Ari on the web

If a week is a long time in football, then ten years is an epoch when it comes to politics. As John Howard creeps up (and creep being the operative word) on his tenth anniversary as Prime Minister, it's worth thinking about the ministers who have served under him. Sure, there are the old faithful ones, like Downer, Ruddock, Vanstone and the Eternal Bridesmaid Costello. But what about the less significant ones? The ministers who, for reasons of laziness, incompetence or the circumstances of the time, had no impact in the job, or worse. So to remember those lesser-lights of Howard ministries over the years, here's my top 10 list - in order of chronology - of the worst ministers in the Howard years (thanks to Malcolm at AustralianPolitics and the Parliamentary Library for the trip down memory lane): 1. Senator Jim Short (1996-1996), Assistant Treasurer. Costello's first Assistant Treasurer, and one who got caught up in the application of Howard's Ministerial Code o...

As the world turns to Africa as part of Bono's "Live Aid" warm-inner-glow-sing-a-song-or-a-dark-kiddie-dies-of-AIDS extravaganza, it's worth looking at a part of Africa that has taken giant strides backwards in the past couple of years. I speak of Zimbabwe, a country that at one time not so long ago seemed to have effectively removed the yoke of colonialism and was headed to a bright, and presumably yoke-free future. Nowadays, though, it's governed by a racist thug who seems to have a deep disdain for everyone but himself. Robert Mugabe is a deeply troubling figure. For a few years now, he was nasty, but predictably nasty. The world knew of his hatred for colonialism, and his country's white population served as an effective proxy for the big C. Policies such as his land redistribution policy, whilst incredibly destructive to both the rule of law and economy, made sense when seen through the prism of reflexive anti-white racism. In more recent times, his...

The fact that Ando's days as National Party leader were nearing their end was perhaps one of the worst kept secrets in Canberra, but it was still a bit of a shock when it all become official : After carefully weighing the interests of my party, my family, and my health, I have decided that the time has arrived for me to step down as Leader of the Nationals, and return to the backbench after the winter break. So after nearly six years as National's leaders and Deputy PM, what will his legacy be? For starters, Anderson will be remembered as a nice bloke, who brought some level of civility and decency to political exchanges. He had the permanent look of a young dad, constantly trying to do the honourable and decent thing with all of his kids watching. Anderson never seemed entirely comfortable with the adversarial nature of party politics. Watching Anderson in Question Time, it's hard not to sense that he doesn't quite feel like he belongs - whilst Costello, Abbott, Ne...

Beazley has finally got around to reshuffling his frontbench, including liberating Laurie Ferguson from the burden of the Shadow Ministry. In a doorstop interview on Tuesday , there was this exchange: JOURNALIST: Will you be giving any thought to improving that front bench line-up over the six week break? BEAZLEY: There are always things you can do to improve a situation, but I've made comments on this in the past and I'll just simply refer you to them. To anyone schooled in the basics of spin, this is a sure sign that a reshuffle is on the cards - as indeed it was. Strangely, though,this is how Stephanie Kennedy reported it on PM that night: STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Mr Beazley insists Mr Ferguson retains his full confidence, and the Labor leader has said he'll maintain this frontbench up until the 2007 election. Huh? Where did that come from? Beazley made no such assertion, and his actions today show that this was clearly not the sentiment coming from Beazley's office ea...

Last week I rather flippantly described my personal ideology like this: Though I started off as a lefty a few years back, since leaving the near-extinct Democrats in 2003 I've been sitting firmly on the left-right fence, with the pickets occasionally doing damage to my sensitive regions. On economic and foreign policy, I'm on the right with the free marketeers and the less nutty neo-cons. On social policy, I'm lining up with the vegetarian gay whales in defending their right to euthenise their IVF babies in privacy. After bringing up this Big Question, the comments section quickly led to a discussion of the Political Compass , a useful online tool which uses a series of simple moral, social and economic questions to determine one's political ideology - both on an economic scale from left to right, and a social scale ranging from authoritarian to libertarian. So here, for the first time since I last did it, is my result: Economic Left/Right: 4.00 Social Libertarian/Auth...

On Thursday night, my aunt Deb and uncle Peter gave birth (well, she did at least) to two beautiful baby girls, who are - as those of you with a modest understanding of familial relations will attest - my cousins. Seeing these two newborns living and breathing on their own was a magical experience. Whilst not one to get sentimental about babies, it was hard not to become gooey and emotional at the site of these two tiny creatures. Their facial features are so incredibly finely crafted, with distinctive curves, dainty eyes, and a scalp that is so thin and delicate that the veins can be seen running across the top. They might be just three days old, but already they've completed one incredible journey. So here are B1 and B2 Ernest (first names pending): Click here for more photos of these two. UPDATE, 21/6 1:24am: We now have names for these two bundles o' joy. Twin one (top photo) is Netani Amana Ernest, and twin two (bottom photo) is Sasha Alessandra Ernest. Not likely to...

I'm a Petro fan. For a long time I've admired Petro Georgiou as a diligent intellect, someone who was rational in his world view, but was never afraid to show compassion or a respect for the social fabric that turns Australia from a functional economy to a functional society. Georgiou has a strong understanding not just of pragmatic politics (where his credentials were unquestionably demonstrated in masterminding Kennett's 1992 "Guilty Party" campaign) but also of principle and the need to stand by a set of values regardless of whether they accorded perfectly with party policy. Georgiou has paid a significant price for his principled approach to politics. When the coalition came to office, Georgiou was a rising star and was expected to play a senior role in government. However, he and Howard come from fundamentally different perspectives in their support for the Liberal cause. Georgiou is a liberal in the classic sense - one who believes in the autonomy of t...