponding increase in the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, will face a backlash of unprecedented scale. Equally, the next banker who pops his head up to say that public anger over fees and charges is a media beat-up will have his head bitten off.

There are about 20 billion reasons why Australia’s big four banks have run out of goodwill. Australians are generally a pretty level-headed lot and people understand the need to have a strong banking sector.

They’re grateful that the banks are run prudently and conservatively. They know what has happened in other western economies over the past couple of years, where the job has fallen to the taxpayers to bail out less cautious financial institutions. They also know that a strong banking sector, which makes a legitimate profit, adds to our collective long-term wealth through the shares that are held in our superannuation funds. 

Continue reading "Can our banks afford to make so much damned money?" »

Our major banks are not like other businesses.

If a boat builder in Taren Point, or a plastics manufacturer in Chipping Norton or a motel owner on the Central Coast of NSW gets into trouble, there will be no taxpayer bail out. There will be no funding guarantee to support their continued access to credit. There will be no Reserve Bank to act as their own on-call lender of last resort to see them through their troubles.

The GFC proved that our four big banks are too important to fail. They know it and the taxpayers know it. The banks may be a legitimately protected species, but that does not give them a license to be precious, striking out at anyone who would dare raise questions about how they do business.

Continue reading "Banks can complain all they want but Hockey’s right" »

In his new role as the self-styled Salvador Allende of the Lower North Shore, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has had an interesting couple of weeks in his battle with the banks.

He’s been teased by his opponents, white-anted by his colleagues, endured the accidental embarrassment of being labelled part of the “lunatic fringe” by Liberal backbencher Don Randall, who mistakenly assumed the call for government intervention on bank profits had come from the Greens.

Yet out there in punter-land, Joe Hockey is being hailed as a hero. Say what you like about cheap populism, it’s certainly popular.

Continue reading "Will Joe Hockey’s populism come at a price?" »

Attempting to make political capital out of interest rates is a risky business. It’s so tempting for both governments and oppositions to have a go at it, but invariably it ends up like some kind of disastrous military quagmire from which you must make a humiliating retreat.

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Joe Hockey’s demands that the Government step in to stop banks raising interest rates above the levels set by the Reserve Bank is a big and risky play. He could ask his former Prime Minister John Howard about its dangers. Howard’s famous statement that “interest rates would always be lower under a Coalition Government” came back to bite him in 2007 when rates rose right in the middle of an election campaign. 

Hockey has been immediately embarrassed by the reaction of one Liberal MP to the prospect. Liberal MP Don Randall was asked about idea this morning, and not knowing it came from Hockey said this:

Continue reading "Hockey’s big dangerous play on interest rates" »

Joe Hockey’s made what Sir Humphrey might call a “courageous” move in his calls for the Government to heavy the banks over interest rates. We imagine the dixers to Treasurer Wayne Swan will flow pretty thick and fast this Question Time. Join us from 2pm for live coverage.

The likelihood of interest rates rising is back on the agenda, following explicit warnings from the Reserve Bank that it is considering the need for tighter monetary policy.

The Coalition has consistently warned that the Labor Government’s heavy borrowing and build up of debt will put upward pressure on interest rates.

These warnings have been rejected by the government and by a few select commentators in the media.

Continue reading "Big spending equals big rates - no buts about it" »

Labor was in the box seat as it prepared for the 1983 election but leader Bill Hayden was extra nervous. Even in his first term in Canberra, Bob Hawke was a threat.

In a cruel twist of fate, he rolled Hayden on the very day Malcolm Fraser called the election. In power, Hawke soon had Paul Keating’s burning ambition to corral. John Howard held Peter Costello in a perpetual state of leader-in-waiting, a strategy that worked so well that by the end, both men were spent.

Even so, had Howard gone under a proverbial bus at any time, no one in the party room doubted who would take over. Kevin Rudd also had a ready made alternative on hand - a fact so glaringly obvious that Labor MPs didn’t wait for any bus.

Continue reading "Tony Abbott might look safe but for how long?" »

In an election campaign marked by both sides saying as little as possible about tax reform, yesterday’s National Press Club showdown continued the pattern of inertia.

Treasurer Wayne Swan and Opposition spokesman Joe Hockey talked about stimulus packages, waste and costings. They talked around tax reform. They mostly avoided talking directly about it.

Coalition leader Tony Abbott had already flagged that a Coalition Government would re-visit the Henry Review, with a view to announcing a plan within a year. That’s just a plan for a plan.

Continue reading "Both the Coalition and Labor are bottling it on tax reform" »

The Treasurers debate in Canberra today was a good one by the standards of these ministerial rumbles.

