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THE NEW BROOM
politicoz
Australians have voted, and Abbott's Coalition has achieved a substantial victory. Perhaps not the wipeout many expected, but substantial nonetheless. The Coalition will be jubilant that the job is done. The real job is now ahead of it. The …
Top 7 Coalition excuses for not releasing policy costings
blog
One for each day of the week, repeat until election day: 1. In 2007, the ALP didn’t release theirs until the day before the election (and we're trying to emulate them). 2. We didn’t trust the Treasury forecasts, but …
Do it for Rupert: How News Corp shapes the news
blog
Since no one is pretending that News Corp political coverage isn’t biased, we won’t either. The only amusing thing about News Corp’s pre-election assault on Rudd has been hearing the justifications of this pure exercise of power, and …
13 News Corp headlines - translated
blog
Ever wondered what News Corp editors are thinking? We’ve put together this handy translation guide for recent headlines: 1. “Kevin Rudd played with children as the nation’s finances were laid bare” (Daily …
THE MILITARY SOLUTION
politicoz
Not to be outdone, Tony Abbott launched another Coalition policy on asylum seekers this morning. Under the title Operation Sovereign Borders, Abbott said that a military commander, appointed by the Chief of the Defence Force, reporting to the Immigration …
LOST AT SEA
politicoz
Two stories in the media today should give pause to anyone believing the asylum seeker issue has any obvious or easy – and politically viable – solutions. First: A boat carrying around 150 people capsized in heavy seas off the coast of Java …
A PICTURE SENDS A THOUSAND MESSAGES
politicoz
Today's Newspoll indicates that Rudd's new 'PNG solution' has had the desired polling effect: on the question of which party would best handle the asylum seeker issue, Labor jumped 6 points, while the Coalition fell 14. Newspoll has Labor's …
THAT FLOATING FEELING
politicoz
The government has announced that it aims to move from a fixed to a floating price on carbon – from a carbon tax to an emissions trading scheme – in 2014, a year earlier than planned. It's not a major policy shift, but like so many recent …
PRISM: A Humble Request Before Privacy is Abolished Permanently
blog
Half a million Americans can read your every email, every Facebook post, every Google search. Should you be worried? “I wouldn’t think so,” said Foreign Minister Bob Carr, a point of view clearly shared by almost every single one of …
Baz Luhrmann is the Great Gatsby
Film
“What’s it all for?” asks narrator Nick Carraway mid-way through the new film version of The Great Gatsby. The question crossed my mind as well. Baz Luhrmann has been putting on a show since he was a country boy named …
BELLING THE CAT
politicoz
At the Institute of Public Affairs yesterday, Joe Hockey gave a speech about ending the era of entitlement and followed it with a passionate defence of the Coalition's generous paid parental leave scheme. "Addressing the ongoing fiscal crises …
MAKING DO
politicoz
The 2013 Defence white paper is out today. It announces that despite a small increase in funding, overall levels will remain at historically low levels until national fiscal conditions improve, following large cuts in recent years. The government …
HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT
politicoz
Tony Abbott announced this morning that the Coalition would be prepared to back a modest increase in the Medicare levy to fund the NDIS. It was only yesterday morning that the Coalition was publicly opposing it, but a series of dramatic political manoeuvres …
