BY BEN HABIB. The appointment of former New South Wales Premier and newly minted Federal senator Bob Carr as foreign minister is a bold statement of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s intent to vanquish the prowling wolves within her own ranks.
BY BEN HABIB. The current Gillard-Rudd confrontation highlights the problems that Australia’s 20th century political parties face in dealing with 21st century policy problems. The Gillard-Rudd rivalry is a story of ambition, bitterness and betrayal. Yet there is a broader dimension to the ALP leadership crisis that is more complicated.
BY BEN HABIB. In the past fortnight, Australian political discourse has been dominated by the debate over the pricing of carbon. The Prime Minister’s announcement of a draft carbon pricing policy with the Greens and the independent members has sparked off a vicious volley of hyperbole from those who would object to carbon pricing. The electorate has vacillated somewhere between cautious and hostile on the policy announcement. The ALP has not helped its cause with four years in government characterised by inaction, hot air and spin. We sit now poised at the beginning of a debate over a great systemic reform that will shape our nation for years to come. In many ways, this debate is a battle for Australia’s soul.
BY BEN HABIB. It seems ironic that an election campaign of such unprecedented mediocrity could produce a result of such stunning complexity and implication for the conduct of politics in […]
BY BEN HABIB. Like many people, I have been intrigued by this federal election campaign and like many others, I will be pleased when the spectacle is over. As we move into the last two days before the poll on August 21st, I would like to offer my thoughts on the election campaign and what it says about Australian society…
BY BEN HABIB.
How did the Labor colossus come to grief so quickly? The 2007 election victory gave the Rudd government a huge store of political capital with which to prosecute a reform agenda and address the most pressing problems of the day. Today, that well of political capital has long run dry, the Rudd government having exhausted it to achieve absolutely nothing.
