julia gillard

Sachin Tendulkar AM, but what's the fuss?

Submitted by Rick Eyre on October 17 2012, 10:42 am

On Tuesday, Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced while on a state visit to New Delhi that Sachin Tendulkar would be made an honorary Member of the Order of Australia. . Yet on Wednesday morning, the Australian media is full of outrage. How can such a seemingly safe and popular decision be so controversial?

An historically great speech from Prime Minister Gillard

Submitted by Rick Eyre on October 13 2012, 9:18 am

History loves great speeches, and much of the time ignores their backstories. Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave a brilliant address to the House of Representatives on October 9, 2012 excoriating the current opposition leader Tony Abbott.

Yes, ministers

Submitted by Rick Eyre on September 13 2010, 3:22 pm

It was all so much simpler back in the days when I did my school assignment on the Gorton Ministry. The most complex part then was having separate ministers for Army, Navy and Air Force. Even the Minister for Munitions was long gone by then.

All matters relating to communications were handled by the Postmaster-General. We had (and indeed, still do) an Attorney-General, although never a Surgeon-General - and alas, no Witchfinder-General.

People:

Debate. Yawn. Discuss.

Submitted by Rick Eyre on July 28 2010, 11:54 pm

"Just think.. if this were a soccer match we could have had 30 minutes extra time followed by penalty kicks. #ausvotes #debate #nilnil"

- me on Twitter, 7.36pm 25.7.10

The Leaders Debate between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott took place on Sunday night. There's nothing more that I can say about the content. Really. The transcript is here.

From Hey Hey It's Saturday to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

Submitted by Rick Eyre on July 26 2010, 12:40 pm

Nine days in, and the 2010 election campaign is as dismal as any I've witnessed in the past four decades. Tony Abbott defies serious appraisal, while Julia Gillard's entire first month as Prime Minister has been a massive disappointment.

Moving the move forward forwards

Submitted by Rick Eyre on July 19 2010, 11:38 am

"...today I seek my own mandate to move Australia forward.
...this election is about the choice as to whether we move Australia forward or go back. Our great nation, our very great nation, has been built by generations of men and women who had the courage to move forward.

Moving forward, of course, requires conviction, it requires confidence...

Moving forward with confidence also requires a strong set of convictions...

I will be asking Australians for their trust so that we can move forward together.