#Columns

News and views about #IndependentsDay, #ClimateElection, #ausvotes and other #auspol stuff.

The Man Who Walked into Parliament with a Lump of Coal: Zali Steggall in conversation with #transitzone

September 6, 2021

Another podcast in the continuing #transitzone side-bar series on grassroots democracy in Australia and the emerging and evolving “Voices for” independents movements gearing up for the looming federal election. Margo Kingston and Peter Clarke in conversation with Zali Steggall, the federal independent member for Warringah in Sydney, a “safe” Liberal seat until Steggall ousted the […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #ClimateAction, #ClimateEmergency, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, #NoFibsPodcasts, #transitzone, #WarringahVotes, Climate Change, Federal Election, Front Page, Peter Clarke Tagged With: #auspol, #ausvotes, #climateaction, #climateemergency, #NoFibsPodcasts, #transitzone, #wentworthvotes, climate change, Front Page, Liberal Party, Peter Clarke, podcast

Just a complete train wreck: Transcript of Part 2 of the #transitzone interview with Malcom Turnbull

August 18, 2021

Peter Clarke: Let’s get back to the elephant in the room. Mr Turnbull, recently you said you can’t think of “a bigger black and white failure of public administration” than the Morrison government’s failures in procuring covid vaccines and their design and execution of the vaccination rollout. Now, as you well know, we in Australia […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #ClimateAction, #ClimateEmergency, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, #transitzone, #WentworthVotes, Climate Change, Federal Election, Front Page, Liberal Party, Margo Kingston, Wentworth Tagged With: #independentsday, #wentworthvotes, climate change, environment, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, Margo Kingston

Transcript of interview by Peter Clarke and Margo Kingston with former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recorded August 11, 2012, lightly edited for clarity and succinctness. Part 1

August 17, 2021

Transcript part 1 Peter Clarke: Our guest is somebody who’s experienced democratic politics from the outside as a lawyer, banker and journalist, and from right inside the corridors and backrooms of power, where the sausages are actually made, the 29th Prime Minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018, Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Turnbull, welcome to the […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #ClimateAction, #ClimateEmergency, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, #NoFibsPodcasts, #transitzone, #WentworthVotes, Climate Change, Democracy, Energy, Front Page, Margo Kingston, Podcast, Wentworth Tagged With: #independentsday, #wentworthvotes, climate change, environment, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull

Turnbull takes to liberalism’s lifeboat as LNP ‘broad church’ blows up: Margo Kingston reports on #IndependentsDay

August 16, 2021

MALCOLM Turnbull would consider voting for a strong moderate liberal independent in the Sydney federal electorate of Wentworth, and has named NSW seats he believes could be vulnerable if ‘voices for’ groups nominate outstanding moderate liberal independents – Wentworth, Mackellar, North Sydney, Bradfield and Hume. In an interview for the #transitzone podcast, the former prime minister […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #ClimateAction, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, #NoFibsPodcasts, #transitzone, #WentworthVotes, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Front Page, Grass roots politics, Liberal Party, Margo Kingston, Podcast, Wentworth Tagged With: #independentsday, #wentworthvotes, climate change, environment, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, Margo Kingston

The quest to elect modern liberal independents in blue ribbon seats, by @margokingston1 for #IndependentsDay

June 1, 2021

First published on The Echo May 25, 2021 Anyone remember ‘Modern Liberals’? They’re the ones who stood at the last election in safe Liberal seats like Goldstein in Melbourne (Tim Wilson), North Sydney (Trent Zimmerman) and the formerly safe liberal seat of Wentworth (Dave Sharma). The idea was to differentiate from un-modern liberals, you know, […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ClimateAction, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, Front Page, Margo Kingston

Morrison wedges himself: @margokingston1 on why there’s a chance for transformative political change after the #march4justice called his bluff

March 31, 2021

A photo told the story. Scott Morrison went to the footie on Saturday March 27. His team lost, so he entered the winner’s dressing room to a raucous, ‘Skull one, Scotty’ welcome. The only woman present, scientist Tahleya Eggers, stood tall, arms folded, and death-stared his back. After the photo went viral, she tweeted the next […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #KingstonReports, #March4Justice, Front Page, human rights, Liberal Party, Margo Kingston, Sexual Abuse

Voters of Wentworth can present the nation with a gift: @margokingston1 comments #wentworthvotes (archive)

March 28, 2021

First published SMH September 26, 2018. I celebrated Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to Australia’s leadership by publishing a photo on Twitter of my mother and I toasting him with champagne. “Small l liberalism” – socially progressive, economically dry, environmentally green – was on the rise again in the Liberal Party. Of course, the right wing clipped […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #IndependentsDay, #KingstonReports, #WentworthVotes, Front Page, Margo Kingston

Women are fleeing Liberal Party culture, now a new door is opening to enter our federal Parliament, by @margokingston1

March 5, 2021

“This place attracts and rewards narcissists, and many narcissists are sociopaths,” a ‘Coalition figure with a long history working in Parliament’ told ABC reporter Andrew Probyn last week. Hard truth last month on who and what our political parties pick for us when we follow the brand not the person. Brittany Higgins’ steel-eyed testimony saw […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #IndependentsDay, #IndiStory, #IndiTalks, #IndiVotes, #KingstonReports, #MediaMargo, Front Page, Margo Kingston

How the pop-up @DrKerrynPhelps campaign for Wentworth came together: a @margokingston1 dinner party debrief

February 20, 2021

Also: Reporting Indi: A reflection by Margo Kingston My interest in community independents began when I covered the successful Cathy McGowan race for Indi in 2013, on Twitter and through my website No Fibs. In 2018, I became Kerryn Phelps’ unofficial Twitter campaign manager for the Wentworth by-election and focused on independents at the 2019 election, […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ausvotes, #IndependentsDay, #IndiVotes, #KingstonReports, #MediaMargo, #WentworthVotes, Front Page, Margo Kingston

Environmental activism 2021: An act of love by @margokingston1

February 15, 2021

First published on Echo NETDAILY February 11, 2021. A long time ago, maybe 20 years, I mentioned climate change in conversation with Professor David Flint, a man who proclaims his deep conservatism and convened Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy. He laughed, saying a stray meteorite would blow up the planet someday, so we may as well do […]

Filed Under: #auspol, #ClimateAction, #ClimateEmergency, #ClimateStrike, #KingstonReports, #leardblockade, Activism, Front Page, Margo Kingston Tagged With: #auspol, #climateaction, #ClimateStrike, #leardblockade, Activism