It was also worthwhile watching because it reminds us there is a pretty important economic debate in this election that has largely been overshadowed by the Labor leadership hoopla.

Prior to Labor’s knifing of Kevin Rudd and its back down on the mining tax, this election was one that was set almost solely to be about tax. Now, despite the best efforts of the Coalition and smaller miners, the mining tax has largely been neutralised as an issue.

Continue reading "Remember the economy stupids?" »

Australian voter confidence in Kevin Rudd’s statements has slumped to such a low that he may as well have set up shop on Sydney’s Parramatta Road selling used cars.

There may be a small consolation for the Prime Minister in taking a drive down there to see that they still manage to do business.

Polling of thousands of voters shows trust in the nation’s leader has practically evaporated. Despite the sustained Labor attack on the credibility of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, it is Rudd who is seen by the electorate as the bigger fake, and by a wide margin.

Continue reading "Survey shows voters’ loss of trust in Kevin Rudd" »

It was February 10, 1990 Church Square Pretoria, and my mate thought it was a great idea.

We had spent two months travelling around southern Africa in an old panel van equipped with camping gear, spare petrol tanks and an expired canister of tear gas. South Africa was on the threshold of civil war.

This was most evident to us when we drove through the condemned homeland of Transkei. Even though a state of emergency had been lifted in the so-called separate state, it was a war zone. Smouldering cars, milling youth and a clear absence of law and order said to us we were in the wrong place at the wrong time…..but that is another story.

Continue reading "Terre’Blanche: face to face with hatred personified" »

The turmoil of the opposition leadership spill made Parliament House an eventful place to be for a press photographer. But it has become harder than ever to satisfy the appetite of the news-hungry populace, as the increased bureaucracy is madder than ever.

The feuding within the Liberal Party highlighted the antiquated and ridiculous rules that dictate where photographers and TV cameramen can go and what they can shoot at any given time.

In an attempt to deliver a professional product to our millions of readers and viewers, we were forced to break all the rules, and it has got us into all sorts of trouble.

Continue reading "Shooting Turnbull’s end: how you almost missed it" »

The emergence of Tony Abbott as Opposition leader is a major surprise. Many will assume it means a lurch to the right of the political spectrum.

This may be true. Only time will tell.

Clearly, the first impact, the likely defeat of the Government’s emissions trading scheme, looks to be a clear sign of that move.

Continue reading "Abbott vs Rudd, now this is what I call a choice" »

In 2007, members of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal and National Parties tried to convince themselves that the polls were wrong.

Despite months of poor polling, we clung to a belief that we would succeed at the election.

There was a disconnect between the polls and the ‘feeling’ in the electorate, members would proclaim.

Continue reading "Here is what Opposition is all about people" »

In order to help people better understand the last week, an anonymous Liberal front bencher has made available excerpts of their private diary to comedians Matt Kenneally Toby Halligan for The Punch. This time we can reveal who voted “no” in the final leadership ballot.

MONDAY MORNING 30/11/09

Dreamed of Hawaii. Woke up in Canberra. Nightmare.

Still, happy – drama is over. Hockey almost leader.

Have Senate duty. Will be okay, have Dan Brown novel(s).

Continue reading "Secret diary of a Liberal MP Part II: Who voted “no”" »

The leadership of the Liberal Party will be decided today in Canberra. Punch editors will be posting news, commentary, pics and video as they come to hand here throughout the day. Times are AEDT. Refresh this page for updates.

5.29pm: David Speers of Sky News shares his thoughts in a blog post titled “The Abbott experiment”.

Joe Hockey isn’t rushing to the backbench so fast. He’s talking to Tony Abbott about whether he will stay as Shadow Treasurer. If he does, it will be difficult to show any unity on emissions trading.

In many ways this result may be a blessing in disguise for Joe Hockey. He’s still in the leadership mix, should Tony Abbott implode.

More here.

5.12pm: Bob Hawke, always worth quoting. Here’s what he said today, from AAP:

“I couldn’t have written a better script myself if I sat down and thought about it for, you know, months,” Mr Hawke told reporters.

“Seriously, I don’t want to gloat in the misfortunes of the opposition `cause I think it’s important in a democracy to have a reasonable and functioning opposition.

“They were making such a bloody mess of it I hope genuinely, to some extent, they get their act together.”

Asked what kind of leader Mr Abbott would make, Mr Hawke replied in one word: “temporary”.

4.39pm: More international coverage from the Wall Street Journal (Abbott could push Australia to the right) and Reuters (‘Mad monk’ Australia opposition head to fight CO2 laws).

