The Looking Glass » Australian politics

Gambling industry v the federal government

Anne Summers — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:13:26 +0000

My column today in Sydney Morning Herald on how the gambling industry forced Prime Minister Gillard’s hand on the poker machine reform in a campaign involving Karl Bitar, the former national secretary of the ALP, and formerly one of Gillard’s closest advisors. Read the article

How to get a free university education

Anne Summers — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:09:55 +0000

My column in today’s Sydney Morning Herald examines an anomaly in the student loan system that enables well-off graduates to avoid repaying their debt. Read the article

The paradox of our Prime Minister

Anne Summers — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:28:53 +0000

My latest article in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at how Julia Gillard’s assets are not being conveyed to the voting public. Read the article

Women in combat in the Australian Defence Forces

Anne Summers — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:00:26 +0000

My latest article in The Monthly looks at women already fighting on the front line. Read article

A Tale of Two Profiles

Anne Summers — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:20:57 +0000

Good Weekend‘s John van Tiggelen has written an extensive profile of right-wing media ‘megaphone’ Andrew Bolt following on from my own profile in The Monthly in October. You can read both pieces: here and here

Tony Abbott’s big bad black hole

Anne Summers — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:08:11 +0000

Has the Opposition Leader dug a big hole for himself with his opposition to the Minerals Resources Rental Tax? Read my article in The Hoopla (www.thehoopla.com.au)

Can we ever agree?

Anne Summers — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:46:42 +0000

My speech to a Public Sector Leadership Summit in Canberra last week on the need for (and lack of) a national collective vision in Australia today.

Australian Public Sector Leadership Summit 2011

Julia the fixer eases into the top job

Anne Summers — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:47:41 +0000

On his elegant memoir the former British prime minister Tony Blair describes his reaction when he walked into 10 Downing Street for the first time: “My predominant reaction was fear…”

If Blair felt this way, after a landslide victory,imagine what must have been going through Julia Gillard’s mind the night she failed to secure an outright election victory and in the tortuous weeks that followed while the results were finalised and the Independents took their time to announce how they would play their political hands.

Read my article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald

Why do we judge female politicians so harshly?

Anne Summers — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:56:59 +0000

Read my latest article on the double-standard that is applied to women in politics, especially to their marital and maternal status and everything about their appearance from their hair styles to the way they wave their hands

Australia finally has a national paid parental leave scheme

Anne Summers — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:30:36 +0000

Starting on January 1, the federal government’s paid parental leave scheme came into effect. Australia was the second-last nation in the developed (and not so-developed) world to introduce this most necessary adjunct to working women’s lives. The United States is now the only country to not have such a scheme.

The Australian scheme will provide women with 18 weeks leave at the minimum wage which is currently $570 a week. It is expected – and hoped – that private employers who already provide paid maternity leave will keep their schemes in place and add the government entitlement on top. There are still some flaws in the scheme which hopefully will be corrected over time but it is a great reform to have in place, and a sound basis for future improvement.

Read the Productivity Commission report on paid parental leave, the document that provided the underpinning for the government’s scheme.