The Punch

Update 9:15PM: Appearing on Sky News this evening the crucial three independents Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor say they still have not made up their minds over which party to support.  It continues.

Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie’s decision to side with Julia Gillard’s Labor Government is not surprising.

The intelligence officer turned Iraq war whistler blower was basically labelled a clear and present danger to national security by the Howard Government, formally had a fling with The Greens and now holds what is usually a safe Labor seat – hardly paints the picture of someone who would hand Government to the Coalition. Like the laughable attempt by Bob Brown to tell us the day after the election the Greens could side with any party, Wilkie’s decision ended what was a series of false flirtations with Tony Abbott.

But by revealing that Tony Abbott, like Dr Evil making an ambit claim, was willing to write a $1 billion cheque for Royal Hobart Hospital, Wilkie could have done more damage to Abbott than anything Treasury can come up with.

Continue reading "Abbott’s Fatal Austin Powers Moment: One Billion Dollars" »

Well silly old me. There I was thinking the 2010 federal election was about economic management, border protection, broadband and leadership.

Turns out it was about light rail for north Hobart, the reintroduction of tariffs for the banana industry, an hourly limit on poker machine betting, new rules governing the length of answers during Question Time and the urgent introduction of an emissions trading scheme.

For all the talk about who has the biggest mandate, a separate and more compelling point should be made about the emergence of a raft of left-field side issues as bargaining chips in the battle to form government. And that is – none of these independents has any mandate at all to use them as conditions for supporting the major party.

Continue reading "The national policy agenda which nobody voted for" »

People are discovering that food costs are soaring, electricity and government charges including water charges are on the increase and many families are needing to find savings in the family budget.

If recent reports by the United Nations are any indication then the savings can come from this unexpected phenomenon.

The worlwide non-profit initiative to promote Meatless Mondays and Fishless Fridays is encouraging the voluntary rationing of certain foods. This is not new as rationing was common practice during both World Wars. 

Continue reading "Enough with all the meat eating all ready" »

Australia really needs to do something about its addiction to opinion polls.

The week following the election, just like the weeks that led up to it, was dominated by polls.

First came the local ones in the rural Independents’ electorates, which some interpreted as a new set of riding instructions to Messrs Katter, Windsor and Oakeshott.

Continue reading "We need to get over our poll addiction" »

Regardless of the outcome of this hung Parliament scenario; business and vested interest groups will be the winners in the medium to long term.

Forget the current wobbliness on the stock exchange and the suspension of investment and trade by some mining companies and multi-nationals; the opportunities posed for those wishing to engage with the independents and the incoming Government far outweigh the risks.

Continue reading "A hung parliament is good news for business" »

The great French cyclist, Laurent Fignon, who died this week from cancer, aged just 50, recalled being recognized by a man in the street.

“Ah, I remember you: you’re the guy who lost the Tour by eight seconds.” “No, monsieur,” Fignon replied, “I’m the guy who won it twice.”

After losing the 3,285 kilometre race by a few seconds in the time-trial on the streets of Paris in 1989, it is little wonder that Fignon is most remembered for that year of the event. 

Continue reading "As long as he breathed he attacked" »

As we patiently await the formation of the next federal government we should pause to reflect on what a hung Parliament may actually mean for consumers, small businesses and farmers.

While clearly a very important issue, it’s one that hasn’t received the attention it deserves. For starters one would have to say that it wouldn’t take very much for consumers, small businesses and farmers to get a better deal. All too often both major parties have failed to deliver real and meaningful reforms. 

There have been obvious exceptions. We had the small business reforms in 1997 from Peter Reith and we had Peter Costello deliver the Birdsville Amendment against predatory pricing. We also have some exciting possible developments in South Australia where Labor State Backbencher, Tony Piccolo, has been pushing franchising law reforms. Western Australia is also fast becoming a battleground for possible small business reforms.

Continue reading "Three cheers for a hung parliament" »

The past few weeks have given us a mediocre campaign at best and left the electorate cynical. Can there be any other outcome when all both sides can come up with is an exchange of slogans, attention grabbing stunts and petty bickering.

Making sure they say what they believe to be safe and popular while avoiding the risks associated with delving deep into the important issues. Yes, student elections at ANU are all about shallow populism.

Wait… did you think I was talking about another election?

Continue reading "Political careers start at university" »

Hollywood actress Salma Hayek was born in Mexico today in 1966.

And it’s Thursday at The Punch, so what’s on your mind? Share it here.

Yet another member of the NSW Government has hit the wall over dodgy behaviour. Ports Minister Paul McLeay, son of the factional hack Leo, has been sacked for whiling away time in his ministerial office looking at pornographic websites.

You can’t really blame the bloke. If you were sitting on a primary vote of 25 per cent and facing imminent electoral death, you’ve got to pass the hours somehow. His appetites didn’t stop at nudie sites, he also had a bit of a thing for online gambling. But the punter has now been punted with Premier Kristina Keneally telling the freakshow also known as the NSW Parliament just now that she had sought and received his resignation.

There’s a great text message doing the rounds in Labor circles this afternoon which reads as follows. “This behaviour is not the stand I expect of a minister,” Ms Keneally said. Why??!!

Continue reading "NSW: more to do, but pulling in the wrong direction" »