Ralph Willis Letter
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Ralph Willis Letter
The Ralph Willis letter was forged correspondence released by Australian Labor Party's Treasurer Ralph Willis in May 1996, in the last week of the 1996 Australian federal election. It has been blamed for the crushing defeat of Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating and the ascendancy of the Liberals' John Howard. Labor stayed out of power federally until 2007. Incident In the last week of campaigning, the news was dominated by the "Ralph Willis letter". Willis released two letters purporting to be secret correspondence between Liberal Opposition Leader John Howard and Liberal Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett. It dealt with the impact of the Coalition's funding plans for the states. Howard quickly denounced the letter as a forgery, and claims of Labor skullduggery dominated the close of the campaign, drowning out anything Prime Minister Paul Keating said. Willis acted unilaterally in releasing the correspondence. He suggested that the letters revealed that the Liberal-National Coaliti ...
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Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Politics of Australia, Australian politics, along with the Centre-right politics, centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 Australian federal election, 2022 federal election, and with List of state and territory branches of the Australian Labor Party, political branches active in all the States and territories of Australia, Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria (state), Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2025, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuously operating political party ...
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Anne Davies (Australian Journalist)
Anne Davies is a former Washington correspondent for Australian newspapers ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and investigative journalist with ''The Guardian''. Early life She is an alumna of SCEGGS Darlinghurst, an inner-city school for girls in Sydney, Australia. Career Davies has previously been the state political editor and urban affairs editor for ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and also spent 10 years covering U.S. federal politics. She wrote an opinion column, "National Times," for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In 2002, she won a Gold Walkley, an investigative journalism award, with Kate McClymont for coverage of a rugby league salary cap scandal associated with the Canterbury Bulldogs. She is a member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its Musicians section consis ...
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Document Forgeries
A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": the verb ' denotes "to teach". In the past, the word was usually used to denote written proof useful as evidence of a truth or fact. In the Computer Age, "document" usually denotes a primarily textual computer file, including its structure and format, e.g. fonts, colors, and images. Contemporarily, "document" is not defined by its transmission medium, e.g., paper, given the existence of electronic documents. "Documentation" is distinct because it has more denotations than "document". Documents are also distinguished from " realia", which are three-dimensional objects that would otherwise satisfy the definition of "document" because they memorialize or represent thought; documents are considered more as two-dimensional representations. While ...
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Zinoviev Letter
The Zinoviev letter was a forged document published and sensationalised by the British ''Daily Mail'' newspaper four days before the 1924 United Kingdom general election, which was held on 29 October. The letter purported to be a directive from Grigory Zinoviev, the head of the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), ordering it to engage in seditious activities. It stated that the normalisation of British–Soviet relations under a Labour Party government would radicalise the British working class and put the CPGB in a favourable position to pursue a Bolshevik-style revolution. It further suggested that these effects would extend throughout the British Empire. The right-wing press depicted the letter as a grave foreign subversion of British politics and blamed the incumbent Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald for promoting the policy of political reconciliation and open trade with the Soviet Union on which the scheme ...
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October Surprise
In the politics of the United States, an October surprise is a news event that may influence the outcome of an upcoming November election (particularly one for the presidency), whether deliberately planned or spontaneously occurring. Because the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections) is in early November, events that take place in October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters and allow less time to take remedial action; thus, relatively last-minute news stories could either change the course of an election or reinforce the inevitable. The term "October surprise" was coined by William Casey when he served as campaign manager of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign; however, there were October election-upending events that predated the coining of the term. Prior to 1980 19th century In mid-October 1840, shortly before the 1840 presidential election, federal prosecutors announced plans to charge top Whi ...
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The Saturday Paper
''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since its launch ''The Saturday Paper'' has maintained a focus on long-form journalism and in-depth coverage of current affairs, arts and Australian politics. Publication ''The Saturday Paper'' is published by Morry Schwartz via Schwartz Media, which also publishes books via Black Inc, the magazine ''The Monthly'' and the '' Quarterly Essay''. Upon its launch, Schwartz stated he expected ''The Saturday Paper'' to be profitable within several years, and the paper should sell "between 60,000 and 80,000 copies a week". Another early projection put that figure at 80,000 to 100,000 copies a week. Ultimately, circulation grew to 900,000 by December 2021. Editors Author Erik Jensen was the paper's editor from its founding until June 2018, when Vice ...
