The Dead Roo

I was a child of the Kennett years. I was just old enough to know what was going on as Kennett slashed and burned pretty much everything much everything that required public funding in the early 1990s. My teacher parents saw several of the schools they had taught at closed, many of their colleagues forced […]

The various states have been in the awkward position of having essentially-legal, but technically illegal, abortion for decades now, courtesy of the awkward compromise achieved in the 1969 Menhennitt ruling, principles subsequently adopted by courts in most other states. A couple of jurisdictions have taken steps towards removing the anachronism - the ACT abolished abortion-related […]

With any scandal about ministers (see for example the issues with Thwaites getting freebies at ski lodges The Age 2007-06-15 Political Hubris), a Premier of Victoria should ask themselves one simple question:
What would Dick Hamer (Lib), Lindsay Thompson (Lib) and John Cain (ALP), all extremely honorable premiers, do?
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I just love this defense in the face of blatant conflicts of interest:
Victorian Deputy Premier John Thwaites says he is not the only Government MP to have accepted free accommodation at Victoria’s ski fields. - ABC
Reminds me of Sophie Mirabella, who’s defense to the media upon revelations that she accepted $15 000 in “donations” from […]

While there is attention on Maxine McKew’s chances against Howard in Bennelong, Costello in Higgins may get a scare, especially if the ALP is smart with preselection.
Higgins bucked the national trend last federal election and swung slightly against the Liberal Party (two-party preferred), no real change in the Labor vote, a Greens vote of around […]

Over the last couple of decades, we’ve been lucky in Australia to more or less escape the nasty American phenomenon of abortion clinic picketing. With some rare, but glaring exceptions, this sort of thing seems to have been limited to the likes of the five creepy old men who stand outside a health centre in […]

Victorian political start up “People Power” is no more according to ousted party President and co-founder Vern Hughes. Obviously inspired by the example of Mark Latham, Hughes has deleted the People Power website and replaced it with a rant listing of his bitter recriminations about People Power.
It’s true, I’ve had something of an interest in […]

From The Age comes one of the most bizarre stories I’ve heard in a long time - Peter Kavanagh, the newly-elected DLP death beast in Western Victoria, has come out and out-lefted the ALP (of sorts) on the issue of, of all things, gay rights.
In the article, Kavanagh states that not only won’t he oppose, […]

Following on from Kieran’s post, I couldn’t be more thrilled at the outcome of yesterday’s recounts. The outcome as it stood at the announcement of “final” results could have been worse, but the last-minute changes to the results in Northern Metropolitan and Western Metropolitan bring with them quite a few positive ramifications for the left.
1. […]

Paul Norton makes a good case against the pessimism that even Greens supporters like myself had in relation to the recent Victorian election campaign over at Larvatus Prodeo.
The problem for the Greens is that most media commentary on how well or badly a given party may have done is based on the election night figures […]

It isn’t often these days that I speak really highly of a Labor MP, but Elaine Carbines, the now-defeated MLC for Geelong Province, really was one of the better representatives in either state or federal parliament. A local activist before entering politics, she was always willing to deal with constituent issues, and I’ve lost count […]

The preference deals were sickening, the result worthy of tears, because the Dirty Little Party has won two seats in the Victorian upper house.
There’s no denying that the Greens were fucked over in the preference deals at the most recent Victorian election. Major parties, particuarly the ALP, have realised what a threat to the two […]

Time for some second rate media watch. The Border Mail loves it’s sensationalist covers. Ever ready to use a deceptive yellow filter on some otherwise bland pictures of smoke, the Border has been looking for new and innovative ways to scare people.
Yesterday we were aparantly under threat of a volcano:

Today the smoke is so bad […]

I am sick of your goddamn optimism. Yeah, I know we’re meant to be the party of optimism, we’re meant to be hopeful, but there needs to be a clear distinction between hope and delusion.
I never want to hear your goddamn predictions about an imminent Green breakthrough again. You know what I mean , it’s […]

In the week or so before yesterday’s Victorian election I commented a number of the candidates. Here’s a wrap up on how they went.
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