Labor
Few would dispute that Australia is in urgent need of a radioactive waste management facility. Over 50 years, some 4000 cubic metres of accumulated radioactive waste from hospitals and medical research facilities has stored up in hundreds lock-up sheds around the country. It is clearly an inadequate situation.
To make matters more pressing, Australia has an obligation to take back nuclear fuel from Sydney’s Lucas Heights research reactor, which was sent to Scotland and France for reprocessing and is due to return to Australia in 2015-16.
It makes sense to secure radioactive waste in one central, safe location. But because no one wants the thing in their backyard, the Northern Territory – which lacks the powers states have to fight off the federal government – is going to get it.
Continue reading "Labor close to fission over nuclear waste dump" »
It’s fairly clear to anyone who watched Kevin Rudd on the ABC’s Q & A this week that a group of young Australians very succinctly exposed the shallowness and symbolism that underpins much of Labor’s “policy” argument.
These young people displayed a healthy scepticism and an ability to see through polly-speak that many of our national journalists could learn a thing or two from. Indeed, in the aftermath, some journalists seem almost shocked by Rudd’s inability to clearly answer a question which isn’t scripted and for which he has not been briefed.
(Despite the embarrassing prelude of the “Ask the PM” Sunrise questions, which saw Rudd floundering.)
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ssi says:
What on earth for? Malcolm ‘goldman sachs’ Turnbull is nothing but a puppet for the banksters. Crossing the floor just shows what egomaniac he is. Rudd is quite enough ego and narcissism. Read more »
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Over Rudd-Speak says:
So you’re saying Krudd IS crap? I agree. Can’t wait for an unscripted debate between Abbott and Krudd. KRudd will have to brush up on his ‘Not being such a sh!t PM’ skills. Read more »
Spin doctors became infamous when, on September 11, 2001, during the horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, British Labour staffer Jo Moore send out an email encouraging her press office colleagues to release bad news stories, in the hope that they would not get any attention.
“It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury” Moore wrote.
While spin doctors are not always so craven, a government’s desire to avoid bad publicity is acute.
Continue reading "The bad news stories buried during the holidays" »
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James says:
Trouble is its true Clark! Do your homework. Read more »
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Clark Kent says:
“And in spite of Kevin Rudd’s election commitment to increased transparency, we found that Labor refused more Freedom of Information requests than the Howard Government.” So, since Novenmber 2007, the Labor federal government has refused more Freedom of information requests than during the entire 11 1/2 years of ‘Howard’s Australia’? … Read more »
Summer’s not over yet but those of us lucky enough to have secured a decent break over Christmas/New Year are mostly filing back into work this week or next.
Joy!
So too our politicians where at the national level, a snap poll theoretically can be called at any time.
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Louise says:
persephone, you certainly reinforce what a “fake, false & forged” show pony Rudd is. Funny, I thought you were a Rudd supporter. It’s good to see genuine Labor voters are waking up to this neo-liberal tool in Peter Garrett stage gear. Read more »
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D'oh says:
@ persephone Funny how you casually dismiss the lists I produced and then go after E’s somewhat less comprehensive list. It was a long list (achieved in a record time of 2 years mind you) and I would expect a long response. Bring on the 5 pages I say, Rudd’s… Read more »
The recent significant rain event in the northern stretch of the Murray Darling Basin has not only given hope to suffering farmers and rural communities, it has also placed a spotlight firmly on the fraud being perpetrated by the Prime Minister and the cabal of Labor Premiers when it comes to water policy for the Murray Darling Basin.
Only 18 months ago this group of ‘leaders’ stood together and waved around a ‘historic’ agreement in Chamberlin like fashion claiming that it delivered a national system of water management.
Not only has this been shown to be a complete joke by the torrent of water now flowing down the Darling, it has also shown the Rudd Government’s failure to invest in the necessary infrastructure to deliver real water savings before the rain came.
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David Boyd says:
Jamie, The South Australian’s claim that the dreadful condition of the Lower Lakes is due to extractions and lack of fresh water from upstream. No mention of the fact that under natural conditions the Lower Lakes were sometimes salty and sometimes fresh depending on fresh water flows, or lack of… Read more »
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John A Neve says:
Persephone 20527hrs, yesterday. If those “silly people who think their lives are OK’ why do they whinge on these blogs? If people like you feel all is well with the world, what is there to debate? Unlike you, who defends a dying system, I believe change can take place, but… Read more »
Bob Hawke - like most public figures - always likes to get his picture in the paper.
But there was one time when I beat him at his own game.
It was the annual cricket match between the ACTU XI and the Press XI in Port Melbourne in the mid-70s.
