tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-225343692009-11-22T21:13:26.433+11:00A symphony in brown.Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.comBlogger348125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-15828238404324853952009-11-16T19:11:00.001+11:002009-11-16T19:13:46.474+11:00

Adding valuePeter van Onselen has been emotive and sentimental in overlooking the fact that a structural separation of the Liberal and Nationals would benefit both parties. Using the word "divorce" likens the Coalition to a family, with children and chattels to think of, when it is really more like the kind of corporate demergers that release value for all involved.It is a distinct possibility

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-53899500236333645742009-11-04T18:34:00.001+11:002009-11-04T22:48:30.874+11:00

Seeking refugePeter Costello has produced another of those columns that give some comfort both to those who admire him, and those who don't; which have at their core a desire for self-justification, with attempts to disguise this with a bit of partisan swingeing. This one is about border protection.If they are admitted to Christmas Island and the passengers are successful in their claims to enter

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-11688714298123523442009-11-01T15:58:00.004+11:002009-11-01T19:40:28.205+11:00

Sussex Street CircusThe journosphere has focused on the hapless Nathan Rees as Premier of NSW, how unpopular he and his government are, and how they have a kind of reverse Midas touch where everything they touch turns to dross. This is seen as some sort of contrast to the all-conquering feds. This reflects poor framing of the issue, and poor framing will make it harder for people to understand

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-77594566754569857292009-10-31T19:31:00.001+11:002009-11-01T19:33:09.204+11:00

Dennis FergusonPerhaps now it may be possible to speak of this person and the issues surrounding him without being part of a lynch mob. Dennis Ferguson has spent most of his adult life in Queensland prisons, convicted six times of sexually abusing children. He does not participate in rehabilitation programs. He attempted to settle in communities in Queensland which included children, and was

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-21294218251036043712009-10-30T19:35:00.001+11:002009-10-30T19:39:21.749+11:00

The slow tsunami Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, amongst other places, will see cause thousands of people to seek better lives elsewhere. The Australian government should be more proactive in addressing this problem.When the tsunami struck in 2005 the then Australian government was extraordinarily generous to stricken nations and communities. It's not a snark against the Howard

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-38176716365750608912009-10-27T20:20:00.002+11:002009-10-29T23:11:28.123+11:00

A little quirkyDr Peter Phelps has hit the headlines again for all the wrong reasons. For someone with so much experience of political campaigning and media, he regularly makes the cardinal error of backroom advisors: he makes himself the story. That said, this is a poor article. You have to get two-thirds of the way down to find that Turnbull's office received the email in question rather than

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-55833338564585161772009-10-26T19:07:00.003+11:002009-10-26T19:10:52.104+11:00

None out of threeThe next election will be called at some point within the coming year. It's becoming clear that the three issues for that election will be climate change, the economy and refugees. The Liberal Party is floundering on all three. On none of the key issues of the day can the major opposition party convince anyone but its rusted-on supporters that it has a better policy than that of

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-59554869789705926662009-10-07T21:25:00.000+11:002009-10-07T21:28:15.533+11:00

Fly away PeterUpdates to previous posts:Update to post of 3 Oct: Dutton is starting to overplay his hand, it would seem. Gutless little prima donna! No self-respecting organisation should have to put up with this treatment, not from someone who has taken more than he has given back. If he's such a scrapper, if he really was PM material, he'd fight for his political career. He'd take on

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-88111489558332583672009-10-06T21:00:00.000+11:002009-10-06T21:02:02.197+11:00

Sticks and stones may break my bones but climate change will kill meIn criticising Malcolm Turnbull for proposing to do anything at all about climate change, Mitch Fifield realised he was out of his depth when he went into a defensive crouch, trying to pre-empt being called names for publicly emphasising Coalition disunity over this issue.Never mind being a rebel, a dissenter or an outrider,

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-80166875069773214872009-10-03T21:32:00.004+10:002009-10-04T08:24:13.989+11:00

Obvious talentPeter Dutton has always appeared wooden and not particularly swift on his feet, before the media, in Parliament and in other public functions. He has managed no policy initiatives, nor managed competing interests to arrive at a workable arrangement over a complex issue. Why he is regarded as great political talent is unclear.Dutton should have managed his political career better. If

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-35212464317353748982009-10-01T22:04:00.001+10:002009-10-01T22:04:00.338+10:00

Law reformThis article does a quick skate around issues of costs and pace of, and access to, the justice legal system, with a quick conflation of criminal law with complex corporate cases adding to its air of cynicism.Why we're in this frightful, seemingly insoluble litigation vortex is largely because the judges, and successive governments, have allowed the lawyers to capture control of the

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-71340777987819637682009-09-28T20:39:00.003+10:002009-09-28T20:52:07.548+10:00

The very model of a modern major LiberalSince the 2007 Federal election it has become clear that there is a whole new set of criteria for those wishing to become Liberal MPs - certainly in terms of Federal (as I nostalgically call it) Parliament. Time was that you needed a law degree - presentation skills and familiarity with legal complexities being largely sufficient for a political career,

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-70517517752659761892009-09-23T20:42:00.005+10:002009-09-28T20:43:14.607+10:00

Blow that whistle, ref68 years have elapsed since 1941. In that time, Labor has governed NSW for 50 of those years and the Coalition for 18. Major infrastructure problems can largely be sheeted home to NSW Labor, with its penny-ante perspective known as "laborism" guaranteeing that public sector wages will increase inversely to clear expectations of those jobs, while regarding infrastructure and

