http://australianpolitics.com Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:23:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth AustralianPolitics.com no Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://australianpolitics.com/category/australian-constitution http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/13/cowen-eulogised-by-frydenberg.html http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/13/cowen-eulogised-by-frydenberg.html#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:42:14 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4664 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/13/cowen-eulogised-by-frydenberg.html/feed 0 Josh Frydenberg,Julia Gillard,Malcolm Fraser,Sir Zelman Cowen The former Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowen, was remembered today at a funeral service in Melbourne. - The service was attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who appointed Cowen in December 1977. The former Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowen, was remembered today at a funeral service in Melbourne. The service was attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, who appointed Cowen in December 1977. Former PMs Bob Hawke and John Howard also attended, as did Cowen's successor as Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen. A moving eulogy to Cowen was delivered by the Josh Frydenberg, the Liberal member for Kooyong. Listen to Josh Frydenberg's eulogy: PLAY AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/09/sir-zelman-cowen-dies-92.html http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/09/sir-zelman-cowen-dies-92.html#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:27:41 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4638 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/12/09/sir-zelman-cowen-dies-92.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/01/02/talking-110-years-of-the-australian-constitution.html http://australianpolitics.com/2011/01/02/talking-110-years-of-the-australian-constitution.html#comments Sun, 02 Jan 2011 08:58:21 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=2933 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/01/02/talking-110-years-of-the-australian-constitution.html/feed 0 2UE,Tim Shaw I've just done a radio spot with Tim Shaw on Sydney's 2UE, discussing the Australian Constitution which is 110 years old this weekend. - Click PLAY to listen to the discussion: - PLAY I've just done a radio spot with Tim Shaw on Sydney's 2UE, discussing the Australian Constitution which is 110 years old this weekend. Click PLAY to listen to the discussion: PLAY AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/americain-governor-general-presents-2010-melbourne-cup.html http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/americain-governor-general-presents-2010-melbourne-cup.html#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:57:57 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=1236 http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/americain-governor-general-presents-2010-melbourne-cup.html/feed 0 Americain,Melbourne Cup,Quentin Bryce The Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, has described the Melbourne Cup as a "day of national unanimity". - She made the comment during her presentation to the connections of the winning horse at Flemington Race Course in Melbourne. - The Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, has described the Melbourne Cup as a "day of national unanimity". She made the comment during her presentation to the connections of the winning horse at Flemington Race Course in Melbourne. The 150th Melbourne Cup was won by Americain. Maluckyday was second, whilst the sentimental favourite, So You Think, came in third. Bryce said it was also a day of "individual financial adventure" and, "if you are female, exuberant showing-off". By tradition, the Governor-General makes the presentation to the winner of the Melbourne Cup. Click the PLAY button to listen to the Governor-General's presentation: PLAY Click the PLAY button to listen to the call of the race by Channel 7's Greg Miles. PLAY Watch the Melbourne Cup: AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/politics-at-the-melbourne-cup.html http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/politics-at-the-melbourne-cup.html#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:37:49 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=1231 http://australianpolitics.com/2010/11/02/politics-at-the-melbourne-cup.html/feed 0 Bart Cummings,John Brumby,Melbourne Cup,Sir John Kerr,Tony Abbott The Melbourne Cup, the so-called "race that stops a nation" will be run for the 150th time today. - Such is the pull of this sporting event that it takes precedence over other events and institutions. For instance, The Melbourne Cup, the so-called "race that stops a nation" will be run for the 150th time today. Such is the pull of this sporting event that it takes precedence over other events and institutions. For instance, the days are long gone when the Federal Parliament met on Melbourne Cup day. Yesterday, the Victorian Premier, John Brumby, visited the Governor to set in train the November 27 election. The writs are officially issued today and the government goes into caretaker mode but Brumby would have received next to no media coverage if he'd made the vice-regal call today. The Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, is at Flemington today, his first visit since becoming Liberal leader last year. For politicians, the Melbourne Cup is a place to be seen. But the 1977 Melbourne Cup is the gold standard for political aficionados. Just two years since the dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11, 1975, the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, made a drunken farewell appearance to present the Cup to the connections of Gold and Black. The horse was trained by Bart Cummings and ridden by John Duggan. During his presentation of the cup, Kerr was heckled and booed by the crowd. The memories of the dismissal were still raw. Click the PLAY button to listen to Kerr's presentation: PLAY Watch the finish of the 1977 Melbourne Cup: AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2010/07/19/dissolutions-prorogations-and-a-mea-culpa.html http://australianpolitics.com/2010/07/19/dissolutions-prorogations-and-a-mea-culpa.html#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:01:18 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=906 http://australianpolitics.com/2010/07/19/dissolutions-prorogations-and-a-mea-culpa.