Continue reading "Yes I love Bob Hawke and long may he reign" »
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almeister the destroyer says:
well bob - gregs parents probably had a job under frazer - so whilst it was hard - they could -pay bit hard to pay 16% when you dont have a job Read more »
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Greg says:
Well Bob, you see it is like this: A guy called Gough Whitlam from the ALP was elected as PM. Unfortunately in just a few short years he managed to rack up so much government debt that there was no money to pay the public servants. He had to be… Read more »
Research indicates that many lottery winners revert to their previous levels of happiness within a year of winning. Sometimes it’s a case of water finding its level and individuals returning to their normal state of contentment.
Other times, the money is blown on failed business ventures, opportunist gold digging relatives or the vulgar excesses that often accompany easy cash. In such circumstances, it’s not uncommon for winners to end up worse off than before they won.
Two years ago the Federal government had money in the bank. Howard and Costello had built up a massive buffer of savings to pay for an ageing population, retired the entire Commonwealth debt and budgeted for - if not already delivered - eight years of income tax cuts.
Continue reading "What will we do when the fastcash euphoria is over?" »
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Wayne says:
Spending with no business case to substantiate the benefits. An ETS that does nought to reduce any so-called man-made impact to climate change but only line the pockets of fat-cat brokers. A National Broadband programme with no business modelling. An apology to indigenous people with no subsequent action. A dilution… Read more »
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Helen says:
When I saw the title of this article I imagined it was addressing the very real problem of personal debt in this country. That is, the tendency of Australians to use their house as an ATM to pull out money for holidays, cars and other consumer items, plus the tendency… Read more »
UPDATE: Nathan Rees has sacked Joe Tripodi and Ian Macdonald from Cabinet.
In political terms the equivalent of a nuclear bomb has just gone off in Sydney. It has immediate ramifications for some of the most hated figures in the deeply unpopular NSW Government.
But it has massive national long-term implications, as it will determine whether Labor leaders have the right to choose their own ministry, rather than have their frontbench foisted upon them by the factions.
In a gutsy gamble, NSW Premier Nathan Rees has gone for the doomsday scenario revealed on The Punch some weeks ago by taking on the factions and winning rank-and-file party approval to form his own Cabinet by dumping unpopular or treacherous ministers. And Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has just strongly backed Rees in her speech to the NSW ALP, and Kevin Rudd has done so in a press conference at APEC.
Continue reading "Rees’ gutsy gamble rewrites the rules of Labor politics" »
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Andrew Elder says:
Penbo, you can’t tell the difference between a nuclear explosion and a fart. Labor’s internal technicalities need not interest anyone outside that party. Rees has no authority to stamp because he makes an announcement and then reverses it within a week (but not within the same news cycle - that… Read more »
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Chris says:
As a rusted on Liberal voter (hey I live in Ku ring gai, Sartor destroyed the place) I cant help but like Nathan Rees he seems like a true blue westie in the what you see is what you get mould. NSW is stuffed beyond repair. Read more »
Can anyone help me out? I’m looking for the fat bloke in braces who was meant to be running the country after Labor got elected.
Surely you’ve seen him, the Union Boss who was meant to be terrorising the nation’s taffeta dress shops. Maybe he is hiding in an ante-room off the PM’s office.
There’s nothing like a healthy dose of reality to blunt most political scare campaigns, but even by the Punch’s Scary Creatures Benchmark (PSCB*), the Liberals effort at the least election was up the with the best of them.
Continue reading "Still waiting for the invasion of the scary union overlords" »
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Lech Jones says:
And who caused this Global Financial Crisis? Not the Unions but all the suits at the top of the foodchain. And who are still getting away with it - the suits at the top of the food chain.They did not lose thier jobs or their fat bonuses. It is so… Read more »
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DJG says:
Nice to see Sparrow being picked up for the absolute rubbish he contributed to this blog. I note he failed to refute my observation that if the tale about his daddy was true, his pop should have seen some jail time. It is simply bizzare that he calls Unionists thugs,… Read more »
LIKE most Australians I couldn’t give a rat’s bottom if Kevin Rudd swears or not.
What interests me is the gap between his frequently foul-mouthed private persona and the popular image of the PM as a civil-minded nerd who’s more likely to be heard reciting poetry in Mandarin than telling factional hacks to get the f… out of his office.
Not only am I not bothered by the fact that Rudd used bad language, I’m kind of thrilled that he aimed his insults at a bunch of Senate no-names who thought nothing of wasting the Prime Minister’s time to complain personally about a 25 per cent cut to their entitlements. Rudd had every right to be indignant at their impertinence in dragging him into such a trifling affair.
Continue reading "Will the real Kevin Rudd please stand up" »
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Donna Kebab says:
The “vocalising one view publicly and another in private” scenario is a bit rich coming from an Australia media which completely failed to inform readers over AWB, WMD,Tampa ect - the public knew something was rotten, but the Australian media just kept spewing it out rather than going out after… Read more »
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Jessie says:
...I do not understand? Are all people supposed to be so simple? Without multiple layers. I am what may be labeled as a mind mannered geek . . . but I have blow ups too. I don’t see any conflict in the man here, just someone with multiple layers. Read more »
Over the last couple of weeks the Deputy Prime Minister has been plugging two developing holes in a massive dam wall.
The first has been caused by the waste and mismanagement associated with the Julia Gillard memorial halls debacle. A programme wasting so much money that a school in Sydney is going to refuse free money.
The second hole in the dam wall is growing quickly and relates to her changes to the industrial award system and her promise that neither workers nor small business would be worse off with her changes to the industrial award system. A promise she knew couldn’t be kept.
Continue reading "Julia: full-time worker or part time spinner?" »
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cat says:
delperro, the liberal government had an annual grant that schools could apply for, for anything they wanted. When labour came into power they shut down this grant in order to pay for those laptops all school children were to receive. Where are those laptops now? Read more »
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RD says:
What is funny is that it would appear that Kevin Rudd thinks Julia Gillard can perform both jobs better herself than to assign her a single portfolio, and pass the other one to another member. This government is going to suffer greatly as it is relying on popularity to promote… Read more »
Here’s a quiz for your readers. How many green jobs did Kevin Rudd announce at the Labor Party Conference and how many of them were new?
Many readers of the Punch could be forgiven for thinking they heard the Prime Minister promise to deliver 50 000 new green jobs.
Unfortunately like so many of the Government’s announcements about a large array of job creation and training programmes it pays to read the fine print.
Continue reading "Labor’s green jobs promise is a huge lie" »
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johnv_au says:
This is called in political circles spin we will create jobs fix the hospital system its what we in the real world do when the wife askes to fix some thing around the house we say yes dear but have no intentions of doing it Or we will patch it… Read more »
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Toddzilla says:
Darren, you clearly don’t know what the word Orwellian means. In fact, Workchoices is almost the exact opposite of Orwellian as it was based on freedom of choice rather than compulsion. You might argue that the ALP’s IR policies are Orwellian and you’d be much closer to the mark. Read more »
There’s been a lot of talk recently about so-called “green shoots” springing up in our ravaged economy.
Some commentators have grasped a recent bounce in the stock market, a few surprisingly strong profit results overseas, and a benign sense of business confidence as evidence that the economy is on the path to recovery.
Well, it is time for a reality check.
Continue reading "Why unions will remain the voice of workers in Labor" »
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Greg says:
My beef with Sharan Burrow isn’t that she’s some “union bully” running into dress shops & turning out the lights. That’s just a Liberal fantasy. Nobody bought it at the last election & no-one’s going to buy it now. Instead, I think she’s missing a terrific opportunity to advance the… Read more »
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Ian says:
Isn’t this the same lady who believes that giving workers a pay rise during a global recession will help stimulate demand? Sharan appears to be advocating a ‘let her rip’ mentality with the union demands instead. The hypocrisy is staggering. I guess this is why you never see economists running… Read more »
This week’s ALP National Conferences bears scant resemblance to the hey days of the seventies in Terrigal, when then-ACTU chief Bob Hawke cut deals in his budgie smugglers.
There is not even the gauntlet of the fields of pokies that provided the surreal backdrop to proceedings for most of the nineties when the Conference called the Hobart casino home.
This week’s affair at Darling Harbour in Sydney will involve a lot less flesh and a lot less vice, but the dynamic tension between the political and industrial wings of the ALP will be on display for all to witness.
Continue reading "There will be blood: A guide to the ALP conference" »
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Alex White says:
Hi Peter, Given the bloodless nature of the conference, do you think your comments were warranted? Read more »
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Michael says:
The problem with union control of the ALP is that it is undemocratic. The unions affiliated to the ALP represent 12% of the workforce. Yet these unions claim 50% of the votes at ALP Conferences. Do the union members decide who represents them at the Conference or how they will… Read more »
There aren’t many things that are more important than making sure someone has a job. If you want to fix inequality and social disadvantage in a community, if you want to give someone a leg-up in life, you find them a decent job.
For the Labor Party, jobs are in our DNA and that’s why it is such an honour to be sworn in today as the Federal Minister for Employment Participation.
Sadly we are confronted with the reality that this week a new set of unemployment figures will come out and they will probably show more Australians are out of work.
Continue reading "How the new jobs minister will help keep you employed" »
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Elizabeth Jarvis says:
I for one think Howard and Costello’s massive surpluses were economic vandalism on a grand scale. We go on about debts, but building up massive surpluses means the Government is not spending the money they’re collecting on the things they should be providing for us - better health facilities, education,… Read more »
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Bob Simpson says:
Mark, you’re living in ideological dreamland! And, if you’re one of the Prime Minister’s favourites, we should be really worried. Have you ever created a job by taking a personal and financial risk, developing an idea, planning and executing a marketing strategy, selling the product or service at a loss,… Read more »
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