4.38pm: Barnaby Joyce on Tony Abbott: “We’re looking at a person of immense capabilities here and now it’s a case of keeping the show together and give the Australian people a clear alternative to (Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd’s massive new tax.”

4.30 pm: Tony Abbot has told Channel 9 that he can’t guarantee that every senator “will do the right thing” when asked whether senators will cross the floor.

4.27pm: Julie Bishop says on Sky News she voted for Malcolm Turnbull in both leadership votes today.

4.19pm: What the nation is tweeting about this afternoon. From trendsmap.com

2.59pm: International reporting of the Liberal leadership change… Bloomberg reports:

Abbott, a former amateur boxer who trained as a priest, defeated ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Malcolm Turnbull by 42 votes to 41 in a leadership ballot, party officials said in Canberra today. The contest capped a week of infighting after Turnbull’s support for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd emissions- trading plan split the opposition coalition.

And uses this quote:

“The public are absolutely appalled at the way in which the Liberals have conducted themselves,” said Nick Economou, a politics professor at Monash University in Melbourne. “They now have a leader who really polarizes the community. I cannot see how the coalition will win the next federal election.”

More from Bloomberg here.

Also reports from the BBC and the Wall Street Journal and AFP.

2.50pm: The Greens say they expect a vote on the ETS by the end of today in the Senate. “I don’t expect the government is going to filibuster, so I would think we’re heading for some determination later today,” Bob Brown told reporters in Canberra.

2pm: Abbott confirms end to flirting with Julia Gillard

1.54pm: ABC election analyst Anthony Green explains the possible election scenarios here.

1.18pm: New commentary now on The Punch ... David Penberthy on Tony Abbott, Tory Maguire on Julie Bishop, the Stepford deputy, Mark Kenny on implications for Labor, and Kevin Andrews on the role of the opposition.

Plus - we have a present for Tony Abbott: A pair of boardshorts. Worth 3 points in the polls, surely.

Continue reading "Live blog: Liberal leadership showdown in Canberra" »

Joe Hockey is about to make the biggest decision of his life.

It’s a decision which goes to the core of his very being. His reputation for decency. His determination to be remembered not as a clever politician who knew how to get ahead, but a person who entered public life to make a contribution to the greater good.

It’s a decision which also involves one of his best friends – Malcolm Turnbull, who today cast the moral dimensions of the dilemma facing his mate of 20 years as he decides whether to run for the Liberal Party leadership. “Joe and I are very good friends as you know,” Turnbull said. “We talk a lot, we have very similar views on most issues, our families are very close, he is a good man.”

Continue reading "Hockey’s choice is between personal and party loyalty" »

If Joe Hockey wins the leadership of the federal Liberal Party, the biggest loser will not be Malcolm Turnbull.

Nor will it be the government’s Emissions Trading Scheme.

It will be five-week-old Ignatius Theodore Babbage-Hockey.

Continue reading "Work life balance could be Joe’s greatest battle" »

While today the Liberal MPs are faced with a choice over whether or not they will allow the Government’s emissions trading bill through Parliament, they are faced with a more fundamental choice over the ideological direction the party now chooses to take. Given the unpredicatable nature of the last few days you’d have to be pretty brave to write (or right) off Malcolm Turnbull completely, but the leadership now seems to be a two horse race between Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott.

In choosing Tony Abbott as leader the party returns to a true Conservative party of the right making a clear demarcation from the moderate direction of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership. Following the disastrous fallout from Utegate in August, Punch editor David Penberthy argued that it was Abbott’s conservative conviction politics that might actually be a bonus for Liberal Party as the next leader, pointing out that Australians are more likely to vote for somebody who they know stands for something.

At the time I argued that Joe Hockey was clearly the only choice for the role given that he was a unifying force between moderates and the right, and who’s avuncular and “average Joe” family man persona could be equally popular with the Australian people who aren’t ready to turn once again to Howard era conservatism. Importantly I argued, and still do, that even though Joe Hockey is very unlikely to win the next election for the Liberal Party he could limit damage while Tony Abbott could make the result worse. 

Here and here both pieces are republished debating the pros and cons of Abbott or Hockey becoming the new Liberal leader. What do you think?

We gave Malcolm a lend of the Party, but the members want it back.

This is the clear message I have received from Liberal Party members by way of 7,500 emails (and rising) and hundreds of phone calls – not to mention close encounters of the personal kind.

The claim that the Coalition Party Room agreed to support the Labor Party’s amended C.P.R.S. legislation imposing an E.T.S. Tax is not true. The Party Room rejected it.

