No more zingers for Bill Shorten, and now voice coaching from Dean Frenkel, a throat singer and lecturer in public speaking and communications at Victoria University, who thinks we all need lessons in elocution. After 14 years as a union rabble rouser Bill tried to soften his image. But: Continue reading Saturday salon 16/4
Is Bill Shorten a populist with a thought bubble, or is Malcolm Turnbull shooting from the hip and attempting to defend the indefensible?
Last year in June Labor voted with the government to kill a Greens motion for a royal commission into misconduct in the banking and financial services industry. As Adele Ferguson said in the AFR, then came NAB, IOOF, CommInsure, allegations of bank bill swap rate rigging and a multitude of smaller scandals.
Labor announced last Friday that in government it would set up a royal commission.
The government claims a RC would damage the reputation of the banks, but Ferguson says it couldn’t get any worse. Continue reading Banks royal commission becomes an election issue
The honeymoon is over, the shine has come off, the political capital accruing to a new leader has been dissipated. Now it’s not just a matter of how many seats Turnbull will lose, Labor has a real chance.
That’s been the reaction to the latest Newspoll result (paywalled), which has Labor ahead 51-49 for the first time since Turnbull became PM. Labor winning 30 Newspolls in a row was one of the reasons Turnbull said that Abbott had to go. Continue reading Turnbull, and his party, on the slide
It seems Malcolm Turnbull will add climate change to the growing collection of policy areas, including funding for schools and hospitals, where he will essentially kick the can down the road to after the election. The third phase of The Climate Change Authority’s Special Review is due by 30 June 2016. That report will “recommend what action Australia should take to implement outcomes flowing from the Paris climate conference in a final report by 30 June 2016.”
Obviously the Turnbull government will not formulate a response before a July 2 election. Continue reading Where to with climate change policy?
Before the three state elections in Germany on Sunday, March 13 many saw Angela Merkel’s CDU party in for a rough ride because of her policies towards Syrian refugees.
After the election many of the headlines were similar to this one from the NYT: Setback for Angela Merkel as Far Right Makes Gains in Germany. A closer reading presents a more complicated picture. Continue reading Is the political ground shifting in Germany?
Turnbull has trumped the ornery senate by using the Governor General’s powers to recall parliament under Section 5 of the Constitution.
He’s making it sound like a national emergency. Possibly, but it was also an emergency for him and his control of the party. Continue reading The early election we had to have
At 8.20am on Saturday morning on Radio National’s AM, veteran psephologist Malcolm Mackerras slammed the Senate voting reform and predicted a High Court challenge. What upsets him is the party list. He says we should be voting for individual senators directly, according to the Constitution.
At 10.40am ABC Online reported Family First senator Bob Day’s announcement of a High Court challenge. Continue reading High Court challenge after senate voting session descends to farce
Continue reading Has faffing about cost Turnbull an early poll?
After the first victory by the computer, that was the reaction as AlphaGo defeated grandmaster Lee Sedol for the second time. Continue reading Saturday salon 12/3
The release of the national accounts the other day provided unexpected good news. GDP was barrelling along at a healthy rate of a 3 per cent increase per annum. Paul Syvret took a look behind the headline figures and discovered the ugly truth. We are in an income recession. Continue reading Living in an income recession
As we head towards an election Huffington Post reports that the Minor Party Alliance convened by “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery formulated a plan on the weekend to mount an assault in the lower house on marginal Coalition and Green seats.
Druery said it was a series of skirmishes rather than war, as they lack the resources for a full-scale assault. Continue reading Minor Parties declare war series of skirmishes
Everyone seems to have an opinion about Cardinal Pell’s evidence in Rome to the child sexual abuse royal commission. Most opinions are damning in various ways. I’d recommend ABC RN’s report on their PM program for a detached report, which is not unfairly selective in the pieces it quotes.
Radio National also covered the victims before and after they met with Pell.
Some of them, including David Ridsdale, were positive about the meeting, and Pell agreed to help them further their case for changes in the Catholic Church. Continue reading Saturday salon 5/3