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Statutory Declaration
A statutory declaration is a legal document defined under the law of certain Commonwealth nations and in the United States. It is similar to a statement made under oath, but it is not sworn. Statutory declarations are commonly used to allow a person to declare something to be true for the purposes of satisfying some legal requirement or regulation when no other evidence is available. They are thus similar to affidavits, which, however, are made on oath. Depending on jurisdiction, statutory declarations can be used for: *Declarations of identity, nationality, marital status, etc. when documentary evidence is unavailable. *Declaring the intention to change one's name. *Affirming the provenance and nature of goods for export or import. *Statements of originality for patent applications. Australia Australian law defines a statutory declaration as a written statement declared to be true in the presence of an authorised witness. The ''Statutory Declarations Act 1959'' governs the ...
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ABC News (Australia)
ABC News, also known as ABC News and Current Affairs, is a public news service produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The service covers both local and world affairs, broadcasting both nationally as ABC News, and across the Asia-Pacific under the ''ABC Australia'' title. The division of the organisation ABC News, Analysis and Investigations is responsible for all news-gathering and coverage across the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's various television, radio, and online platforms. Some of the services included under the auspices of the division are its 24-hour news channel ABC News Australia TV Channel (formerly ABC News 24), the long-running radio news programs, '' AM'', '' The World Today'', and '' PM''; ABC NewsRadio, a 24-hour continuous news radio channel; and radio news bulletins and programs on ABC Local Radio, ABC Radio National, ABC Classic FM, and Triple J. ABC News Online has an extensive online presence which includes many written news ...
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Scott Ryan (Australian Politician)
Scott Michael Ryan (born 12 May 1973) is an Australian politician and diplomat who was the 26th high commissioner of Australia to Canada. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Ryan served as Senator for Victoria from 2008 to 2021 and as president of the Australian Senate from 2017 to 2021, having previously been a minister in the Turnbull government from 2016 to 2017. Early life Ryan was born on 12 May 1973, in Brisbane, Queensland. He grew up in , Victoria. He was educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne, and graduated from the University of Melbourne, with a Bachelor of Arts. While at university, he served as president of the Melbourne University Liberal Club and was a member of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation, of which he is a life member. Ryan was a tutor in political science at the University of Melbourne from 1998 to 1999. He then worked as a speechwriter and staffer in the office of the Victorian opposition leader Denis Napthine. From 2002 to 2007 ...
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Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia, federal constitution as well as federal legislation and Constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention. There are a total of 76 senators: twelve are elected from each of the six states and territories of Australia, Australian states, regardless of population, and two each representing the Australian Capital Territory (including the Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island) and the Northern Territory (including the Australian Indian Ocean Territories). Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation in state-wide and territory-wide districts. Section 24 of the Constitution of Australia, Section 24 of the Constitution provi ...
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Lawyer X
Nicola Maree Gobbo, sometimes known as Nikki Gobbo, (born 16 November 1972) is an Australian former criminal defence barrister and police informant. Drug charge at law school In 1993, while she was a law student, police raided a house owned by Gobbo and found amphetamines, marijuana, and weapons. Gobbo, her boyfriend, the drug dealer Brian Wilson, and another man were charged with drug possession and pleaded guilty. Gobbo was given a good behaviour bond. Two years later, another raid turned up more amphetamines. Gobbo was concerned that another drug conviction would destroy her law career. No charges were laid, and soon afterwards, she was registered as police informer G395 although she claimed to be unaware of the fact until finding it out through the media. 1996 election scandal Gobbo first came to public attention during the 1996 Australian federal election. In the last week of the campaign, Labor Treasurer Ralph Willis used letters purportedly from Jeff Kennett criticisi ...
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