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Australians will go to the polls on September 7 after Kevin Rudd today fired the starting gun on a five-week election campaign. Mr Rudd said voters faced a stark choice. ”This election will be about who the Australian people trust to best lead them through the economic challenges ahead,” the Prime Minister said. ”This will … Continue reading
Many Indonesians find it hard to control their temper each time they read or hear any kind of provocative remark from the Australian media, military, politicians or celebrities. The country is perceived as an arrogant neighbour with a strong sense of superiority towards Indonesia and no more important agenda than to destroy its territorial integrity. … Continue reading
Australia’s second-time Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has wasted no time hammering a nail in the coffin of the China boom after ending the political career of his predecessor. Making his first press statement Wednesday night after successfully challenging Julia Gillard for the Labor Party leadership, the Mandarin-speaking Rudd said Australians must diversify away from the … Continue reading
New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will have to recruit a ministry short of critical experience as hostile ministers close to Julia Gillard refuse to serve under him. Treasurer Wayne Swan, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy have already stepped down, as have Climate Change Minister Greg Combet and Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig. Mr Rudd will have … Continue reading
China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, has revived Chairman Mao‘s doctrine of the “mass line”. The founder of modern China didn’t want the masses to have a vote, but he did think that it was vitally important to understand their views. The “mass line” in Australia today contains an important message to Canberra, and to Beijing. … Continue reading
The following is today’s editorial from Melbourne’s The Age newspaper: It is time for Julia Gillard to stand aside as leader of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, as Prime Minister of Australia, so that vigorous, policy-driven democratic debate can flourish once again. Ms Gillard should do so in the interests of the Labor Party, in … Continue reading
Labor is being swept with expectations that Julia Gillard will be replaced as Prime Minister before parliament rises for the election, with Kevin Rudd now seen as the party’s only hope of averting electoral disaster. Shocked by polling and amazed at the former prime minister’s reception in Geelong on Friday, some of Ms Gillard’s staunchest … Continue reading
The “strategic partnership” announced this week between Australia and China is widely viewed within China and by experts internationally as a move in which Beijing hopes to start prising Canberra away from Washington on security matters. But this is a long-term strategy, which is easier for China’s new leaders, who anticipate a 10-year term ahead, … Continue reading
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher made “unabashedly racist” comments during a conversation with Bob Carr, the Foreign Affairs Minister has told Lateline. Thatcher died on Monday morning (UK time) at the age of 87 and will be accorded a ceremonial funeral at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral next week. Senator Carr says he was “astonished” … Continue reading
More than half the almost 1900 Afghans detained by Australian forces in Oruzgan may have been innocents falsely accused by local enemies , according to the province’s chief of police, Matiullah Khan. They were named so their enemies could gain advantages in tribal, business or personal disputes. Asked about the numbers first put forward by … Continue reading
Parliament has taken another stride toward reconciliation on the fifth anniversary of the national apology to the stolen generation, as campaigners urged MPs on both sides not to give up. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott put aside politics on Wednesday as the lower house passed legislation to create an Act of … Continue reading
Former prime minister John Howard says Kevin Rudd – the man who beat him in 2007 – could make a move for the Labor Party leadership before the federal election. Mr Howard says Mr Rudd’s ousting as prime minister in 2010 by Julia Gillard was very unusual. “The extraordinary thing about the politics in the … Continue reading
Labor MP Kevin Rudd has talents and experience that could land him a diplomatic appointment under a coalition government, deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop says. Ms Bishop says if she were to become foreign minister, Mr Rudd would be considered for any role with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “If Kevin wants to … Continue reading
It is a rollback to the heady days of Kevin07. More than five years after Kevin Rudd filled television screens and Facebook pages from dusk until dawn in his campaign for The Lodge, the self-described “humble” backbencher is again reigniting leadership speculation with a blitz of mainstream and social media. As Julia Gillard jetted-off for … Continue reading
Pressure is growing on Julia Gillard to exploit Kevin Rudd‘s popularity with the electorate and elevate his role in the election campaign, with four members of her cabinet now publicly declaring that the former prime minister is an asset for the party. Two of the Prime Minister’s key supporters, Victorian Right faction powerbrokers Stephen Conroy … Continue reading
Remarks comparing the federal government to the Nazi party are offensive and hurtful, new federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says. Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne on Sunday said the federal government was unravelling like Hitler‘s government in the movie Downfall. Mr Pyne said the resignation of two senior ministers and Prime Minister Julia Gillard‘s subsequent reshuffle showed … Continue reading
The Gillard government’s turbulent start to the new parliamentary year continues with the shock resignation of two of Labor’s most senior Cabinet ministers, the Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and the government’s leader in the Senate, the Higher Education Minister, Chris Evans. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a mid-level reshuffle of her Cabinet this morning announcing, among … Continue reading
If day one of the election campaign is anything to go by, it’s going to be a long seven months until the September poll. As many commentators lamented yesterday, the announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday has kick-started a campaign which is likely to be driven more by personality than policy. At least … Continue reading
Tony Abbott says Wayne Swan should concentrate on running the economy rather than raising “red herrings” like the republic debate. The Treasurer revived the republican debate in a Fairfax opinion piece today, saying a reflection on cricket’s 1930s Bodyline series should hasten the creation of an Australian republic. But the Opposition Leader – an ardent … Continue reading
Julia Gillard has waved a final goodbye to the so-called “9/11 decade”, heralding a new age dominated by threats of cyber espionage and traditional great-power conflict. Like her centre-left contemporary Barack Obama, she is moving her party away from the preoccupations her predecessor – Middle Eastern conflicts, ballooning defence and intelligence budgets, an incessant focus … Continue reading
Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, reportedly will seek to boost Labor’s defence credentials in a speech singling out China and cyber attacks as key security concerns. Ms Gillard will make the comments on Wednesday in her first important speech of the election year to the Australian National University’s National Security College in Canberra, The Australian newspaper … Continue reading
Julia Gillard has kept her lead over Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister in the first opinion poll of the year. The Essential poll, published on Monday, put Ms Gillard nine points ahead of the opposition leader who was rated preferred prime minister by 33 per cent of voters. The coalition’s two-party vote was down … Continue reading
The biggest overhaul of Queensland police since the infamous Fitzgerald inquiry will remove more than 100 senior officers and scrap regional offices in some areas of the state. Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, who was installed in the job last November, today announced the restructure of the service in a bid to cut bureaucracy and boost … Continue reading
AS Australians yesterday put the final touches on their New Year‘s Eve celebrations, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott fired the first shots of the 2013 election campaign. In a sign of what is in store for voters this year, the leaders used their New Year messages to pitch their plans to the people. The Prime … Continue reading
On July 29th 1900, in Monza, Italy, King Umberto I was shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in America before returning to his homeland to murder the king. Crowned in 1878, King Umberto became increasingly authoritarian in the late 19th century. He enacted a program of suppression against the radical … Continue reading
Craig Hill Consultancy Services 