Stephen Smith
The ongoing criticism of the Australian Defence Force’s deployed resources in Afghanistan, firstly by the 6 RAR Digger’s email and now also by a senior soldier in Townsville and a recently returned Officer, raise the real issue of the Government’s commitment to the fight.
Has the Government deployed every possible resource needed to achieve the mission?
In response to that now widely publicised email, Defence stated that the Commander on the ground at Deh Rawood had a range of direct and indirect fire assets at his disposal. The Commander chose to use some of those assets and others he did not, for a variety of reasons such as airspace deconfliction.
Continue reading "We need to listen to those on the ground in Afghanistan" »
NOW there will be a new Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, who will have the rotten task of taking to the podium with Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston to announce that yet another Digger has been killed in action.
Senator John Faulkner did it too many times.
It was clear from watching Faulkner that he truly hated these death calls. He appeared to feel almost too deeply the burden of being the minister in the government which has ordered its troops to fight.
Continue reading "Grieving lost soldiers doesn’t equate to supporting the war" »
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thats war crimes u know says:
staying silent and not speaking out against illegal immoral invasions based on lies that result in the murder of hundreds of thousand of innocent men women and children equates to supporting the war. Read more »
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Gregg says:
I think you split hairs Wayne with ” I have not stated we should support being in Afghanistan because we have troops there . What i said was that we should give our troops full moral and ethical backing for the job they are doing and also because what they… Read more »
In the next few days we should know whether Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott will be the next Prime Minister.
Regardless of whoever prevails they should do the country a favour and appoint the leader they knocked off to be the country’s chief diplomat.
The position of Minister for Foreign Affairs, which for the moment at least also has trade tacked on, is a coveted portfolio. Unlike most other ministries it has traditionally involved dealing almost exclusively with matters core to the national interest with a lesser regard for the day-to-day trench warfare of politics. Until Kevin Rudd came along.
Continue reading "Rudd and Turnbull are the safe hands for foreign affairs" »
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acai cleanse colon says:
Amount Weekend,name crisis surely award several clear immediately sit painting help sun rock report chapter main break supply consideration hear seriously nature key action cheap die party choice game under promise damage working bridge sight influence quality lord work imply circumstance programme screen claim real play male condition use progress… Read more »
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Rob r Charteris says:
Nicole says:08:34pm; sweetie, you can baste me anytime you like. I can do kinky…. if you like. Read more »
Elections are rarely fought on matters of foreign policy, but Julia Gillard has a rare opportunity to dominate the scene through some simple manoeuvring.
In a few weeks time the Pacific Islands Forum will meet in Vanuatu. The annual talkfest brings together leaders of fourteen states in the region with a handful of other observers.
It seems unlikely on current posturing that the Prime Minister will attend the gathering. Even Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is doubtful saying he will make a decision closer to the date and assesses his attendance on a “case-by-case” basis. Something Alexander Downer, who attended both the 1998 and 2007 forums when they clashed with the election campaign, has rightly called an insult to the region. If the Prime Minister is really as tactful a politician as many think she will attend the forum.
Continue reading "The path to a foreign policy coup for Gillard" »
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James of Melboure says:
Right so Gillard was supposed to leave the country a day after becoming PM? Come off it! Domestic politics far outweigh attendance at a G20 Summit even in light of its importance. Basically she should go to the PIF because Australia has a special responsibility in the South Pacific is… Read more »
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Shelley says:
...few can forget the imagery of ‘King Kevin’ decked out in Ray-Bans and a tropical shirt at the 2008 gathering – legs crossed in a lounge chair looking like an African dictator… Caretaker PM Gillard hasn’t needed to leave home to have East Timor view her as a dictator. Read more »
Julia Gillard has announced her new cabinet line-up today and it was pretty reflective of the new Prime Minister’s behaviour since taking the top job: smart and cautious.
Prime Minister Gillard has left Kevin Rudd to warm the backbench till after the election. It’s a harsh move but it’s a smart one given how angry Rudd must be at his cabinet colleagues at the moment.
Gillard has also not given in to the temptation to reward those MPs who were behind the Rudd coup, namely Victorian right faction leader Bill Shorten.
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www.thepunch.com.au says:
Gillard lets rudd warm the backbench.. Great! Read more »
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MarK says:
See the difference is Seano is that Abbott didn’t say he would be happy to have him there. She is like Rudd just says something and walks away from it. All to be dealt with “later”. Please get the context right Read more »
As speculation mounts that ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will become the new Foreign Minister, is there a better role out there for him in the world?
Kevin Rudd was known for appointing politicians of both sides to important positions overseas.
He shipped former Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson off to Brussels as an Ambassador when he was discarded as Opposition Leader. At the same time Kim Beazley who he knocked off as leader was predictably sent packing for the plum job in Washington.
