keywords: Election 2019

  • INTERNATIONAL

    The 'ugly boredom' of a very Brexit election

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 13 December 2019
    16 Comments

    Tired and world weary, the British electorate went to the polls. Rarely in history can there have been such an assemblage of unelectable or disappointing types standing for office or trying to remain in it. It proved to be an ugly boredom, though it was uglier for some than others.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Winner-take-all election narrative doesn't wash

    • John Warhurst
    • 25 June 2019
    14 Comments

    We are expected to believe that all those perceived Labor failures, plus the massive anti-Labor Clive Palmer campaign and the attraction of some positive Coalition policies, only shifted a little over one Australian in every hundred, though more in some states like Queensland and some individual seats. That analysis can't be right.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Election is done, now to focus on what matters

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 May 2019
    15 Comments

    It is time to return to the more important question of what matters for the future good of Australia. This is what governments and political parties are bound by tradition and by their own official rhetoric to serve. This, not electoral success or failure, should govern their actions and our response as citizens to their governance.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Wake me up when the election is over

    • Eliza Berlage
    • 10 May 2019
    5 Comments

    A recent survey found one in three women under 30 are reconsidering having children because of fears of climate change. There are young people telling their parents they have a choice between voting for the Coalition, and getting grandkids. Yet the public is not waiting with bated breath for the result on election night. They are just be waiting.

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  • FAITH DOING JUSTICE

    Parsing the Catholic bishops' election advice

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 May 2019
    11 Comments

    The Australian bishops' statement on the federal election is significant as much for the fact it was made as for its argument. Given the polarisation of public debate, they might well have thought it wiser to remain silent. For them the greatest success of the statement may be that, when they spoke of public issues, the sky did not fall in.

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  • RELIGION

    The disruptiveness of an election year Easter

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 April 2019
    2 Comments

    This year both the public and the Christian Easter are overshadowed by the forthcoming election. In the public world election means that assured people choose their rulers. In the Christian story election means that desperate people are chosen. Each kind of election has its place.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Beware the election campaign hobgoblins

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 11 April 2019
    7 Comments

    The American writer H. L. Mencken said the aim of politics is 'to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary'. Over the years there have been many hobgoblins of varying sizes and shapes, and this election campaign promsies to be no different.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Budget 2019-20 and the way forward for welfare

    • Joe Zabar
    • 08 April 2019
    6 Comments

    A proposal to take decisions around welfare payments out of politicians' hands is the best way forward. If the major parties are going to put supporting the most vulnerable in the 'too hard' basket, let an independent commission determine the rates at which various welfare payments can allow people to live a dignified life.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Election year fear and loathing

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 27 February 2019
    6 Comments

    It looks certain that over the next three months before the federal election fear will dominate Australian public conversation. Even if we deplore the appeal to fear, it is worth reflecting on why politicians indulge in it, under what conditions it is successful, and how it is best responded to.

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  • ECONOMICS

    Election sweeteners a family affair

    • Joe Zabar
    • 21 February 2019
    5 Comments

    Both Labor and the Coalition would be wise to consider revisiting the Howard-era Family Tax Benefits to provide targeted relief to families. Both have taken their share out of the FTB bucket as a way to balance the budget. By doing so, they have left many families worse off. The restoration of some of the cuts to FTB would be a good a start.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Election year hope and hijinks

    • Eliza Berlage
    • 18 January 2019
    10 Comments

    Entering an election year is like coming home for the holiday season. It's full of hope and hijinks but also promises and pain. And like every family, each party has its quirks. Hopefully a post-election Parliament will green light some meaningful reform to improve people's lives rather than always culture warring. But don't hold your breath.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    The lives of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are still at risk

    • Peter Coghlan
    • 26 November 2020
    10 Comments

    The continued persecution of Tamils has led to many fleeing Sri Lanka over the past ten years, with some landing on Australia’s shores — they have literally fled for their lives. The Australian government’s response to the inhumane treatment of refugees returned to Sri Lanka has been to praise the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to thwart any asylum seeker attempt to leave Sri Lanka.

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