All entries by this author
Jan 13th, 2025 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: In Brief
GREG BARNS SC. HOBART, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE, PERTH, AUSTRALIA. MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2025. Not for the first time the political landscapes in Australia and Canada are worthy of comparison. This year both nations are holding elections and the opposition parties, the Conservatives in Canada and the Liberals in Australia, are led by right wing populists. The […]
Tags: 2025 elections in Australia and Canada, Anthony Albanese, Australian politics, Canadian politics, David Smith, Ginny Roth, John Howard, Justin Trudeau, Lidija Ivanovski, Peter Dutton, Pierre Poilievre, right-wing populism in Australia and Canada Posted in In Brief |
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May 11th, 2022 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: Countries of the World
SPECIAL FROM GREG BARNS. HOBART, AUSTRALIA, 11 MAY 2022. On May 21 Australians go to the polls in a general election. After what will be a dull contest, light on big ideas and competing visions, the choice will be between another term for the conservative Liberal National Party coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison […]
Tags: Anthony Albanese, Australian election 2022, Australian Labor Party (ALP), Fred Chaney, Liberal National Party coalition, Monique Ryan, Scott Morrison, Simon Holmes A’Court, teal independents, Zoe Daniel Posted in Countries of the World |
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Jul 15th, 2020 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: Key Current Issues
SPECIAL FROM GREG BARNS. HOBART, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, 14 JULY 2020. The 11th of November 1975 is a date etched into the collective mind of the Australian body politic. It was the day that the Queen’s representative, Governor General John Kerr, dismissed the elected Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and commissioned Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser to […]
Tags: Australian republic, Canadian republic, Eugene Forsey, Gough Whitlam, Jenny Hocking, John Kerr, Malcolm Fraser, Martin Charteris, Palace Letters, Pierre Trudeau and Gough Whitlam Posted in Key Current Issues |
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Aug 24th, 2018 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: Countries of the World
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. REPORT FROM GREG BARNS. Australians used to laugh at Latin American nations like Argentina and Ecuador, which in recent decades turned over their leaders with astonishing regularity. But now the boot is well and truly on the other foot. Today saw the demise of Australia’s fifth Prime Minister in 11 years. The Liberal […]
Tags: Australian Labor Party and Republic issue, Canadian and Australian conservatives, Malcolm Turnbull deposed, right-wing insurgency in Australian Liberal party Posted in Countries of the World |
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Sep 24th, 2016 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: Countries of the World
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. REPORT FROM GREG BARNS AND ANNA TALBOT. This past Tuesday Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, stood in front of world leaders and claimed his government’s refugee policy was the best in the world. But many people in Australia will tell you that Mr Turnbull’s boasting was misplaced. Australia’s policy is based on deterrence, […]
Tags: Anna Talbot, Asylum seekers, Manus Island, Nauru Files, Peter Young, refugee policy in Australia Posted in Countries of the World |
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Sep 15th, 2015 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: In Brief
REPORT FROMÂ GREG BARNS IN AUSTRALIA. Stephen Harper might feel a little lonelier today. Â With the election of Malcolm Turnbull as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister – Â after a late night Liberal Party room vote on Monday (September 14, 2015) – Mr Harper loses an ideological soul mate in Tony Abbott, the man Mr Turnbull replaces. From […]
Tags: Australian politics, Canadian election 2015, Prime Ministetr Malcolm Turnbull Australia, Tony Abbott voted out by caucus Posted in In Brief |
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Apr 30th, 2013 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: In Brief
From Greg Barns, National Campaign Director for the Wikileaks Party’s 2013 Australian federal election campaign: Tom Flanagan, Stephen Harper’s old ideological chum, once said of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that he wouldn’t mind if Mr Assange were assassinated. “I think Obama should put out a contract or use a drone or something. I wouldn’t feel […]
Tags: Australia Wikileaks Party, Greg Barns and Wikileaks Party, Julian Assange runs for Australian Senate, Tom Flanagan and Julian Assange Posted in In Brief |
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Oct 20th, 2010 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: In Brief
It’s no secret that Stephen Harper likes to swap notes, and speeches, with his Australian counterparts in the conservative Liberal Party. Mr. Harper once shamelessly plagiarized a speech about the war in Iraq from the man he fairly swooned over, former Australia Prime Minister John Howard. It seems that Mr. Harper and/or his advisers have […]
Tags: Canadian and Australian politics, Canadian politics, Immigration policy Canada and Australia, Stephen Harper and Australian Liberals Posted in In Brief |
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Sep 7th, 2010 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: In Brief
Unlike their Canadian counterparts, Australian voters are not enamoured of minority governments at the federal level. Until 17 days ago that is. That’s when the Labor Party Prime Minister and the Liberal Party Opposition Leader both claimed they should form the next government because both ended up with 73 seats in the 150-seat national parliament. […]
Tags: Canada and Australian election, Minority government in Canada and Australia, Stephen Harper and Julia Gillard Posted in In Brief |
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Dec 2nd, 2008 |
By Greg Barns |
Category: Countries of the World
Prime Minister Stephen Harper likes to think of himself as a northern hemisphere variant of former Australian prime minister, John Howard. Harper plays his politics tough, loves nothing better than burying his opponents, and has adopted from Howard the habit of dividing Canadian society into those who are ordinary’ or mainstream’ and those who are […]
Posted in Countries of the World |
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