Bartlett's Blog

All of the 150 House of Representatives seats now have a clear winner. Unlike some other recent elections, there has not been any real knife edge seats, which is probably just as well given the uncertainty over who will form government. Given how finely balanced things are with the hung Parliament result, it could have caused real mayhem if the 2007 result in the Victorian seat of McEwen ...

The hung Parliament scenario has rightly led the Independents and the Greens MP to put a spotlight on the importance of improving the way Parliament - and in particular the House of Representatives - operates. I think suggestions to provide more time for Private Members Bills and business (i.e. non-government legislation and motions), as well as reforming Question Time and moving to fixed three year terms are very good ...

Mr Abbott's excuses for not enabling such important economic information to be made available to the Independents - who after all do have to make the rather crucial decision as to who should form Australia's government - are risible. It is a worrying sign for where our democracy might be heading that he is not being pilloried by every political commentator in the country for trying to prevent ...

Looking through the votes in different polling booths across an election gives a reminder of just how diverse our community is, even within a single electorate. I was certainly pleased that the Greens managed to break the 20 per cent mark in the seat of Brisbane. This is obviously well above the 9 per cent I managed when I stood for the seat as A Democrat candidate in 1996, ...

It was a fascinating election result, and also a historic one on a number of fronts. The Greens historic achievement in winning a House of Representatives seat at a general election, combined with the probability of a hung parliament, presents a real possibility that we may finally be faced with a real chance to start breaking down the two party stranglehold on Australian politics, which in my view ...

Last Tuesday night, I was part of an election forum on climate change with the other two main candidates for the seat of Brisbane.  It was quite well attended, and included media representatives from the Courier-Mail, Brisbane Times and ABC Online. It also used a question format where people wrote down their questions and then had a moderator group them in topics and ask them, rather than questions ...

The prospect of the refugee detention camps on Nauru being reopened has become very real, with the issue of asylum seekers in boats apparently being of such magnitude to Tony Abbott that he would make it virtually his first priority for action above almost everything else, should he end up being elected on the weekend. Apart from a visit by Philip Ruddock and the then shadow Minister for Labor, ...

It's been such a long time since I started this blog, and both I and the blog have been through so many transitions I'd forgotten what time of year it was that I started it. So it was a complete coincidence that I thought I might look to see when the first entry was, and discovered it was precisely six years ago. I started this blog as an experiment ...

Having stood as a candidate many times before (six times, for anyone wanting to know), I'm used to the plethora of candidates forums which occur during the election period.  Except for very large events, I doubt these shift many votes, but I believe they can be an important mechanism for exposing candidates to the views of concerned and engaged constituents. Because my two main opponents on this occasion have ...

It is over five years since I wrote a post on this blog about the many promises that have been made over the years to build a rail link from Brisbane to Redcliffe. In the five years since, plans to build to build the railway have been put on and then off the table once again. Redcliffe has also ceased to be a separate city, being forcibly amalgamated with ...

I've had a piece published at Online Opinion where I give some of my impressions of the first week of the campaign. Obviously, this is the first federal election I've contested with the Greens, but it is the eighth I've been involved with as either a campaign organiser or a candidate - always of course from the perspective of a 'third party' trying to convince voters to reduce ...

Jeff Goodell is an American who wrote a book called “Big Coal: the dirty secret behind America’s future” – there’s a good interview with him about this book on You Tube at this link.  He’s written a new book called “Cooling the Planet”, which is about geo-engineering: scientists who are researching the ways we could use technology to alleviate global warming. I’ve occasionally read articles about such research, and ...

Earlier this week I spoke to a class of politics students at the University of South Australia about some of the internal factors which impact on how political parties make decisions.  As part of that course, each lecture is followed by reflections on the topic by Alexander Downer and Natasha Stott Despoja - so it made for a fascinating day for me (and hopefully also for the students.) I used ...

Yesterday saw both the government and Opposition make policy announcements regarding asylum seekers. Most of the attention has focused on Prime Minster Gillard’s speech on the issue, although (conveniently for the government) there is so much detail yet to be finalised that it is hard to make definitive judgements on how it will all work. By contrast, the Opposition’s policy release got less attention, beyond general comments about how ...

How on earth could anyone possibly believe that public or political debate on asylum seekers is being constrained by political correctness?! For at least the last decade, public commentary in letters to the editor, talkback shows and online forums have contained a vast array of views on this matter, including many that are extremely aggressive, antagonistic, abusive and vilifying - and all of which have clearly not been put ...

This Sunday marks the start of Refugee Week, with plenty of events around the country to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution refugees have made and continue to make to our society, culture and economy. I'm speaking at a rally being held in Brisbane Square this Sunday from 1pm to mark World Refugee Day. I have attended many refugee week events over the years, and they often involve people from ...

The latest Newspoll may turn out to be an outlier, but the marked drop in support and approval ratings for both Labor and the Liberal-Nationals, and their respective leaders, does seem to have a logical connection to the diminishing credibility and increasing cynicism and shallowness which both party’s leaders have been displaying of late. The 16% support level recorded for the Greens is not just a record for that ...

Some sad news for independent media today, with the announcement that the New Matilda website is likely to be shutting up shop at the end of next month. As most readers would be aware, I've had a number of pieces published on New Matilda over the years. I'm sure I'll still be able to find places to publish my pieces if and when I want, but I'll certainly miss ...

For the last few months, I’ve found it hard to shake the idea that the Liberal Party’s overriding approach to politics and policy has deteriorated to a level little better than where the US Republican Party now finds itself. I think the reason why things have sunk this low has a lot to do with the perverted nature of the so-called culture and history wars which were embraced with ...

From the very first day after I’d finished my term in the Senate in July 2008 – in fact for many weeks before I’d even formally finished – there would be no question I have been asked more frequently that the one about whether I miss being in politics and whether I’m enjoying being out of it.  Even months after having announced I was getting formally involved with ...