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2009/12/30/test.html http://australianpolitics.com/2009/12/30/test.html#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:17:12 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/2009/12/30/test.html http://australianpolitics.com/2009/12/30/test.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2008/10/02/coag-meets-in-shadow-of-financial-crisis-2.html http://australianpolitics.com/2008/10/02/coag-meets-in-shadow-of-financial-crisis-2.html#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:04:29 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=207 http://australianpolitics.com/2008/10/02/coag-meets-in-shadow-of-financial-crisis-2.html/feed 0 Anna Bligh,COAG,Colin Barnett,infrastructure,John Brumby,Kevin Rudd,Nathan Rees The Council of Australian Governments met in Perth today. It was the first meeting since the election of the Rudd Government which included a Liberal Premier, Colin Barnett, from Western Australia. - A statement issued after the meeting said: “COAG ag... The Council of Australian Governments met in Perth today. It was the first meeting since the election of the Rudd Government which included a Liberal Premier, Colin Barnett, from Western Australia. A statement issued after the meeting said: “COAG agreed that the present unprecedented upheaval in global financial markets and renewed international scrutiny of their regulation underlines the importance of pressing forward with the COAG reform agenda to enhance the productive capacity and flexibility of the Australian economy. Building on its agreement in July 2008, COAG endorsed an implementation plan to strengthen the Australian financial services and credit regulation framework.” Listen to the Prime Minister, Premiers’ and Chief Ministers’ press conference: LISTEN Download the COAG Communique This is the transcript of the COAG press conference. RUDD: The Council of Australian Governments meets at a time of global financial crisis. And it's times like this that a crisis affects all Governments, Commonwealth, the States, Territories. And therefore it's time when all Governments must cooperate in Australia's national economic interest. I am pleased to report today that the Governments of this Australian Federation have done just that - cooperating in practical areas such as how do we advance our regulatory arrangements in Australia to make it easier for businesses to function. How do we bring about uniform areas of national credit regulation at a time when regulation of credit markets is under particular national and international scrutiny? And also working together on how we build the nation through infrastructure projects for the future? The Council of Australian Governments today has agreed to implement a plan for the regulation of remaining areas of consumer credit. This follows COAG's decision that the Commonwealth would assume responsibility for the regulation of mortgages, mortgage broking, margin lending and all remaining areas of consumer credit such as payday lending and financial counselling services. The implementation plan that we have adopted is a timeline for the transfer of these responsibilities to the Commonwealth by June 2009. This is a major reform in an area which has been crying out for reform for a long, long time and necessary at times like this. Secondly, the Council of Australian Governments has also debated today the need for infrastructure reform and to engage in a program of nation building for the future. On infrastructure reform one of the challenges that we have faced in the past is the absence of nationally consistent private public partnership guidelines for the nation. COAG agreed today that we will have as a nation such nationally consistent guidelines and we have agreed that those guidelines will be adopted by year's end. Furthermore on the question of our nation's infrastructure needs for the future, we discussed the role of Infrastructure Australia, the role of the Building Australia Fund which were announced in the Commonwealth's most recent Budget. Earlier the Council of Australian Governments has agreed that by year's end Infrastructure Australia would conclude its audit of Australia's infrastructure needs and that its first COAG meeting of next year, that is March next year, that COAG would then examine in infrastructure priority list for the nation. What the Commonwealth has decided to do is to have infrastructure Australia provide an early report on both of these matters - that is the infrastructure assessment of the nation, the audit, as well as infrastructure priorities - and for this now to be done by year's end. This program of work has been advanced. We believe this is important because of the outstanding infrastructure needs of the nation, both in our cities and in our rural and regional areas and we intend to get on with the job. This Government, the Australian Government has for the first time in many, AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2008/04/19/kevin-rudds-opening-address-to-the-2020-summit.html http://australianpolitics.com/2008/04/19/kevin-rudds-opening-address-to-the-2020-summit.html#comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:27:13 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/2008/04/19/kevin-rudds-opening-address-to-the-2020-summit.shtml http://australianpolitics.com/2008/04/19/kevin-rudds-opening-address-to-the-2020-summit.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2008/02/05/governor-general-attacked-and-defended.html http://australianpolitics.com/2008/02/05/governor-general-attacked-and-defended.html#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:52:28 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/2008/02/05/governor-general-attacked-and-defended.shtml http://australianpolitics.com/2008/02/05/governor-general-attacked-and-defended.html/feed 0