A #Budget2015 for the true believers: @DrCraigEmerson comments

This Budget is for the true believers, the Liberal Party base that has stuck with Tony Abbott through thick and thin but was threatening to desert him for Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison or, if they could stomach his belief in global warming, Malcolm Turnbull. Among these true believers are good, hard-working people who have taken […]

Money has swamped Qld politics, and that endangers democracy: @Graeme_Orr #qldvotes comment

Money makes the world go round.  That’s a truism in a market economy.   The promise of democracy – one vote, one person, one value – ought to balance that.   But what if money makes the political world go round? Nothing less than the fate of electoral democracy is at stake if we let money swamp […]

Northern #VicVotes at war as Libs payback Nats for McGowan #IndiVotes support: @Jansant reports

Yesterday The Border Mail reported altered how-to-vote cards had been handed out during pre-polling in Wangaratta, Northern Victoria, with Coalition partners saying a “rogue Wangaratta volunteer” was responsible. How-to-vote cards for Tony Schneider, the Liberal candidate for Euroa, had been altered by hand, advising a below the line vote, placing National Party Legislative Council candidate […]

Dear @mikebairdMP, respect the people and tell police not to smash #BentleyBlockade, by @janbarham

Margo: Jan Barham was the Mayor of Byron Shire, the first directly elected Green mayor in Australia. She is a Greens member of the NSW Legislative Council, and the Party’s spokesperson on Northern NSW. Here is her speech to Parliament on May 6 imploring the Government to reverse its order for riot police to smash […]

Look! You Punters just don’t understand ‘time honoured’ traditions ok? @YaThinkN

I saw some awful reports in regard to poor Joe Hockey, our esteemed Treasurer, ‘being for sale‘ in the paper this morning. Scurrilous journalism at it’s best. Sky News was right onto this outrageous slur against our Treasurer’s integrity, with a bit of hardworking investigative journalism, they got right to the heart of this so-called […]

New Politics, New Media: On-the-ground #MarchinMarch reporting by citizen journalist @jansant

By Wayne Jansson  @jansant 20th March 2014 It’s normal to start a story at the beginning. I’m going to start smack bang in the middle with this one, as it sums up one of the many factors which forced 100,000 plus people to MarchInMarch (MiM) around Australia. I say forced intentionally. People don’t take to the streets in […]

Margo’s Twitter report on death and injury at Manus Island, Australia’s Heart of Darkness

[clear] Videos by David Marler @Qldaah By Margo Kingston  @margokingston1 23 February 2014 [View the story “Margo’s Twitter report on death and injury at Manus Island, Australia’s Heart of Darkness” on Storify]

Dr Glasson’s New Year’s Medicare resolutions: @GriffithElects reports

By Jan Bowman  @GriffithElects 4 January 2014 When, just after Christmas, the Australian Centre for Health Research (ACHR) announced it had made a submission to the Government’s Commission of Audit proposing the introduction of a mandatory Medicare co-payment, there were calls on Twitter for the media to ask Dr Bill Glasson whether he would support such […]

Reporting Indi: A reflection by Margo Kingston

[clear] By Margo Kingston, 1 December 2013 I take the Gold Coast train to Brisbane airport, the plane to Melbourne, the sky bus to Southern Cross Station, the train to Seymour, and the bus to Wangaratta train station. Wayne Jansson leads me to his battered old car and drives me to the hamlet of St James. […]

Roo Poo and Who’s Who in the Senate Zoo

[clear] By Sarah Capper 18 October 2013 It was perhaps the moment in which I found myself googling “Ricky Muir” + “poo” that served as the final straw in realising the need for Senate reform. Not that I needed much convincing – the new Senator-elect from Victoria from the Palmer United Palmer Motoring Enthusiasts Party is just one […]