There is probably nothing quite like making suggestions for Labor policies as a catalyst for generating even more suggestions.
Indeed, it seems there are so many more people out there with ideas about policy that it’s amazing Labor isn’t picking up on some of them rather than persisting with a series of inchoate and unconnected announcements which have no overall framing or narrative.
Recently over an abstemious lunch (the restaurant didn’t have a liquor licence) a friend and former colleague, Rob Gerrand and the blog talked – as many progressives do – about what on earth Labor should do in an election campaign.
Probably aided by the lack of alcohol – a substance that sometimes inspires more confidence than coherence – we tossed around some ideas which Rob wrote up. This is the result.
Since the passage of the Statute of Labourers, issued in 1351 by Edward III after the Black Death, it has been axiomatic among employers that wages have to be kept low.
During the 1347-49 plague a large proportion of labourers died and those left were able to command higher wages, thereby committing the egregious sin of damaging the wealth of the landed classes, who promptly appealed to the government.
G’day not sure if you’ve heard but, stone the bloody crows, some Kraut greenies reckon we’re dead last in the climate policy stakes.
But what do you expect when they’ve had a sheila running the place for 16 years? We did have one of those for a while but we got rid of her quick and lively with some help from Rupert and Jonesy.
If you had the opportunity to ask the CSIRO and Federal Treasury to model a net zero climate plan what would you do?
If you are the Morrison Government that’s a no brainer. You ignore them and give the $6 million job to McKinsey.
We only know the opportunity existed because it was revealed at Senate Estimates that the CSIRO had applied for a tender to conduct modelling work in relation to the Coalition’s net-zero plan but was rejected. We only know about the Treasury omission because of evidence to the same committee.
Scott Morrison lurching out of the crowd to put his hand on President Macron is an indication of a profound truth about Morrison – he is a phony.
The photograph we saw of the event was taken by his personal photographer and it’s not hard to guess how the photographer got this seemingly innocent shot and was then able to distribute it to the Australian media.
The Crime of not Knowing Your Crime by Karen Throssell is a genre bending book which explores a great injustice.
The book uses a mixture of poetry, memoir, documentary, polemic, tribute and the exposure of a scandal to tell the story of her father Ric Throssell, the extraordinary Throssell family and the decades long persecution it faced.
In the 1950s, Australians were constantly being told to be aware of the dangers of communist infiltration of our institutions. At the same time, DLP ads featured threatening arrows emerging from China and racing towards the heart of Australia.
Nineteen-fifties laws, including when we could drink, what we could do on Sundays and what we could read, had been shaped by 19th-century Christians. In 1959, there was also a Christian revivalist movement epitomised by the Billy Graham crusades.
Around the world statues are toppling, names of institutions are being changed and apologies for historic wrongs proffered.
But in Port Melbourne an ugly anomaly exists. It’s Princes Pier. The Pier is now a sort of pier its past length only obvious by rows of old wooden pylons which once supported most of the pier stretching out into Port Phillip Bay.
Two new surveys provide perspectives on who we trust, who we distrust and what communication channels we trust.
Trust in State governments and the Federal Government has declined in the past year according to a survey by the consultancy SenateSHJ as part of their Togetherness Index which looks at what communication elements contribute to social cohesion within the community.