How will Media, Finance and AFP handle the evidence that the PM is a cheat?

By Margo Kingston, 8 October, 2013 It looks like the Prime Minister is a serial cheat. It’s hard to imagine a bigger test of the integrity and fairness of our democratic institutions than that. Will the press gallery get forensic and press for answers from the PM and action from the authorities? Will the AFP investigate? […]

Sophie’s desperate choice: Indi booths blanketed with negative ads, heavies on guard

[clear] By Wayne Jansson September 7, 2013 In what can only be seen as a desperate act, Sophie Mirabella’s early Friday night took almost all available space at polling booths for Liberal posters. Reworded: The failed record of SM will only continue. Don't risk another 3 years of misrepresentation #indivotes pic.twitter.com/K6YFjjIPB0 — JACK SEYMOUR (@thejackseymour) […]

Will the discontent of 2013 give way to new hope in Dunkley?

by Angus Barnes September 6, 2013 The only candidates’ forum held in Dunkley revealed a shared sense of dismay in the community on the eastern shore of Port Phillip Bay. I asked the six candidates attending the forum what would be foremost in voters’ minds on election day. The two independents said they were running […]

Australia’s newest political party – interview with the president: @stephaniedale22 reports

By Stephanie Dale 4 September 2013 Talking to Keith Douglas is a lot like trying to talk to a ping-pong ball in a Lotto machine – he talks fast and ranges wide. I met the Australian Voice Party candidate at what has become the No Fibs office in Forde – the nearby Zarraffa’s Coffee outlet (one […]

Climate change election no-show a shame for all of us: @GrattonWilson

By Gratton Wilson   The important matter of climate change seems to have received little attention by politicians during the election debate. There have been some exchanges but nothing substantial has been added by the chief players. There has been significant contributions from experts, all of whom confirm that the Coalition Direct Action Plan will […]

How the media stuffed up twice on $10 billion black hole yarn

Supreme confusion reigns among our esteemed media on the story, the players, their roles and the status of information released by the Government today. The Government claims that earlier performed departmental costings and modelling of the Coalition’s policies showed that they are likely to produce a $10 Billion black hole. Below is a quick summary […]

What Abbott’s #PPL is really about: @stephaniedale22 comment

By Stephanie Dale @stephaniedale22 21 August 2013 The Coalition’s controversial Paid Parental Leave policy – what’s it really about? Actually, first of all I’m confused about why it’s called ‘parental’ leave, when according to the Liberal Party’s website it applies only to mothers? Oh yes, a second aside, I’ve called it the ‘Coalition’s’ policy, even though technically […]

Time for policy meat from the incoming Abbott government, but how can we get it?

by Margo Kingston 19 August 2013 It’s over for Labor. I knew it intellectually when I saw Rudd steal from the Coalition the Northern Australia policy Labor had already destroyed, then hold up a bottle of vegemite to scare voters about a GST Abbott had convincingly ruled out in his first term. I felt it when […]

Mirabella in front, but McGowan claims support from all camps: @jansant #Indivotes update

By Wayne Jansson, !8 August, 2013 The contest for Indi hit the national media this week with a hint of friction in Liberal-National coalition ranks, as reports emerged of National Party members being involved in independent Cathy McGowan’s push to unseat the Liberals’ Sophie Mirabella. “I’m getting support right across the political spectrum in Indi,” […]

McGowan a close friend of Tim Fischer, but denies she’s Indi’s National Party front

By Wayne Jansson, 16 August, 2013 The Voice4Indi candidate Cathy McGowan has hit back at claims by unnamed Liberal sources that she is a front for the National Party in Indi, saying she has support across the political spectrum. Ms McGowan acknowledged she was a close friend of Mr Tim Fischer, a former National Party […]