Continue reading "What in the world can Kevin Rudd do now?" »
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Thom Woodroofe says:
Thanks Oscar, good clarifications. I wrote the article from Turkey so time zones threw me off with Smith’s interview day. Read more »
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Timmo says:
Anisette, I agree, and well put. Australian politics is a disgrace. One of the reasons I think they worked against him is because he is a Queenslander. Those Southern B’s don’t want a Queenslander running the show. I have no other comments, as like you, I think it stinks. Read more »
It doesn’t wash that high profile Western Australian politician Stephen Smith would be happy to forego the plum foreign affairs portfolio to make way for Kevin Rudd.
For a start, Mr Smith’s high profile in his home state and the capital Perth is critical to the party improving its electoral appeal in the west, and a demotion to a lesser portfolio would not sit well with the Liberal-leaning punters.
Taking any parochial state-based political thinking out of the equation, there’s also the national interest to think of.
Continue reading "Why Rudd should not be the Foreign Minister" »
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taxpayer says:
All the boats will now come in their thousands. Pensions and homes galore for asylum seekers but he will send our troops over to their country to fight for them and possibly get killed as he has no son of his own to send. Read more »
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Anjuli says:
Foreign Minister you have got to be kidding ,in the first place if he was Chinese and this had happened to him he would have lost face . He will be viewed all over the world as a has been got rid of overnight—-Prime Minister. Read more »
The old saying is true, you do have to watch the quiet ones. Derided by his former leader Mark Latham as a “rooster”, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith showed this week that he is a particularly lethal fighting rooster as he methodically dismantled his shadow, Julie Bishop, over the forged passport scandal.
The expulsion of the Israeli diplomat and the subsequent argument over whether Canberra had gone too far has been discussed at some length on The Punch and elsewhere.
All I will say about it here is that it was not an issue (and would probably never have become an issue) which was the subject of animated discussion in shopping centre food courts around Australia.
Continue reading "Libs carved up by a lethal fighting rooster" »
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Wayne Fehlhaber says:
John Neve : We have gone down this track in the past but you can’t help yourself can you John , you just have to stand up for Labor even when they are proved to be inept and unable to administrate their own programs. There is no doubt that Garrett… Read more »
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persephone says:
Chill, Wayne. Garrett has gone through the warnings he received and how he responded to each and every one of them several times now. The insulation program was rushed - it had to be, given the urgency of the situation with the GFC - but Garrett made sure that the… Read more »
The decision by a Shanghai court to sentence Stern Hu to ten years should teach us a lesson about the future of our relationship with China: Australia cannot expect to continue to reap the benefits of Chinese cash without periodically accepting some of its pernicious qualities.
Following the Hu sentence there will no doubt be a temptation to invoke what could be called the “Corby Protocol”, which assumes that whenever an Australian is arrested in a non-Western country they are ipso facto innocent and victims of a corrupt and dictatorial regime.
But in this case it would probably be in our interest to understand that while Hu has become a victim of the workings of the Chinese state and business, he was also very much a product of it. This was a position that up until this point had made him, and by extension Australia, very wealthy.
Continue reading "With China it’s not all beer and dim sum" »
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James says:
I’m sure we are unlikely to ever know the truth and that is the problem, people will speculate, and given the history of the Chinese legal system I’m sure most people will assume that Hu is innocent and his confession was forced, even if this isn’t true. By hiding the… Read more »
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Scot says:
Randal, If you are a China Expert of many years then you should be able to answer your own questions? Or maybe next time you go, ask you business associates-partners what goes on and what happens to those people not matter what level of government the penalties they are handed… Read more »
In the latest development in the fake passport controversy, Britain has expelled a senior Israeli diplomat and demanded a public assurance that Israel will not misuse British passports again.
This is in response to Israel’s Mossad spy agency allegedly killing a Hamas leader in Dubai in January, with the assassination team using forged foreign passports, including at least three from Australia.
However, you don’t have to be a chest thumping, Alexander Downer-like armchair warrior who relishes assassination to realise that western countries, including Australia, are overreacting.
Continue reading "Let’s not overreact to Mossad’s hit on a terrorist" »
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Dan says:
Paine, do whatever you want. However, you have only proved how ignorant you are (not just about international relations but about logic and debate), and how arrogant you are to think you have the capacity to judge other people, especially when they are involved in discussions which do not concern… Read more »
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Dan says:
Pine, if you are going to respond to me, at least indicate what you are responding to!!! 1) What the heck are you talking about? 2) What the heck are you talking about? 3) You should reread my exchange! I was simply pointing out that the reason Mossad would… Read more »
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