Crikey » POLITICS

One handout too many: General Motors should go back to Detroit

Crikey — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:42:24 +0000

It's time to end automotive assistance. General Motors' demand for a wage cut shows this is one industry not worth keeping, say Crikey's Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer.

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iSentia index: will K-Rudd get to the top spot?

John Chalmers — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:42:00 +0000

Everyone's talking about Kevin Rudd, no one is talking about policy, as the Labor Party keeps sinking.

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Richard Farmer’s chunky bits

Richard Farmer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:41:49 +0000

There is, as the conventional wisdom has it, no point throwing good money after bad. Hence the understandable decision of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) to devote its electoral fighting fund to helping the Senate campaign of the Greens...

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Turkish PM v Twitter: government can’t stop social media tide

Crikey — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:41:44 +0000

Social media has inspired much of the protest movement in Turkey. Now the government wants to unplug the networks. Good luck, writes Turkish-Australian academic Erdem Koc.

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At last, China gets on board carbon trading

Tristan Edis — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:34:15 +0000

Environmentalists cheered when China announced it would finally put a price on carbon. But as usual, the price is far too low to have any meaningful impact on the country's vast emissions.

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Barnaby and Albo hug hides division on local govt

Stephen Mayne — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:32:33 +0000

The major parties have agreed to push the "yes" case on constitutional recognition of local government, right? Well it's not so simple, as delegates at a large local government pow-wow in Canberra learnt first-hand.

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Can Iran’s new president enact real change?

Crikey — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:27:09 +0000

Urban, middle-class Iranians hope President-elect Hassan Rouhani will end the oppressive restrictions of the previous regime. But ANU Centre for Islamic Studies academic Brenton Clark cautions against too much optimism.

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Fight for suffrage continues, but Supreme Court pulls Arizona into line

The World Is Not Enough — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:18:27 +0000

In many parts of the supposedly democratic world, there are constant attempts to make voting more difficult. One such attempt in Arizona has been rejected by the Supreme Court, writes Charles Richardson.

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Senate committee rejects transparency on export finance billions

Andrew Crook — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:24:49 +0000

The federal government's controversial Export Finance and Insurance Corporate had escaped reforms aimed at exposing its inner workings to public scrutiny.

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Coalition split on gay exemption aged-care providers don’t want

Harley Dennett — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:26:43 +0000

UPDATED: The Coalition wants to ensure church-run aged care providers can deny beds to gay people. But the organisations tell Crikey they don't discriminate -- and don't want the protection to do it.

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Piss and wind: Jones joins fight against pee-shifting turbines

Andrew Crook — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:46:11 +0000

The landed gentry gathered on Parliament House’s Federation Mall this morning to blame wind farms for falling property prices and urinary disruption.

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Feeling around in the dark, Walsh finds more shocking art

Margot Saville — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:45:58 +0000

Hobart's Dark Mofo arts festival, which runs till the Winter Solstice (June 23), is a celebration of the dark through large-scale public art, food and music, as well as "light and noise".

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We need to build it, but will they come? Private infrastructure problems

Bernard Keane — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:45:56 +0000

Poor assessment of risk, and motorists' loathing of tolls, has long made infrastructure funding problematic. The NSW government is trying for a new approach.

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Co-operative model fails, leaving UK banks looking shaky

Glenn Dyer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:45:55 +0000

The collapse of the Co-operative Group banking firm in the UK shows the banking sector remains the biggest worry in a still faltering European economy.

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Richard Farmer’s chunky bits

Richard Farmer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:45:11 +0000

Who needs the polls? Crikey readers seem pretty good at predicting what they will say. Plus tarot cards for dogs and other political views noted along the way.

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Steering the state ship with a Zimmer frame: the world’s oldest leaders

Crikey Intern — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:58:59 +0000

With Robert Mugabe hoping to be the world's only nonagenarian head of government, Crikey intern Joanna Robin finds out what other world leaders are making the most of their golden years.

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The power of standing still: Turk’s silent protest goes global

Crikey — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:35:48 +0000

A silent protest in Turkey has sparked a global social media sympathy campaign. A defiant stand by one protester in Taksim Square overnight has reignited the campaign, writes Turkish-Australian Erdem Koç.

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Albo fires up QT with infrastructure smackdown rant

Andrew Crook — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:58:40 +0000

Infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese enlivened a deathly question time today with a gold standard rant.

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Essential: leadership the problem as Labor flatlines

Bernard Keane — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:06:48 +0000

Voter disenchantment with Labor now focuses on the leadership issue, despite the government's attempts to focus on education and disability.

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Helen Hughes got it wrong, but not for want of trying

Guy Rundle — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:06:29 +0000

Helen Hughes was an economist for the World Bank and a proponent of imposing home ownership on Aboriginal Australians -- a ludicrous notion. But Hughes worked hard, even if she got most things wrong.

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‘Human booby trap’ Grace Collier obsessed with PM cleavage

Bob Gosford — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:06:16 +0000

Radio National on a Sunday morning is not where you would normally expect a debate over the Prime Minister's cleavage. But commentator Grace Collier kicked off a panel discussion with it yesterday morning.

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How Act Up took on the rainbow plague

Crikey — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:06:10 +0000

Turning back the view that the AIDS epidemic was somehow divine retribution for gay men would need a Reformation of its own. We had one. And How to Survive a Plague is its story.

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If Feeney becomes Batman, who will be Robin?

Andrew Crook — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:06:09 +0000

If Labor Senator David Feeney does win preselection for the lower-house seat of Batman, who will replace him in the Senate? A Right-leaning ALP woman is apparently favoured ...

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An ex-ambassador looks at ‘turning back the boats’

Crikey — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:05:53 +0000

Tony Abbott's policy of turning back asylum seeker boats "when it is safe to do so" will endanger lives and crush navy morale, writes former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia Tony Kevin.

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Richard Farmer’s chunky bits

Richard Farmer — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:05:36 +0000

Richard Farmer gives the ABC a fail for its Sunday news sense. Plus other political views noted along the way.

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