Role-modelling workforce participation at #G20Brisbane: @Sarah_Capper comment

Female leadership has been on display in recent weeks – despite weeks saturated by coverage of the G20 Brisbane meet, with a city on partial lockdown, bar an explosion of Queensland Cops, and punters and photo journalists alike, quietly hopeful the PM would, in this instance, keep to his word, with the promise of a […]

The #Gough political legacy and the vision thing: @sarah_capper column

Reading over the tributes to former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who passed away last week, it’s difficult to write a tribute to such a great political giant without admitting that I wasn’t alive when Whitlam was in office. Growing up a decade later in the 80s, in a politically conservative household in the politically conservative […]

Cigar wielding wealthy motorist entitlements: the @sarah_capper column

Sitting on the train, surrounded by other poor people, sans cars, it’s hard not to wonder whether the Abbott Government is becoming increasingly out of touch with its constituents. Sure, there are a lot of discrepancies on public transport – for example, on the not-so-rough Sandringham line, taking in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs, I’m guessing some […]

Senate Bingo! The @sarah_capper column

A whole new class of players joined the Upper House this month, and with a record number of cross-benchers – 18, including the Greens – there will be deals-a-plenty and the “spin cycle” on overdrive. Cards will be kept close to chests; cards will be put out on the table; and, as the last week has shown, […]

Sheilas’ @sarah_capper: Feminist #Frightbats Unite!

[clear] [clear]We’re proud supporters of ‘Feminist Frightbats’ at Sheilas, having published more than a few of the contributors listed in Tim Blair’s “hysterical” blog post on News Limited’s Daily Telegraph website a couple of days ago. Under the post titled ‘Crown Our Crazy Queen’, Blair launched a predictable ideologically driven sexist spray against what he labeled “this […]

Seeking a Fair Go in a ‘World of Pain’ by @sarah_capper

It’s hard to fully comprehend, but just eight months after being elected, the Coalition-friendly News Limited broadsheet ‘The Australian’ ran with the headline, ‘Coalition in World of Pain’ emblazoned across its front page early this week. Sure, it was selectively quoting Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who had used the expression in justifying why the Government […]

Reading the #WAvotes tea leaves: @sarah_capper

[clear]   Following an Australian Electoral Commission bungle after the federal Senate count last September, West Australians were forced back to the polls earlier this month, in what was supposed to represent either an endorsement for Tony Abbott’s Government and policies – or it would instead show an improvement in Labor’s poor vote in the state last […]

Women’s Minister Tony helps myth-bust views on feminism, by @sarah_capper

By Sarah Capper  @sarah_capper 14th February 2014 International Women’s Day, on 8 March every year, is that time of year when we are able to celebrate, pause and reflect. And sometimes gasp. In the political sphere, we had our Minister for Women, our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, declaring at an International Women’s Day event that having […]

Crystal ball predictions for politics 2014 by @sarah_capper

[clear] By Sarah Capper  @sarah_capper 14th February 2014 Our federal representatives, who we ushered in with gusto last September, returned to Canberra this week – the land of what Wikipedia (hey, if it’s good enough for the Environment Minister) describes as being home to “politics, public service, pornography,pyrotechnics, pot and prostitution – the “Six P’s” as they are known.” Let’s make it […]

Best Polly Ticks Quotes and Moments of 2013

by Sarah Capper 23 December 2013 A week is a long time in politics. A year is an excruciating amount of time, and as we near the end of 2013, our third prime minister for the year has just reached his first 100 days in office. Awww. In many senses, it’s been Tony Abbott’s year. So […]