Category: Tony Abbott

27 Jun

16 Comments

Kevin Rudd, anti-politics & the ends of Laborism

by

In Capital, Karl Marx elucidates the inner workings of the capitalist mode of production by making certain assumptions about the behaviour of real people. He describes capitalists as mere “personifications” of capital and other social relations. But these assumptions are just that: assumptions for the sake of clarifying underlying social processes without having factors like […]

22 Jun

3 Comments

Labor’s crisis, misogyny and the Left’s response

by

My latest piece at Overland Journal — “Not a crisis of misogyny: a crisis of political authority” — went up yesterday. It was written in response to a series of recent arguments on the Left, most especially “If Julia Gillard isn’t safe from the Liberals’ sexism, who will be?” by Van Badham, which appeared in The Guardian […]

18 Jun

Comments Off on Behind ALP crisis, elephant in room is Abbott’s weakness

Behind ALP crisis, elephant in room is Abbott’s weakness

by

Continuing my analysis of the Right of Australian politics, my first op-ed for The Guardian’s new Australian website is up today, and can be found here. The lack of enthusiasm for the conservatives was borne out in a remarkable poll of 24 marginal seats in March. It found a two-party preferred voting intention of 59.4% for the Coalition, […]

10 Apr

7 Comments

Thatcher, the ALP & the dregs of neoliberalism

by

If there’s one thing the entire Australian Left agrees on right now it’s that “Thatcherism was a very bad thing”. But beyond that, it may be appropriate to ask what exactly it is that people think was a bad thing. The answer to that question rests on one’s interpretation of what exactly was going on […]

23 Feb

6 Comments

After the divorce: Contradictions of Greens strategy

by

With a sense of crisis swirling around the government, last Friday’s post on how the ALP’s problems run much deeper than a faulty “narrative” was republished at ABC’s The Drum. Then Christine Milne announced the end of the Greens-ALP agreement, and The Drum commissioned the piece below on the Greens. Now that comments are closed at the ABC website, we’re […]

15 Feb

16 Comments

Truth, lies & narratives: What ALP’s crisis is not about

by

In a considered piece at ABC’s The Drum on Thursday, Jonathan Green highlighted a phenomenon that seems to overwhelm Australian politics — the inability of simple facts about the Gillard Government’s performance to overcome the stench of crisis hanging over it. He is correct to point out “that in assuming that the mere facts of its […]

15 Sep

Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 2: Greens trapped in a prison of their own making

Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 2: Greens trapped in a prison of their own making

by

Since when did building a climate movement mean cheerleading neoliberal government policies? In the last post I argued that the deep crisis of the Gillard government is also a crisis of the Greens and the Left more generally. By effectively entering a “Left” government the Greens have replicated the disastrous strategy of Italy’s main party of the […]

13 Sep

Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 1: The graveyard of progressive politics?

Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 1: The graveyard of progressive politics?

by

The stench of death surrounds the Gillard Government. It is impossible to exaggerate the historic depths to which the ALP has fallen in the polls, with last week’s 27 percent in Newspoll confirming that there would be no “bounce” once the carbon tax announcement was digested by the electorate. Even the temporary revival of sleaze allegations against […]

26 Sep

7 Comments

Desperately seeking authority

by

That new paradigm thingy didn’t last long, now, did it? At least not the world of “kinder, gentler” politics that Tony Abbott was promising. Nor the ability of rural Independent MPs to rise above the fray of deal-making and remain untainted by “old-style” party politics. Nor, of course, the dream of politicians finding more “consensus” […]