State Premiers

An old Australian saying goes: When do you put in the boot? When somebody’s down. Which no doubt explains the all-Australian attack on our hapless prime minister over issues which should be Labor’s strengths: health and education. Victoria’s Ted Baillieu and Queensland’s Campbell Newman in particular have decided that it’s a good time to distract voter attention from their own short

Premiers’ Conferences used to be so simple. The night before, the six premiers would arrive in Canberra, check into the old Canberra Hotel and have quite a few drinks as they waited for the Commonwealth to produce its offer of money. They would then have quite a few more drinks. Next morning, outraged and hungover, they would troop across to Parliament House to complain that it wasn’