6 June 1991
It was a bad day for the Australian Capital Territory’s Chief Minister Trevor Kaine. The Liberal Chief Minister had come to power on the back of a no-confidence motion against Labor’s Rosemary Follet, but was now facing the same himself. His government had been formed in 1989 as an...
11 May 1991
Newspoll data is released the same night as the by-election for the seat of Menzies in Victoria. Labor decided not to field a candidate in the seat that had been vacated by former Deputy Liberal Leader Neil Brown. Kevin Andrews, the Liberal candidate, faced a strong challenge from...
8 February 1991
It wasn’t just the Victorian Liberals that were in crisis. In Tasmania, former Premier Robin Gray was beleaguered. His Deputy Ray Groom had resigned earlier that morning, citing an irreconcilable difference of opinions with Gray. Having lost the 1989 election to an alliance of...
19 January 1991
Treasurer John Hewson and Transport Minister John Sharp announced to the awaiting press gallery that buyers had been found for the country’s two state-owned airlines. QANTAS, the airline operating international services was to be sold to a joint-bid of American airline Delta Air...
7 January 1991
Andrew Peacock stepped off his plane in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh. He was on a public relations mission, to look like the stately, wartime leader that Australia needed. He was arriving ahead of the first deployment of Australian troops to the Gulf, responding to...
20 November 1990
Newspoll numbers brought just a little good news for Andrew Peacock. The Coalition had gained some ground back from Labor two-party preferred, at 53-47. Peacock’s approval ratings had a significant shift, from -46 to -32, while Keating’s had slipped from -4 to -10. Peacock took...
26 October 1990
Asked by Nine’s Laurie Oakes if there was any division in the government over the failed budget measures proposed by Treasurer John Hewson, Deputy Prime Minister Charles Blunt denied that there was. “We are committed and united behind the Prime Minister and the agenda that he...
24 October 1990
Victorian Premier Steve Crabb faced a problem he hadn’t seen coming. Or not quite yet anyway. The opposition benches were rife with speculation and the media was full of gossip: Jeff Kennett was plotting his comeback. It hadn’t been a long time since Kennett himself had been...
8 October 1990
It was The Australian’s Dennis Shanahan who was sent the memo Janine Haines had written to the Democrat’s national secretary, declaring her intention to sit as an independent. “Holy shit,” he said. There was no chance for him to run this scope in the day’s news. He just had to...
7 October 1990
This was it for Janine Haines. She had negotiated an agreement with the government to pass most of their budget measures Treasurer John Hewson had put forward in his budget. But now, she had to get her party room of 8 Senators had to sign off to support the packages through...
Austria-Hungary is a Central Power ally. Why is Germany annexing all that territory? If the Centrals win, then Austria-Hungary survives surely? It may have to federalise, mind you but that's a different issue all together.