Matt John

“Laura tingle: "So it's not jut that we see Gillard as a backstabber who brought down an elected prime minister, it is that we see her as the very reason we have minority government. Gillard has become the embodiment of a crushing number of uncertainties and disappointed expectations, both about politics and Australia's future, which makes voters uncomfortable -and in some cases angry.”
― Laura Tingle, Quarterly Essay 46 Great Expectations: Government, Entitlement and an Angry Nation

“This is what you do now to give your day topography--scan the boxes, read the news, see the chain of your friends reporting about themselves, take the 140-character expository bursts and sift through for the information you need. It's a highly deceptive world, one that constantly asks you to comment but doesn't really care what you have to say. The illusion of participation can sometimes lead to participation. But more often than not, it only leads to more illusion, dressed in the guise of reality.”
― David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing

“The argument that mining already paid its fair share [of tax] was also wrong.... On the figures the [Minerals] council supplied, mining enjoyed the fourteenth-lowest effective company-tax rate out of nineteen sectors. It paid a lower rate than manufacturing and construction, the very sectors it was crowding out. p196”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal

“Before the news and polling cycles accelerated, leaders assumed that the electorate understood reform was a long game. Not anymore. The digital age has shrunk the public attention span and lured government into making each thing it says appear to be a big idea. p225”
― George Megalogenis, Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal