Lindsay Tanner
Bob Carr is a keen diarist. He kept a lively and detailed diary during his time in NSW politics, including his years as Premier.
Extracts from it provided the basis for a revealing biography described by one reviewer as “a grand disrobing”.
As Foreign Minister, Carr is believed still to jot down every day a record of his personal thoughts on events and discussions he is involved in.
Continue reading "A debate about Labor that’s actually worth having" »
It is no secret that former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and current Prime Minister Julia Gillard are not close.
Tanner of course, announced he was quitting politics on the very day Ms Gillard became prime minister.
If that gesture rubbed some the wrong way, it was nothing compared to the abrasions caused by his new book.
Continue reading "Roll up, roll up, for a peek inside the Labor circus" »
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Swamp Thing says:
Must be time for that nutcase emmerson to give us another tune…. How about this for a reform: mandatory psychological testing for all aspirants for public office, +regular mental health checks for all elected officials. Never happen will it? Any ideas why they can’t be held to the same medical… Read more »
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emel says:
Ihp : young people you encounter? jesus wept. just because you can see no value in faster communication speeds does not really matter. I just hope you are not behind the wheel of any business or organisation that expects to remain viable in the future. thanks for the lecture on… Read more »
Whatever the illness was that hit her with a sudden and vengeful effect after she stepped off her plane in New York, it appeared to have passed. But just as the PM was showing stoic powers of recovery, Lindsay Tanner came along and spiked the Kool Aid again with his musings on what is wrong with the Labor Party.
While the PM and 140 word leaders were gathered at the United Nations talking about weapons of mass destruction, her colleagues back home were engaged in acts of self destruction.
As if anyone in Australia needed reminding about just how structurally dysfunctional federal Labor has become.
Continue reading "Labor’s still got some serious bugs to work out" »
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Robert S McCormick says:
It just goes to show how lacking in talent the Federal ALP is. When Rudd stood down as Foreign Minister Gillard had no-one to take his place so she dragged out of retirement Bob Carr & popped him into the Senate. At least with Rudd we could get a smile… Read more »
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acotrel says:
Could you imagine Abbott in those circumstances ? What a joke that woiuld be, but I wonder who would be laughing ? Read more »
Lindsay Tanner’s book of essays will be bought by few and chatted about by many as it provides anti-Labor fodder for the Liberal election campaign beast.
The essays contained in Inside the Gang of Four make just enough sense - Labor hasn’t had a confident and composed agenda - for Mr Tanner’s own contradictions to be ignored.
But those contradictions are really big ones.
Continue reading "Just another sideshow in the circus of politics" »
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Babylon says:
Remember the article on the Punch the other day, attacking the Coalition on the grounds it was full of infighting and disarray? Complete twaddle as usual. But this Labor mob is in total self distruction mode. God they’re in charge of our country! Read more »
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SAm says:
nah bugger labor i meant KRudd! Without him their a ship without a RUDDer. As in he is the prefered leader out of him, julia and tony Read more »
Lindsay Tanner isn’t happy with the mainstream media’s treatment of politics and politicians. The mainstream media is lazy, superficial, biased, banal. It has a pack mentality and a short attention span. It cooks up or makes up stories, fails to correct errors, and can be easily conned. It is unwilling or unable to examine big ideas and serious policy debate.
As for social media, well, that’s just frivolous nonsense. All those people writing their silly tweets. And politicians shouldn’t have fun or show their lighter side. Costello dancing the Macarena – what was that about? Just stupid.
With his furrowed brow, his Brylcreemed widow’s peak and his dark and dated suits, Lindsay Tanner has long had the demeanour of someone who is 50 going on 75. It befits him to have authored such a grumpy and meandering book, Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy. This crotchety polemic combines random anecdotes from federal politics with haphazardly-selected quotes from professional haters of mainstream journalism to bolster his thesis that politics is stuffed, and that it’s (almost) all the media’s fault.
Continue reading "Tanner’s one-sided sideshow lets the pollies off the hook" »
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Dave says:
Russia, Canada, USA, are some of the countries who will “Not endorse the next Keyoto meeting” we are so great are we not? we are going to save the world, the whole 22 million odd people in this country, our food and the cost of living is one of the… Read more »
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Brad says:
Lazy journalism appeals to lazy people! You can add to your list the last time any of them wrote about constitutional issues or even dare mention the fact that we have a constitution. To be fair though, we don’t have any politicians who ever reference that almighty document that is… Read more »
Sitting around in a café the other day, one of my former colleagues bemoaned the fact that young people where not as active as him when he was studying. He raised his frustration that each generation is getting more politically lethargic and ranted about the generational changes we are seeing.
Apart from reminding him that ‘his generation’ had not done such a bang up job in solving the world’s problems, and actually delivering some new ones, the whole area of ‘generational research’ is one that is deeply flawed. That is, to clearly define a population’s attributes based on their ‘generational status’ tends to homogenise a population by their age – despite there always being significant differences within each cluster.
Despite this, we see books and papers about Boomers, X-ers and Y’s – all presented as if this is the missing ingredient in understanding the way of the world and what is going on with our society. So is this the case?
Continue reading "Looking to generational divides tell us nothing" »
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Forgotten Australian Family says:
No plaque will help us! From one abused child, four adults on disability have resulted. Three of them - his wife and two daughters, were high achievers whose spirits have been crushed by the lack of compassion and restitution shown to this man. Taken as a small child by uncaring… Read more »
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Against the Man says:
Look at Labor, look at families, especially in my area of Western Sydney - it isn’t pretty. The ALP and Gillard don’t care. Why should Gillard care? Read more »
Lindsay Tanner was just on AM and made an observation so obvious it was almost funny. He said people only complain about the consultation process when they don’t like the outcome.
That might explain why people in the ALP are now complaining that Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan came up with the Resources Super Profits Tax all on their own, without even consulting the other half of the so-called “kitchen cabinet”, Tanner, and Julia Gillard.
Tanner denied the claims, saying as Finance Minister he’s a key part of the Budget process, but he did stop short of asserting anyone else in Rudd’s increasingly invisible cabinet was brought into the loop. If Rudd and Swan were responsible for formulating the RSPT, their back bench is now holding them responsible for stopping the bleeding it’s caused.
Continue reading "Campaign countdown: Just fix it Kevin and Wayne" »
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acai berry colon cleanse says:
Think Lot,means assume base woman month tone base world beside threat cost sufficient thought machine government secretary physical bring meal programme reasonable blue condition fairly take introduce flat neck confidence form bright standard weight leg appoint nevertheless right move selection cover below ready welcome provided finger reality comparison dead less… Read more »
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Maladroit says:
Persephone, Hawke proposed to levy a PRRT on onshore petroleum and then hastily withdrew the idea because it was a state-owned resource (except for onshore Barrow Island where Burke agreed to it). More fundamentally, Rudd’s mantra that justifies imposing higher income tax on miners is that the resources belong to… Read more »
In Rudd Government-speak “hysterical” is the new “denier”, as in the mining industry is “hysterical” over the RSPT the way people who questioned the details of the ETS were climate change “deniers”.
The Rudd team is once again relying on a simplistic argument to sell a highly complex policy, and this time they’ve gone all in.
Tony Abbott keeps saying the coming election will be won and lost on the Resources Super Profits Tax, which for political watchers’ sakes I hope is an overstatement. Certainly there’s no way Rudd can afford to dump it in the same bin as the ETS.
Continue reading "Can Rudd dig himself out of a super mining tax hole?" »
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LeLilia says:
I received 1 st loans when I was 32 and that supported me a lot. However, I need the commercial loan over again. Read more »
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David Lee says:
Look at how Norway manages their oil resource; these are limited resources, once it gone, it gone. Try not to think as you are mining billionaire… Read more »
This morning’s Channel 10 news debate between Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and his Opposition counterpart Barnaby Joyce was the first time the two have gone head to head since Joyce took up the job.
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The clash was a good example of how a political debate can appear one way in Canberra and unfold in another when it comes time for people to actually tune in.
To give a cricketing analogy, Tanner has won the test match of a parliamentary sitting fortnight but Joyce just won the higher rating Twenty 20.
Continue reading "Tanner wins the week, Joyce wins the day" »
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fast fat loss says:
Order Award,trust from display screen together want plenty fit immediately operate roof tall voice professional next chemical technical note relationship in left right award western could enterprise western realize bird itself find subject breath figure sequence job clearly health essential resource unlikely instead confirm soldier medical we test before direct… Read more »
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Jack Thomas says:
Nice one, you can’t seriously believe that? Sexual assault victims’ statements. Take a second and say those words again. Then think how you would glibly shred them and spend years denying it. Tell your story to any policeman, internal affairs investigator, etc., they may disagree. Read more »
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