Services versus taxes - posted by Graham

Recent academic polling suggests that voters would rather have increased services than tax cuts. Despite that both Liberal and Labor are offering tax cuts as well as increased services. What is happening? Are they catering for all opinions, or do... More

Self promotion can be a "slippery" slide for politicians. - posted by Jeff Wall

THE Honourable Peter Slipper holds the seat of Fisher by a margin of almost 12 per cent – if he continues to put out extravagant, self indulgent, taxpayer funded propaganda then he will need at least that margin to survive... More

Why would you run a story like this? - posted by Graham

Today's Sunday Mail carries a story , perhaps syndicated, perhaps from an overseas freelancer. It is called Code of Honour and it relates the story of Specialist Patrick Tilman who died on 22nd April, in Afghanistan. The article is hagiographic,... More

Budget research and remembering 1996 - posted by Graham

It was Wayne Goss who said before the 1996 election that Queenslanders were waiting on their front porches with baseball bats for an opportunity to bash the Keating government. In 2004 our qualitative research into how Australians feel about the... More

More Guest Bloggers - Steve Austin v Michael Johnson - posted by Graham

I'm told that our "cricket tragic" Prime Minister, undoubtedly with the Draper and Tollner incidents in mind, called tyro MHR Michael Johnson into his office to discuss the "Youth Leadership Forum" that Johnson recently held with special guest Ricky Ponting.... More

The "Handout Disease". Let's quarantine it now. - posted by Jeff Wall

Forget about Willie Mason’s ADHD (Absolute Dick Head Disorder), Australia faces a more serious disease that all sides of politics would do well to quarantine with some urgency. We run the real risk of the “handout disease” dominating our political... More

In dialogue with a LIberal or Gary replies to Graham - posted by

Ok Graham, let’s have a dialogue. Let us try and reach across the gulf between a radical and a liberal. Point One – the “ War is brutal” argument You said: Where I am coming from is this. War... More

Seek for forgiveness for Abu Ghraib - posted by

Graham, What can I say. We seem to be inhabiting different universes. Your piece on the Abu Ghraib tortures was crazy really. I simply don’t understand where you are coming from. Firstly you absolutely refuse to take on board the... More

Surfing the Third Wave - posted by

In response to my recent blog entry about abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, Graham Young said he’s “sick and tired of people telling (him) that if women ruled the world things would be much more peaceful…” Now, in my more... More

Why Embarrass a Marginal Seat Colleague?? - posted by Jeff Wall

When you have worked for and with politicians for as long as I have, it is hard to feel embarrassed for them. Yesterday I actually felt embarrassed for the Federal Minister for Community and Youth Affairs, Larry Anthony. Anyone else... More

The Lie Detectors - coming to a computer screen near you - posted by Graham

“The Lie Detectors” – it sounds like a movie title, and perhaps it is, in the way it is being used by Australia’s most fragile mainstream party, The Australian Democrats, as their campaign theme for the next election. I must... More

Abu Ghraib: it could be worse in Brisbane - posted by Graham

If the pictures taken in Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq had been taken in a Queensland jail, the person who took the photos would have been liable for 2 years jail. It is an offense to interview, photograph or record... More

Another Rugby League Day of Shame - punt the officials, not just the players. - posted by Jeff Wall

REGULAR readers will know I have a low opinion of rugby league administrators – about as low as a snake’s belly! The latest scandal involving the NSW State of Origin player, Mark Gasnier, highlights two facts. Firstly, the game of... More

Analysis of our poll gives clues about "budget bounce". - posted by Graham

An analysis (RTF, 247 KB) of our poll into voter attitudes toward Latham and Howard provides further insight into why Latham is polling so strongly after the budget. Everyone has made up their mind about Howard, and most have made... More

Straight Eye Versus the Queer Guy (and Gal) - posted by

Although Prime Minister John Howard and President George W Bush are in dire need of fashion tips, they have chosen to alienate members of the community that could take them from drab to fab, or at least from dull to... More

How will Abu Ghraib look in retrospect? - posted by Graham

Conventional wisdom says that the abuses in Abu Ghraib prison damage the US position in Iraq. This wisdom may be true in the very short term, but may not be in the long-term. The US response to Abu Ghraib is... More

Politicians and "stopper writs" - risky politics! - posted by Jeff Wall

THE front page of today’s Adelaide Advertiser carries this headline, with accompanying colour photograph – “Travel rorts scandal engulfs Liberal MP”. The story is carried by just about every newspaper in Australia today, but The Advertiser story could hardly be... More

