Category: Australia

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Liberal Party is still stuck in the white picket-fence era

Last weekend, Australia’s Liberal Party made history by losing a by-election to the government, something that had not happened for more than 100 years.

The seat in question, Aston, in the outer-east of Melbourne, had fallen vacant due to the retirement of the sitting member, Alan Tudge. The two main parties, Labor and Liberal, both put up female candidates.

The Labor candidate, Mary Doyle, obtained 53.62% of the vote, while the loser, Roshena Campbell, won 46.38%. Continue reading “Liberal Party is still stuck in the white picket-fence era”

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Voice questions: Dutton is either lying or else he cannot read

Australian Opposition leader Peter Dutton is either lying or else is unable to read. Those are the only two reasons why he has been asking questions about the detail of the Voice.

It took me just half-an-hour this morning to answer all his questions. I had to refer to just one website.

As Senator Patrick Dodson has said, the Australian people are being asked to vote “on principle, not on detail”. Continue reading “Voice questions: Dutton is either lying or else he cannot read”

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Will a ninth country join the list of World Cup winners?

The World Cup football tournament has been played since 1930, with a break forced by the second World War, but only eight countries have emerged winners at the 21 competitions.

The 22nd competition kicked off in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar on November 20. The competition is the biggest as far as TV viewership goes, outdoing even the Olympics. It is watched in more countries than the Games.

Brazil have won the trophy on five occasions, the most recent being in 2002, and finished runners-up twice. Germany is next, with four wins, three as West Germany, and one, in 2014, after unification. Continue reading “Will a ninth country join the list of World Cup winners?”

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Credlin doco indicates Libs growing desperate as Vic election looms

With elections in the state of Victoria just a week away, politicians are in a feverish mood as they try to rustle up support to win their seats.

The rush to push their barrows has been sped up no end after early voting started on 14 November and reports emerged of big numbers voting ahead of the election. More than 2.2 million of the state’s registered 4.4 million voters are expected to cast their votes before election day. The first four days of early voting saw 556,193 people exercise their franchise.

Thus one can understand why badly crafted election propaganda like a Sky News documentary titled The Cult of Dan Andrews are making an appearance. The opposition is desperate to make inroads into the Labor vote, but with a leader like Matthew Guy, who went backwards in the last election, the task ahead is like rolling a huge boulder up a mountain. Continue reading “Credlin doco indicates Libs growing desperate as Vic election looms”

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Conflict of interest: ABC caught changing online story

The ABC has been caught out changing an online news report after iTWire pointed out that the report in question — about Thursday’s Q+A program — contained no mention of the fact that Alastair MacGibbon, the chief technology officer of security shop CyberCX, is currently providing advice to Medibank Group, a company which recently suffered a devastating network attack.

[This story was originally published at itwire.com]

MacGibbon was given a platform to tout his wares on the ABC’s Q+A program on Thursday with only a fleeting mention of the fact that his firm is now advising Medibank how to deal with its ransomware attack and subsequent data leak. Continue reading “Conflict of interest: ABC caught changing online story”

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Pakistan captain must take the blame for losing to India

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam blew it. Which captain in the universe would choose to give the last over in a T20 match to an inexperienced spinner rather than a fast bowler, when the side chasing a win is on the wrong side of the equation?

The match one refers to is the T20 clash between India and Pakistan at the MCG on Sunday [October 23].

[India needed 48 off the last three overs and then 16 off the last, after Pakistan made 159 in their 20 overs.] Continue reading “Pakistan captain must take the blame for losing to India”

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Federer shows his class as he quits. Williams is quite the opposite

In recent times, two international tennis players — Roger Federer and Serena Williams — have said, one in direct terms and the other somewhat less clearly, that they would be retiring from the game.

Federer was the more recent to make an announcement saying in unambiguous language that he would retire after the Laver Cup. He has 20 Grand Slam titles to his name and has never been a man who is obsessed by collecting titles. Continue reading “Federer shows his class as he quits. Williams is quite the opposite”

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Time-wasting in rugby matches is at its peak

Last Thursday [September 15] the issue of time-wasting in international rugby matches was highlighted after a referee changed a decision from a penalty to Australia to a scrum feed to New Zealand, in the last minute of the game.

The decision was taken because fly-half Bernard Foley was taking too long to kick the ball to touch. And following that, even today there are discussions taking place about the amount of time that is wasted during such matches.

Nowhere was the extent of this highlighted better than on the Sky News New Zealand show The Breakdown, a one-hour show that runs on Sunday night. Continue reading “Time-wasting in rugby matches is at its peak”

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Referee Raynal made right decision in Bledisloe Cup match

French referee Mathieu Raynal made the right decision when he asked the All Blacks to feed a scrum after he had first awarded a penalty to Australia and then waited, seemingly forever, for the fly-half Bernard Foley to take the kick to touch.

There was little time left to play and after the scrum feed went the All Blacks way, they scored a try through Jordie Barrett to win the game 39-37.

Doubtless the Australians would have felt gutted, doubtless this kind of decision has been rarely, if ever, seen before, doubtless it decided the game the All Blacks way, when it looked very much like an Australian victory was the only outcome.

But it was the right decision, taken at a time when its impact would be really felt. Continue reading “Referee Raynal made right decision in Bledisloe Cup match”

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After nine years, Labor finally wins government in Australia

Australia finally has a change of government. After nine long years under Liberal/National rule, the Labor party has ensured that it will lead the next administration.

Labor won the most seats in Saturday’s election and it remains to be seen whether they will govern in their own right or as a minority government.

But they will have the first shot at governing given that they have close to the 76 seats needed for a majority in the lower house.

Continue reading “After nine years, Labor finally wins government in Australia”