Continue reading "Bronnie Bishop: Malcolm, we want our party back now" »

In order to help people better understand the last week, an anonymous Liberal front bencher has made available excerpts of their private diary to comedians Matt Kenneally Toby Halligan.

MONDAY 23/11/09 MORNING

Booked holiday flights to Hawaii for Friday evening.

ETS bill before senate tomorrow. Still don’t understand it.

Air conditioning was playing up. Stood in front of fridge for a while and felt better.

Continue reading "Secret diary extracts of a confused Liberal MP" »

After a week when the Liberals took decisive action to reduce their political footprint Joe Hockey is sitting snugly between ‘Someone Else’ and ‘Don’t Know’ as the preferred Liberal leader.

If politics really is Hollywood for ugly people, then this week’s Essential Report shows Joe is about to slip on the political swimsuit and start strutting his stuff by default.

The polling confirms what we all supected – the nation is over Malcolm Turnbull, it can’t abide Tony Abbott and it doesn’t really know who Julie Bishop or Andrew Robb are. As for Kevin Andrews, like his own party, we didn’t bother to ask. This leaves just three credible options for the Liberals: Don’t Know, Someone Else and Joe Hockey.

Continue reading "The only beauty contest that Joe Hockey will ever win" »

The next 24 hours are critical for the bitterly divided Liberal Party. The Punch’s Tory Maguire is in Canberra and the team will be posting updates here through the day. Times are AEDT. Refresh this page for updates.

7.21pm: If he is elected as leader tomorrow, Abbott will ask for the ETS to be deferred, and if not deferred, rejected. “The party has a clear choice. It can vote for Malcolm and we will support the legislation. It can vote for me and we will reject the legislation. Or they can vote for Joe and we’ll have a conscience vote”.

7.19pm: Tony Abbott says he’s spent most of the day in discussions with Joe, says…

“It now seems pretty clear we could change the leader to Joe and these offensive bills could still go through the parliament. I will be a candidate for the leadership tomorrow.”

7.17pm: Ian “Macca” Macfarlane says he’s in the dark - “they’re not telling me anything”

7pm: Nick Minchin has just released this statement:

Speculation tonight by Laurie Oakes on Channel 9 news that I support the proposition that Labor’s CPRS Bill pass through the Senate upon a change of leadership are inaccurate. I continue to support the proposition that the Bill should be referred to a Senate Inquiry, to report back after the Copenhagen conference.

6.35pm: ABC news reporting the deal to install Hockey as leader includes Liberal Senators being allowed a conscience vote on the ETS, meaning it would pass. But David Speers at Sky says it’s being discussed, no decision yet.

6.10pm: Nine’s Laurie Oakes says there’s mutterings Nick Minchin may agree to pass the ETS tomorrow once Turnbull is gone as leader.

5.52am: Back in the Senate - 70 amendments done, only 140 to go. By the time it’s complete Parliament House could have ocean views.

5.45pm: Now reported Family First Senator Steve Fielding is in Joe Hockey’s office with Mr Hockey, Nick Minchin and Peter Dutton - discussing the Royal Commission? Probably not.

4:59pm: AAP reports key figures from the left and right are meeting to sort things out before tomorrow’s meeting. Meeting in Joe Hockey’s office reportedly includes: Federal Liberal Party director Brian Loughnane, and MPs Greg Hunt, Christopher Pyne, Andrew Robb, Nick Minchin, Julie Bishop, Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton.

4.49pm: Bronwyn Bishop writes for The Punch: Malcolm, we want the leadership back please.

4.40pm: Audio of Turnbull’s press conference live now, courtesy of Sky News. Listen here.

3.49pm: Reports on Turnbull’s doorstop at The Australian, The Age, and The Daily Telegraph. From Malcolm Farr at the Tele:

Mr Turnbull was careful in how he explained the outcome of his leadership meeting with Mr Hockey this afternoon.

He said: “He (Mr Hockey) said he would support me in the spill movement. He said he would vote against the spill.”

3.46pm: Steve Fielding walked into the media scrum immediately after Turnbull had finished speaking and called for a Royal Commission into climate science. Seriously.

3.37pm: Recap: Turnbull says Hockey has assured him of his support in a vote on a leadership spill in the partyroom tomorrow morning. If the partyroom votes to declare the leadership vacant, then Turnbull says he will stand for re-election. It is still unclear if Hockey will run against Turnbull but he is widely expected to.

A strong line of argument Hockey could use is that with Turnbull’s leadership doomed, it is Hockey’s duty as a committed moderate to run against right-winger Tony Abbott.

3.36pm: From Turnbull:

Joe came to see me for a chat.