Was there a bounce to steal? - posted by Graham

The thing that I hate most about Newspoll is when you know that they know but they’re not telling. This morning’s Newspoll results are interesting, but what they leave out is even more interesting. They appear to show that if... More

The Queensland Liberal Senate team - sitting ducks for electoral payback? - posted by Jeff Wall

NOWHERE is the electorate’s suspicion of, and contempt for, politicians, and politics, more pronounced than it is in regard to the “perks and privileges” of public office. The defeat of Merri Rose in the Queensland State Election only confirmed that... More

Repaying the servants of Empire - posted by

Mistah Kurtz - he dead I was greatly heartened lately to hear that the neo-cons at the Pentagon had arranged a showing of Pontecorvo's the Battle of Algiers, before launching their current "war on terror". (The latter phrase is a... More

Women, Men and Images from Abu Ghraib - posted by

Wars often produce pictures that become emblematic and etched in our minds long after hostilities have ceased. While depictions of heroism and camaraderie are preferred because of the positive things they say about a people, ugly representations inform of our... More

Liberals brawling at Bankstown....What next? - posted by Jeff Wall

I am indebted to www.crikey.com.au for drawing attention to a speech in the NSW Parliament by the Labor MP for Bankstown, Tony Stewart. While it is very much a tongue-in-cheek effort, Mr Stewart implored the NSW Liberal Party to “take... More

Forgotten men - posted by Graham

One group that consistently shows up in our research as being deeply dissatisfied with both political parties is separated and divorced males paying child support. Initial reactions to the budget suggest that voters are attracted by it, according to Roy... More

Past presents our future. - posted by Graham

Einstein pictured the world with four dimensions – width, height, depth and time – producing the possibilities of going backward and forward in time, just as we go up and down in space. St Augustine reconciled freewill to predestination by... More

It’s Western Sydney stupid! - posted by Graham

Last federal election was all about those Australians who had started voting One Nation in the 1998 election. It appears this federal election is all about voters who live in Western Sydney, or at least that is my tentative conclusion... More

The Budget Speech……………..or was it the Opposition's reply? - posted by Jeff Wall

Last night I decided to watch the Treasurer’s budget speech, rather than go to the Treasury website and download the documents I was interested in. After a 30 minute rushed speech by Peter Costello, I was not much the wiser.... More

Politically arrogant and extremely foolish - posted by Jeff Wall

THE Australian electorate has a well deserved, and practised, reputation for dealing swiftly with governments, politicians and political parties who treat it with arrogance and contempt. Judging by the comments over the weekend from Senators Brandis and Mason, among others,... More

Baby Hunger: I'll have fries with that - posted by

Sunday's recent reports into age-related infertility have got me convinced my thirty-something-year-old eggs aren’t fit to make a rubbery omelette, let alone a little me. While I could admit some guilt for allowing myself to rundown rather than reproduce, I... More

The pope and Catholicism; Flint and the Liberal Party - posted by

Graham you argue cleverly but I wonder if not overly so. There is a forest out there in the world of Sydney broadcasting but you seem determined to see only individual trees and even worse, parts of trees. What the... More

Why we must go to Athens – sport has become war by other means - posted by Graham

Maybe I am reading this incorrectly, but I sensed relief in the media when it was determined that the bombs that exploded in Athens were from locals, not Al Qaeda, as though this should somehow matter. The other night Phillip... More

The real issue in the Professor Flint matter - posted by Jeff Wall

My fellow blogger Graham Young totally misses the point in his “defence” of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) Chairman, Professor David Flint. To illustrate what the real issue is in this matter, I need to go back to an experience... More

In defence of David Flint - posted by Graham

My fellow blogger Jeff Wall has now posted twice calling on Professor David Flint to step down. While I think that David has made some mistakes, I am not sure that any of them are punishable by public humiliation and then execution. More

Professor Flint hangs on - at enormous risk to his supporters - posted by Jeff Wall

THE fact that Professor David Flint has an elevated view of his own importance, and integrity, has no doubt contributed to his determination to hang on to his position as Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. The Professor may not... More

Higher taxes and house mates - posted by Graham

The latest series of Big Brother premiered last night and I couldn’t resist putting those two words – “big” and “brother” - in this first paragraph because it will generate a lot of google searches; and because shared housing is... More

Dine Out With Darlene: Interview With Senator Amanda - posted by

Figuring Amanda, or Mandy as I will soon be told not to call her, is used to fine parliament house style dining I choose Cuisiny A La Classy, that well-known haunt for C list celebrities, for our meeting. I arrive... More