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Keywords: Independents

  • AUSTRALIA

    Hope for a stitched-up government

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 10 September 2010
    12 Comments

    Many of us will wish the new government well, but refrain from putting our own money on its survival. Hopefully our two major parties, which were so happy to do whatever it took to win, no matter what the cost to human lives and ethical values, will recover a deeper sense of what matters. 

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Political farce aboard the Starship Ostracise

    • Brian Matthews
    • 08 September 2010
    1 Comment

    Lieutenant Yoo Hoo Hoo leans forward to read the tape: 'Gillard offers Katter trip to Russian Space Station'. Our voices are drowned out by a persistent beeping sound. The specially engineered Windsor-Oakeshott Thrusters have split and the Ostracise is going into reverse.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Welcome back Julia, now do it differently

    • Moira Rayner
    • 08 September 2010
    22 Comments

    Three Independents, belittled as 'The Three Amigos' but riding into the sunset nonetheless, have won the trust of their electorates and been able to exercise a little, meaningful power about how Parliament should work. This may not last, now that the decision has been announced.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The politician who can't be bought

    • Michael Mullins
    • 06 September 2010
    14 Comments

    Newly-elected Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie is basing his quest for power on ethical conduct. There’s nothing new about politicians talking about doing the right thing. Wilkie’s point of difference is that he quickly follows his words with action.

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  • CARTOON

    Independent thinking

    • Fiona Katauskas
    • 01 September 2010

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The perils of holding the balance of power

    • John Warhurst
    • 30 August 2010
    10 Comments

    Though the Independents are raising expectations about a 'new politics', the forces behind the status quo are strong and the public is fickle. If they fail to deliver they might eventually suffer a backlash, like Kevin Rudd and the Democrats before them.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    All MPs have Independents envy

    • Tony Smith
    • 26 August 2010
    10 Comments

    Since both major parties wasted their chance to secure a clear mandate, the Independents have been treated by the media as opportunists and vengeful egotists. By making Parliament complex, the rise of Independents complicates the lives of political hacks.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Hung parliament could be the making of Gillard

    • Tony Kevin
    • 24 August 2010
    22 Comments

    There was a massive loss of confidence in Labor's policies. The Australian electorate saw through the triviality of what both major parties were offering. Gillard would deserve her party's full support in leading a Labor Government in a hung parliament. This may be the making of her as a great prime minister.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The election Rudd could have won

    • John Warhurst
    • 23 August 2010
    32 Comments

    The result suggests some fascinating questions. Prime among them is whether Labor panicked and threw away this election when it deposed Kevin Rudd and replaced him with Julia Gillard in June. Would Rudd have done better? The answer is probably yes.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Inside Canberra's Catholic lobby

    • Frank Quinlan
    • 18 August 2010
    11 Comments

    This election we consider a PM who is doubted because of her atheism, an Opposition Leader who is doubted for being too 'Catholic', and the Greens who are doubted as being anti-Christian. Church social agencies have been involved in important issues with each of these groups.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Tasmanian Greens and the terror of coalitions

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 23 March 2010
    6 Comments

    The Greens are arguably the true winners of Saturday's inconclusive Tasmanian state election. The Rudd Government should be worried. An arrangement with the Greens may be unavoidable should Labor wish to retain power.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Immigration reform review

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 11 September 2009
    1 Comment

    On Wednesday, the Senate made two decisions which take immigration reform forward. The reforms were approved with the support of the Greens and Independents, and one Liberal Senator. Reading the Hansard gives some insight into the current debate.

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