The Victorian government’s reversal of policy on a state anti-corruption commission will be popular with voters and the media. Such bodies are useful but some scepticism is warranted. There is danger in encouraging a judicialisation of politics, judicial bodies and judges are skilled at certain things but not necessarily at public policy. The Victorian Bushfire [...]
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As health care reform passes this afternoon it is noteworthy to consider Nancy Pelosi’s outstanding role as Speaker. Back in 2006 before the Democrats won Congress I was the first Australian observer to highlight her potential importance: The task of uniting the Democrats in opposition has been surprisingly well-handled by San Francisco liberal and Democrat leader [...] The strong performance by the Liberals in the South Australian election campaign has surprised many and driven Labor to resort to a highly negative campaign as shown. One clear pattern in recent Australian politics has been the recasting of the national Liberals as a strongly conservative party. Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall was evidence of this. In the US currently debate about the political impact of health care reform, public opinion is on average mildly hostile, although this partially reflects misinformation and some of the opponents of the current proposals think it does not go far enough. Can it be advantageous for a government to do unpopular things? Joshua Tucker asks: One of the longstanding themes of Australian politics is the idea of northern development. This usually takes the form of the argument for vast taxpayer subsidized irrigation works to enable vastly expanded agricultural production. It is true that the Massachusetts debacle exaggerates the Democrats woes, just as NY-23 obscured them. But Barack Obama might remember the example of the Scullin government. Jim Scullin who led Australian Labor to a landslide victory in 1929 was a nice guy (who shocked senior bureaucrats by asking them to call him ‘Jim’), and [...] Interesting to note the incorporation of Australian Catholic conservatives into the Australian conservative movement. This is apparent in the recent anti-Muslim rhetoric of Greg Sheridan and Kevin Andrews which echoes themes of less prominent Catholic activists such as Bill Muehelberg and Cory Bernardi. This is an interesting shift. Defence of White Australia was a core [...] |
   
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Copyright © 2010 Geoff Robinson - All Rights Reserved |
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