His smile was like sunshine, but Nelson Mandela was made of steel. It was his strength of character, repeatedly tested throughout his long and impossibly full life, that made him one of the towering political figures of our time.

No secret, compelling need for inquiry

The Abbott Family

Australia's debt ceiling will be scrapped altogether after the Greens struck a deal with the Coalition Government to break the impasse over increasing the debt limit.

I believe one of the books that George Brandis has in his collection of tomes bought at the government expense is 1984... He and the rest of the Abbott government are of course on the wrong side of Orwell's concepts.

from Crikey ….

the war on whistleblowers – it’s come to Australia …..

Everything the mainstream media thought they knew about the Thomson case has been thrown on its head by Day Two of the trial. Will it last until Day Four? Peter Wicks reports.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has moved to increase pressure on the Labor Party over axing the carbon pricing scheme, saying it would be the "best possible Christmas present" for Australians.

Tony Abbott has denied breaking an election promise over education funding and the Gonski reforms, insisting he never vowed to maintain the same money for each school.

Some of Tony Abbott's most controversial speeches have been airbrushed from Coalition history since the election, including a 2009 speech in which he backed a carbon tax, and a 2004 speech in which he described abortion as ''a question of the mother's convenience''.

Discovering the Power of People’s History – and Why it is Feared Today