The outcome of the 2010 Federal Election is fascinating. The Liberal National Party have 71 seats, Labor has 70 seats, the Greens have 1 seat (their first ever won in a General Election), and other independents have 3. It looks like Labor is better placed to form a minority government, but we’ll wait and see. It’s an extraordinary result. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people wished for a plague on both their houses; I know that I did. I’m no political commentator, I’m not a member of any particular political party, and my observations are strictly those of an interested bystander who has a lot of friends with different political views. Read more »

Today, we have Wayne Swan and Joe Hockey going head to head at the National Press Club at lunch time. I won’t be watching it, because I have a full time job and I’m at work. That’s the problem with these things – the audience is small, but they do have their importance in changing the topic of the campaign conversation, and Labor won’t be unhappy if we do get a focus on the economy.

There are three areas I think Swan should challenge Hockey on: Read more »

Originally published at the ABC’s Drumroll campaign blog.

I’ve been largely tuned out of the election campaign today, enjoying a friend’s visit and popping into town to buy a couple of books to read. So I’ve only seen two snippets of coverage – a journo, Nick Harmsen, on ABC News 24 proclaiming that Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard’s body language at their meeting today would be “fascinating” (oh, really?) and glimpsing at my feed reader and seeing a photo of Mark Latham at the Prime Minister’s press conference. Apparently he’s a “guest reporter” for 60 Minutes.

No doubt he will be rewarded appropriately.

Contrast Latham’s involvement in this campaign with that of Paul Keating and Malcolm Fraser.

Keating gave a thoughtful and challenging speech in Melbourne this week on the media and the right to privacy. Malcolm Fraser chose the anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb to plead for better measures to confront nuclear proliferation. Read more »

Originally published at The Drumroll.

I made some observations about Kevin Rudd’s return to the campaign foray in Crikey today, and in particular its implications in Queensland, but I wanted to add four points on today’s developments.

(a) We may be heading for a twist in the narrative. It rumbled on today, but any “distraction” from Kevin Rudd’s re-entry into the fray was a net positive for Labor; Read more »

From today’s Crikey email:

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last night gave an interview to Phillip Adams on Late Night Live.

This morning, Brisbane’s sole metropolitan newspaper characterised his successor Julia Gillard’s response as an apology to Queenslanders for hurting their feelings.

It’s a funny way to characterise the reception of the Labor leadership change. Read more »