Even British Tories Allow a Conscience Vote on Gay Marriage, Why Won't Tony Abbott?
This was an historic week in the British Parliament as the House of Commons voted to allow gay marriage. Now the only obstacle of sorts to the measure is the House of Lords as the Conservative Party's hard right grouping looks for ways to prevent the bill's final passage into law.
The bill passed through the Commons by a big margin of 366 to 161 in a day where two ministers voted against the bill and other Conservatives urged the unrepresentative House of Lords to block the [...]
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As Coalition Sniffs Victory Internal Support for a Paid Parental Leave Diminishes
Back in 1996 the incoming Howard/Costello Government abandoned a significant part of its package of election promises claiming there was a multibillion dollar hole in the nation's finances.
I have a nasty feeling that something similar is being planned for the post-election period should the Coalition win. Who better to undertake such an audit than Peter Costello - an economic dry who gave us the concept of "core and non-core" promises and performed a similar review for the [...]
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The Return of Howard's History Wars
Here we go again. As if on cue, the Liberal Party, smelling victory, has launched an assault on the way our history is presented in the new national curriculum.
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Christopher Pyne has attacked the national history curriculum by "putting Aboriginal and multicultural [...]
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A visit to Europe puts things in perspective
This article was originally posted on The Drum.
Last week I attended a conference in Copenhagen of progressive political parties from North America and Europe.
The main point I took away from it was the remarkable contrast between the economies of Australia and the northern hemisphere, and what that means for social harmony.
The two-day conference was dominated by discussions of [...]
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Julia Gillard: bureaucratic language plus polly-slogans ends in a failure to connect
My blog back in February about the dearth of great political speeches in Australia struck a chord with former ABC correspondent, David Hardaker. David began his professional career as a speechwriter in NSW and then Canberra in the early 80s before crossing into journalism. He has penned a guest blog in which he analyses the style of PM, Julia Gillard, and zeroes in on [...]
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