By Julian Bajkowski Councils across Australia will soon be forced to explain to ratepayers how much of their money was spent pushing the ‘Yes’ case for the proposed referendum on financial recognition for local government in the Constitution after the poll officially bit the dust on Sunday. The announcement of a 7th September election date […]
6 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Canberra may well be celebrating its Centenary this year, but locals are weighing the prospect of the public service designer city being partly depopulated. As the election looms, the threat of bulk federal redundancies under a Coalition government has again increased in value as prime political currency among voters there. Senator for […]
30 July, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The Rudd government’s new Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy, Senator Kate Lundy has publicly backed the creation of a new Cloud Consumer Protocol by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) for retail purchasers less than a week after formal guidance for government buyers was released by the Attorney General’s Department. Senator Lundy […]
16 July, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The chairman of the Coaltion’s deregulation taskforce, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, has outlined a raft of changes to how businesses sell into the federal government as part of a bid to lower the cost of doing business with Canberra. The Coalition is proposing to set up a central register of federal government suppliers […]
12 July, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Coalition support for the ‘yes’ case in the referendum on Constitutional recognition for local government has edged one step closer to official collapse after Opposition leader Tony Abbott intensified his attack on the poll process amid growing internal pressure to withdraw bipartisan support. Speaking at a press conference in Whittlsea, Victoria, Mr […]
2 July, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Legislation to make a local government referendum on 14th September has finally cleared the Senate amid a widening split in the Coalition that resulted in seven members of the Opposition cross the floor to vote against the bill and at least as many abstaining. The last minute bid to shoot down referendum […]
25 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Opponents of Constitutional recognition for local government have accused the federal minister leading the multi-party push for a ‘yes’ vote of trying to buy the referendum result by giving $31.6 million to supporters and just $500,000 to opponents of direct funding for councils. Conservative dominated group ‘No Power Grab’ claims that the […]
18 June, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The Federal and Queensland governments are banking that the eyes of the world will be on Brisbane when the river city hosts the high powered G20 Summit in 2014, but to get the event to a world audience it helps if you hire a broadcaster first. As preparations for the event formally […]
7 June, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Opponents to a change in the Constitution that could give financial recognition to local government through a referendum at the 14th September federal poll have launched their official campaign with an attack by former Howard government minister Peter Reith on the Nationals leader in the Senate,. Barnaby Joyce. After months of sniping […]
3 June, 2013
Analysis: Julian Bajkowski The prospect of a single national identity credential being issued to all Australians has reignited after a senior executive at Australia Post suggested that it would be “wonderful” if a future Coalition government put in place a “mandate” for government agencies to use its new digital mailbox service. The comments, attributed to […]
28 May, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Federal public servants are bracing for a fresh round of job cuts after pre-Budget scene setting by the Gillard government confirmed around $580 million savings aim to be extracted from the bureaucratic machinery. The projected savings have triggered warnings from the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) but are understood […]
14 May, 2013
By Paddy Manning* Coal Seam Gas was once hailed as a clean and green form of energy. But there are now very serious economic and environmental questions for both communities and governments hanging over the abundant natural resource. It’s called the energy ‘trilemma’ and governments around the world are grappling with it: how to maximise […]
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