Peter van Onselen has written a bizarre piece in The Australian suggesting a split in the Federal Coalition would be political suicide. Van Onselen claims: “… it would be absolute folly for the conservative side of politics if the Coalition were to disintegrate, and it would hurt the Liberal Party at least as much as [...]
Political deal makers
Describing a political party, if I said there were fights on the floor of the party conference, a strident radical wing, socialist tendencies and legislation to introduce a public gas utility you’d probably assume I was talking about the Australian Labor Party. In fact I would be describing the Victorian Country Party, which was the [...]
Skilled migration program a success
It wasn’t so long ago that Australia was suffering not just a skills shortage, but a labour shortage. In Western Australia and Queensland especially, any sane person with two arms, two legs and a grasp of English could be guaranteed work if they wanted it. Then came the global economic crisis and unemployment began to [...]
From Labor to the Nationals
There’s been a lot written and said about Vince Catania’s decision to quit the Labor Party and join the WA Nationals. Some media have described the defection as a “shock” and “unprecedented”. It’s not shocking for a country Labor MP to turn independent, or in this case join an independent party of fellow country MPs. [...]
Peter Costello’s retirement
Broelman’s cartoon today on Peter Costello’s retirement was a ripper. Poor Peter has stood in John Howard’s shadow for so long he hasn’t needed sunglasses since 1998. There was a similar cartoon in The Australian yesterday. It showed Peter standing variously next to Alexander Downer, Howard and Brendan Nelson with the words “tick tick tick” [...]
