Carbon tax | The Monthly

January 2013

The Gillard Agreement

By Mungo MacCallum

So Greens leader Christine Milne is unimpressed with Julia Gillard’s bargaining skills.“The Prime Minister is always cited as a great negotiator but I have pointed out that it’s not about whether you get an agreement, it’s about whether the agreement you get actually delivers,” Senator Milne chided recently.She was referring to the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, and she obviously has a

Danny Johnson’s Anti–Carbon Tax Campaign

Man of Letters

By Ian Kenins

Victorians might, but probably don’t, remember Danny Johnson as the genial wrecker from Warracknabeal, in north-west Victoria, who in 1990 wrote a letter that triggered a revolution. His emotive plea for action, published in the Wimmera Mail-Times, condemned the accident-prone, recession-hit state Labor government. He lambasted “disgraceful” unions, wasteful government spending, a soft-

CanDo? Campbell Newman’s Bid for Queensland

By Nick Bryant

Crestfallen conservatives would have drawn little consolation from the potentially morale-boosting fact that Brisbane City Council is the biggest local government fiefdom in the country, nor from the 617,000 registered voters who make up Australia’s largest single electorate. No, the citywide power wielded by Campbell Newman was a sore reminder of the Liberals’ nationwide powerlessness. Labor had a monopoly. The Liberals had a munic

Window Dressing: The Mirage of Political Reform

By Lindsay Tanner

Such sentiments are understandable but misguided. The rules that govern how our political system works matter, but the development of policies and legislation tends to be driven by more fundamental forces. When governmental process delivers decisions we don’t like, our natural response is to reach for the rule book. Just as supporters of winning teams tend

Australia’s Patrons of Climate Change Activism

The Climate Movement

By Guy Pearse

It’s a far cry from 2009 when the environmental movement split over the so-called Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Climate Institute went one way – backing the CPRS in

Comment: Political Leadership in Australia

By Don Watson

As the bosses’ grip grows tighter, the membership declines and branches fold. Recently, the stalwart Senator John Faulkner used the word ‘anaemia’ to describe his party’s present condition. Leaping to his side, Kevin Rudd, who was deposed in a factiona

Why One Year After the Election Voters Still Don’t Know Who Gillard Is

Prime Minister, Interrupted

By Annabel Crabb

In Australia, we engage with our political leaders in a way that is very particular to us, and to our democratic model. Compulsory voting obliges us to get involved directly every three years or so. So the kinds of inducements to pay attention that you see duri

The Greens and Fundamentalism

Comment

By Mark Aarons

Despite the new reality in the Senate, there are ominous signs for centre-left politics. The bitter invective recently directed at the Greens indicates Labor is rattled. Julia Gillard is desperate to shore up her flagging support among Labor’s traditional wo