We actually had a meeting on the weekend that didn’t make it into the press because neither of us rang up a journalist beforehand.

Joe and I are very good friends.

Continue reading "As it happened: the Liberal Party’s mad Monday" »

A roundup of key coverage from this morning’s newspapers and websites is over the jump.

Continue reading "Reading roundup: Liberal leadership showdown" »

The battle for the leadership of the Liberal Party is now looking more like a contest for a high school SRC as Joe Hockey turns to social media to ask people what he should do over the ETS - and by default, whether he should shaft Malcolm Turnbull. He also wrote on Twitter today: “Hey team re The ETS. Give me your views please on the policy and political debate. I really want your feedback.”

Social media tragics will hail this as a ground-breaking moment in participatory democracy. Others - I’d call them “almost everybody”  - will just shake their heads in disbelief that the alternative government of Australia has been reduced to tweeting the punters for help as its most senior members become paralysed by panic, opportunism and expediency.

A quick stocktake of where things are at with the leadership:

Continue reading "Joe’s Facebook folly makes Libs look like bigger Twits" »

Peter Costello has decided to leave his seat of Higgins in Melbourne before the next election meaning that the Liberals will face two by-elections in close succession or even on the same day.

The former Treasurer is yet to give a reason as to why he has left early but he has managed to turn Malcolm Turnbull’s current position from scary to downright horrific. This is like that scene from the latest Saw movie even the actors apparently had to walk out on.

One upside to the departure is that the distraction of Peter Costello will be over with once and for all for Malcolm Turnbull. The downside is this: two men who were the most senior remaining members of the Howard Government, Brendan Nelson and now Peter Costello, have decided to leave Parliament early causing by-elections in the middle of what is already a crisis for Malcolm Turnbull and his party over the ETS.

Continue reading "Things just went from bad to horror movie for Malcolm" »

Can you believe we’re back here again on the Liberal leadership? Joe Hockey said two things almost in the same breath on live radio today - he had been approached about the leadership, but supported Malcolm Turnbull.

Samantha Maiden at The Australian reports the shadow Treasurer said he remained loyal to Turnbull, but admitted he’s had discussions about the leadership. There was this:

I am not going to lie and pretend something hasn’t happened.

Continue reading "L is for Liberal, but clearly not for loyalty" »

Wayne Swan went on the front foot this afternoon in response to the 0.25 per centage point interest rate rise the RBA has just announced.

Before Joe Hockey could race to the back of the NSW Parliament to accuse the Government of being responsible for the rise, Mr Swan predicted he and Malcolm Turnbull would try to pin it on him and the Prime Minister.

“Never forget that if the Liberal Party has their way Australia would be in recession right now,’’ Mr Swan said. ``For the Liberal Party to claim now that interest rates can stay at record lows is simply laughable and demonstrates their lack of any economic credibility whatsoever.”

Continue reading "Interest rates: who’s to blame?" »

“we (sic) will not be silenced!” tweeted (sic) Joe Hockey yesterday, in response to suggestions he should stop jibbering on Twitter during Question Time and pay attention to Parliament instead.

At least his jibbering allowed him to make a political point for the Opposition in a week that showcased what a sham Question Time can be. Better-than-expected GDP and unemployment figures were a gift to the Government, and ministers lined up to use the data against Opposition questioners like clubs on baby seals.

Questions from the Opposition about the billions of dollars being sprayed to every corner of the country by the Rudd Government were batted away as ministers took the opportunity to portray reasonable queries about the schools spending as economic idiocy on the part of the Coalition.

Continue reading "Let them tweet" »

In a first for the game shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has made the switch from federal politics to rugby league, a move set to infuriate the Liberal Party. Hockey is already playing in the second row for NSW country league team Wests Lions.

Well not really. This is actually from the weekly round-up for the Parliamentary league tipping contest in which I hopelessly partake in.

According to tipping comp organiser and Nationals leader Warren Truss’ press secretary Paul Chamberlin the Hockey doppelganger, a “Matt Watton”, was in pretty good form:

Continue reading "Exclusive: Joe Hockey switches to Rugby League" »

As this fight looks almost inevitable within the Liberal Party anyway it seems logical to have it now: Joe Hockey should be the next Liberal leader over Tony Abbott.

The Punch editor David Penberthy makes the case for Tony Abbott taking the leadership below, pointing to his right wing conviction politics as being more of a strength than they are a weakness.

But it ignores the fact that it is possible to have a leader who is comfortable walking the grounds of conservative Australia and still able to sell a strong moderate message - enter Joe Hockey.

Continue reading "Abbott’s not the answer, it’s time to play Hockey" »