DIY learning at Brisbane Free University by @griffithelects

In the week that ended with students across Australia rallying against the Abbott Government’s plan to deregulate University fees, I joined about 40 others at a Brisbane Free University event in a car park off Boundary Street in the West End of Brisbane. The discussion was about refugee rights. It was a refreshing change to […]

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 […]

Into the black, the #qldpol weekly: @Qldaah

Deutsche Bank pulls out of Abbot Pt coal terminal. Eight cent solar feed in tariff cut. Into the black – electoral changes. Cash for contracts. More Fitzgerald elders speak out. The fight for Qld, (offer expires 2015 election day). Future Qld job prospects, work at Coles. Curfew on the vision impaired. Bogans who live in […]

Looking across the border, the #qldpol weekly wrap: @Qldaah

Sex offences almost double over the last year in Brisbane’s inner-western suburbs. Cash for LNP access. Funding cut: Campbell Newman’s Mother’s Day gift to dying women from breast cancer. Assistant Health Minister Dr Chris Davis sacked. Newman Govt ignored environmental concerns for Galilee Basin coal mine. Kids and coal: We are in the coal business. […]

A Labor man on Labor’s Father’s Day campaign launch

By Barry Rutherford  2 September, 2013 Beautiful Brisbane. Perfect this time of year. Why would you want to be anywhere else but Queensland?  I keep asking myself the same question everyday about Australian Politics.  Why do the polls indicate the people of Australia want a change of Government? We have low inflation, low unemployment, AAA […]

Sex Party’s Adrian Trajstman in Wills: @takvera interview

By John Englart 18 August 2013 As a minor party candidate in Wills, Adrian Trajstman’s main role in this election is to publicise the policies of the Australian Sex Party and to promote Fiona Patten’s Victorian Senate campaign. I caught up with Adrian at the Edinburgh Castle hotel over a drink and talked about issues […]

Economy, education and climate are key issues, says Wills Labor MP Kelvin Thomson

14 August 2013 Wills Labor MP Kelvin Thomson identifies economic stability, education and climate change as key issues and outlines his background as a defender of the local environment, in an interview with Wills citizen journalist John Englart. Kelvin has been the member for Wills (See Seat profile) in Melbourne’s north since 1996. He has a legal background, […]

Students with disability must remain a key focus of national education reform

Opinion by Stephanie Gotlib,  @CDA39 August 11, 2013 It truly is momentous that most states, as well as the independent and Catholic education systems, have now signed up to the Better Schools funding program with 78 per cent of students to benefit from this new funding deal. Governments should rightfully be applauded for getting this […]

Bennelong MP falters on Abbott’s switcheroo as teachers demand more on education policy

By Jack Sumner August 4, 2013 Tony Abbott’s change of heart on Labor’s Gonski reforms for school funding came a tad late for John Alexander, the Liberal MP for John Howard’s old seat of Bennelong in Sydney’s northern suburbs. The former tennis great fronted a “meet-the-candidates” forum organised by the Ryde-Macquarie branch of the NSW […]

Time to end the class war on education

By Noely Neate Mach 31st, 2013 Yesterday on Sky News Australian Agenda @vanOnselenP raised the question of tertiary education. What should have been a good segment discussing policy for a change ended up with Craig Emerson getting cranky while defending the right of kids less privileged than others to attend Uni as the so-called team of experts […]