I was wondering what Wikipedia means by the term “anyone”. It is, after all, a site which advertises that it can be edited by “anyone”, but that term apparently does not extend to staff from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. They apparently aren’t “anyone” because it appears to be impossible for them to […]

This morning’s revelations that Kevin Rudd visited a strip club called Scores in New York will probably help his campaign for prime minister. That’s a reflection of people’s desire to change the government. It doesn’t matter what Rudd does, it will be interpreted in his favour – the teflon factor. So this post is for […]

Well, I’ve had my interview with the Liberal Party Disciplinary Committee, and it doesn’t improve my prognosis of the party’s health. I think I was more prepared for the meeting than they were, despite the fact that they didn’t serve me with the offending passages until about 24 hours before the hearing. Last Thursday 9th […]

Today’s revelations of internal Liberal Party polling drew this response from Kevin Rudd – “This is a poll-driven government and you see it across the board: the attacks on unions, the attacks on state premiers, the attacks one states; it’s all there in their political poll-driven analysis. What’s worse than a poll-driven political party? Perhaps […]

Our surveys show that a substantial number of voters blame Howard for problems with the health system. That’s why he’s taking over a hospital in Tasmania, and offering to do the same in other spots around the country. Labor has been trying to jam Howard by sheeting the blame for the failures of Labor state […]

Kevin Rudd famously said that he was looking forward to “messing” with the Prime Minister’s mind. Recent comments suggest that he “knows” the Prime Minister’s mind. I heard him say it before, and he has repeated it again today – the election will be called in six weeks. The Labor strategy is fairly obvious. Try […]

After having read reports of Kevin Andrew’s press conference where he provides further reasons for revoking Mohamed Haneef’s visa (like this one) I’m satisfied that he had good grounds. The minister only has to operate on the basis of the balance of probabilities. Evidence that might not be sufficient to obtain a criminal conviction can […]

It must be one of the screwiest ideas to come out of a nominally intelligent person in quite a while. Labor MP Evan Thornley suggests that parents ought to be able to vote on behalf of their children under 18 years of age. “Just imagine the radical change that would occur if parents voted not […]

The decision of the Queensland Government to establish the Urban Land Development Authority is at the one time both an admission that state governments are substantially responsible for the current housing affordability crisis, and another erosion of basic civil rights. It is also a further assault on local government, which is already under siege facing […]

Peter Beattie appears to be leading the Rudd Labor attack on the federal government over the Haneef case. He is a curiously flawed tool. Rather than attacking the decision to revoke Haneef’s visa, he has been burrowing into the government over the conduct of the case by the Federal Police and the DPP. Now I’d […]