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 […]
Terri Butler three months after #GriffithVotes: interview by @GriffithElects
May 27, 2014
Following a hard fought by-election campaign, dominated by claims and counter claims about a Medicare Co-payment, Terri Butler was elected Member for Griffith on February 8, 2014. While her Liberal National Party opponent Dr Bill Glasson (thereafter nicknamed, ‘$6Bill’) seemed to initially support the co-payment, he backed away from that position during the course of […]
The conservatives are back in charge, @DrCraigEmerson comments on brutal #budget2014
May 17, 2014
If ever there were any doubts about the difference in values between conservative and progressive Australian governments they were laid to rest by the Abbott Government’s first Budget. It was the pernicious embodiment of conservative philosophy: treat the poor and vulnerable as malingerers while going easy on wealthy backers; and, in order to maintain […]
Citizen journo @Wendy_Bacon on Joe’s ‘Widen the Gap’ budget
May 14, 2014
[clear]Last night I headed over to FBi, a successful not for profit radio station in inner Sydney to meet up with the Budget_Aus team to listen to Treasurer Joe Hockey deliver his first budget speech. We were hosted by Heidi Pett and the rest of the FBi Backchat team who were working on their show about […]
Ballerinas and blue pole dancing: @burgewords #CreatingWaves on #Budget2014
May 14, 2014
I have never paid much attention to the fallout of budget week, simply because the Arts are always sufficiently financially knocked-around long before the Treasurer makes our economic disenfranchisement official. If a body like The Arts Council or Screen Australia were to be closed, that would register. Hearing they’ve had cuts only blends into […]
Delivering transparency on Budget night: @Info_Aus invites you to the table
May 5, 2014
On April 24 Pia Waugh of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) announced the first ever release of Australian Federal Budget Data in Excel and CSV formats. This is the culmination of both internal and external lobbying by open data and budget transparency advocates. There are many people within the Finance Department committed to improving […]
Maintain silence for the sheep: @Sally_Owl comments
April 13, 2014
So much of what the Abbott Government is about is intertwined in ensuring that the big end of town, the ‘one percenters’ as they are referred to, are able to regain the significant losses they suffered during the global financial crisis – with the 99 percenters footing the bill. Australia, with the election of this […]
Will Libs bite bullet, withdraw Howard’s over-the-top entitlements to self-funded retirees?
March 9, 2014
By Margo Kingston @margokingston1 9th March, 2014 When Samantha Maiden reported today that the Audit Commission wanted super-generous seniors health card benefits to self-funded retirees reversed, I dug up my 2002 SMH budget comment on the matter. The Libs are to blame for this totally unsustainable entitlement culture they knew would help cripple the budget […]
Then they came for the farmers… #SPC #leardblockade
February 7, 2014
[clear] By Alison Parkes 6th February 2014 Two recent issues have been in the news lately concerning rural and regional communities – the impending closure of SPC and the Leardblockade. People in capital cities, on social media and old media talk about thinks like SPC or live export or another mine as if they are […]
#SPC Ardmona isn’t just a factory – @AmyFeldtmann memories
February 2, 2014
[clear] By Amy Feldtmann @AmyFeldtmann 2nd February 2014 Originally published at amyfeldtmann.com I am a graduate of Dookie Primary School No. 1527, where there was a grand total of five students in my grade. All up, our school roll-call peaked at about 60 in my later years. The primary school was on a block so large […]