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-58524724874500025832009-09-20T17:18:00.003+10:002009-09-20T18:56:34.109+10:00

Hard to get good help in NSW politicsFinally, the NSW Liberals have woken up to the ALP. It took fourteen years and four defeats for them to realise that Labor runs against itself. Bob Carr did it in 1999, acting as ombudsman for any dissatisfaction with the government of which he was nominally leader. He did it again in 2003, but nothing really changed then either. Morris Iemma, being a blank

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-68839564867038214032009-09-16T22:20:00.000+10:002009-09-16T22:23:30.800+10:00

Telstra and the journosphereHooray for the kind-of historic telecommunication reforms - kind-of because they were long overdue, but if they'd been truly historic you know that Rudd would have announced them rather than allow Conroy to bob up from the murky depths of Victorian Labor and frighten people.Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was yesterday accused by a prominent Victorian

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-10532659245131098022009-09-15T19:42:00.003+10:002009-09-15T19:59:01.104+10:00

Just relationsThe non-story on Liberal policy on - to use an old-fashioned term - industrial relations was badly handled and badly reported.It was badly handled for two reasons:Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott should have shut up about individual contracts. Oppositions don't get where they are by talking about what they're going to do in office: Kevin Rudd didn't in 2007, John Howard didn't in

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-29636530143759408632009-09-13T21:45:00.002+10:002009-09-13T22:02:38.752+10:00

No news, bad newsWhy is this news? Della Bosca has quit and this woman is entitled to go to ground. You can't complain about the cost of journalism while you'rechurning out crap like this. The hypertext headline here is "Kate Ellis and John Della Bosca" - is he doing it with the Federal Sport Minister (the one who didn't know the difference between rugby league and union) or is this just lazy

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-33090052778481559262009-09-11T18:01:00.003+10:002009-09-11T18:17:55.059+10:00

Tony Abbott should eat ... his wordsTony Abbott's remarks about Julia Gillard's shit-eating grin are politically stupid for two major reasons.First, the people who will be most upset about this sort of language are the very sort of God-save-the-Queen conservatives who comprise Abbott's base, and who see him as - if not a saviour, then certainly a paragon of decency and principle, clear proof that

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-35557034640753227082009-09-05T15:57:00.002+10:002009-09-05T17:00:27.013+10:00

In the long runThese criticisms of Australia's foreign investments policy, particularly in mining, by WA Premier Barnett are well made. They reflect a change in approach to governing Australia, particularly from Melbourne. It's important to examine the changes to Victorian Liberals as this goes to the heart of their current and recent problems - and those of the Liberal Party more broadly.Japan

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-18905844536823149382009-09-01T21:26:00.002+10:002009-09-01T21:42:17.369+10:00

Too excited to think straightNow you can see why Gerard Henderson is usually such a sad sack - when he tries to be optimistic he gets all giddy. He also trots out some of his hoary old themes which haven't survived the passage of time.A reasonable result in Bradfield would give Turnbull the chance to re-establish some authority in the lead-up to the next federal election.Not really. A reasonable

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-9596176155788033582009-08-31T23:30:00.000+10:002009-09-01T22:19:00.712+10:00

Clean up NSWIt's a media cliché, boring to readers but beloved of the journosphere, to complain about money being spent ministerial offices.First, we had Matt Brown cavorting around in his undies. Now there's Della Bosca doing it in the ministerial suite with someone other than Belinda Neal. God knows what else remains to come out, but on those alone the first order of business for the next NSW

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-43024171915659344232009-08-30T21:24:00.004+10:002009-08-30T21:32:36.082+10:00

Forget about itThis is the most disgusting piece of political cynicism yet from the Rudd Government, from its worst minister.The Northern Territory Intervention was supported by both sides of politics. It represented bold action to address dark and deep problems, the sort that can only be addressed by bold action. None of the issues that brought on the Intervention have been addressed, let alone

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-14303300947958999362009-08-27T20:14:00.000+10:002009-08-27T20:24:48.409+10:00

Hardly workingThis is not news, though the journosphere thinks it is.Rees to stay as Premier? He doesn't decide that. He didn't decide when to become Premier, and when he is replaced that decision too will be made for him. Tell us who makes that decision (and why it's them who makes that decision, all things considered), and ask them. Rees has proven so often that he doesn't know what he's

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-90461313925729583182009-08-24T16:58:00.012+10:002009-08-28T08:40:36.575+10:00

Darling Downs QuixoteThe Nationals have taken what they think is a historic change of course by rededicating itself to its grass roots. What it has actually done is voted for its own irrelevance - instead of shuffling toward oblivion, it is hurtling toward it Bolt-like (I meant Usain, but you can throw in Andrew too), clicking its heels and whooping. Barnaby Joyce is doing what Bob Katter did,

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22534369.post-60962642309485516372009-08-23T13:17:00.000+10:002009-08-23T13:17:20.353+10:00

Malcolm Turnbull as Liberal leaderI had high hopes for Malcolm Turnbull as a circuit-breaker for the Liberal Party, the only leader capable of getting the party over and past John Howard. I still think his spinelessness over Grech shows that he's no leader. That's been confirmed by a number of recent articles that illustrate the gap between his political capabilities and the hopes that others

Andrew Elderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04705844456819481896noreply@blogger.com2