Karl Bitar

James Packer had better watch his back. He’s just hired the guy who helped knock off former NSW Premier Morris Iemma for Nathan Rees, then rolled Rees for Kristina Keneally, and played a key role in last year’s putsch which replaced Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard.

On the basis of recent performance, the appointment of former national ALP secretary Karl Bitar as Crown Casino government relations lobbyist could mean that the gambling empire will soon be run by Kerry Stokes from the Seven Network.

If there is such a thing as purgatory it may well be Melbourne’s Crown Casino. There is a story that at the Casino’s gala opening in 1997, dozens of white doves were released into the night sky, and were promptly incinerated in the balls of flame that blast from the braziers on the Yarra’s banks. It might be an apocryphal tale but it’s a nice bit of imagery for a place which wrongly presents gambling as nothing other than innocent fun.

Continue reading "Packer’s patsy sells his soul, and our intellectual property" »

Julia Gillard may be running out of time to stamp her authority on the government as the first murmurings of unease emerge.

A curious lack of courage on something as simple as allowing its MPs a conscience vote on same sex unions raises fears that the new government may be bundled up with the old in voters’ minds.

During the election campaign the question of who Julia Gillard was became central. It even led Ms Gillard to declare that she would come out from behind the campaign artifice and allow voters to see the ``real Julia’‘. The idea was sound but announcing it was just plain dopey.

Continue reading "Time is running out for Julia to find her mojo" »

In an age of texting, Tweeting and Facebooking it’s the Campaign 2010 version of a Jane Austen courtship – brimming with potential for misinterpretation, hurt feelings and cross purposes.

Instead of picking up the phone (so 2009) the National Director of the Liberal Party Brian Loughnane and the National Secretary of the ALP Karl Bitar have taken to firing off increasingly melodramatic letters to each other.

Between each line you can almost feel the building tension over tomorrow night’s proposed debate / people’s forum / Roman wrestling bout between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott in Brisbane.

Continue reading "Brian and Karl: A simmering courtship in letters" »