Ultra-conservatism has a rich and complex history within Australian parties, and Malcolm Turnbull has the difficult task of balancing the more extreme elements of his party with his own liberal views.
Senate elections can give parties other than Labor, Liberal and National a chance of winning a seat.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Those who do understand the Senate voting system have the potential to wield some influence both in its conduct and in debates about how it might be reformed.
Bill Shorten has decided to go big (and early) on policy, but will it pay off?
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Under new leader Barnaby Joyce, the Nationals – the most-successful minor party in Australia’s political history – will pretty much continue to be treated as the Akubra wing of the Liberals.
Labor has accused Stuart Robert of breaching ministerial guidelines by misusing public office.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The principle underlying the ministerial standards is that ministers should uphold the public’s trust as they wield a great deal of power deriving from their public office.
Philip Ruddock attracted the ire of human rights activists for his actions as a minister in the Howard government.
AAP/Dean Lewins
As Australia’s special envoy for human rights, Philip Ruddock will have the chance to change the world instead of listening to other people make suggestions about how it might be done.
Suffragette Vida Goldstein became the first Australian to meet an American president at the White House.
NLA
Alfred Deakin and his contemporaries invented the Australian prime ministership. But it was not settled as a platform for national leadership until John Curtin and Ben Chifley’s time.
Australian Republican Movement chairman Peter FitzSimons used Australia Day to renew calls for an Australian head of state.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The logic of the policy changes initiated by the Hawke government in mid-1990 has underpinned asylum-seeker policy for much of the quarter-century since.
Gareth Evans, foreign minister in the Hawke government, brought an ambitious vision for Australia’s international diplomacy to cabinet.
AAP
There is little of Gareth Evans’ sweeping analysis in the cabinet papers of 1990-91 of a rapidly changing world order or of his vision of good international citizenship.
In a new book, former prime minister Paul Keating makes it clear that, from a young age, he was interested in power and the gaining of it.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Kerry O'Brien has provided the platform for Paul Keating to define his political career, explain what drove his reform agenda and cement his position as one of Australia’s greatest leaders.
In many important areas of Australia’s system of government, much is determined by unwritten rules – or what we call ‘constitutional conventions’.
Archives New Zealand
Australia’s Constitution sets the ground rules for its system of government. But many things one might expect to be in the Constitution are simply not there.
German migration to South Australia provides a useful comparison point on how to comprehend and work with the Muslim community today.
State Library of South Australia
The story of German migration to South Australia can highlight the experience of diverse communities, and what can happen to them in a time of serious conflict.
Malcolm Turnbull’s potentially most dangerous opposition has begun to emerge from inside his own party.
AAP/Lukas Coch
If Anthony Albanese becomes Labor leader, Australians will have the strongest ideological and stylistic contrast in major party leaders since Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke 33 years before.
One of Tony Abbott’s first acts on coming to office was to remove Martin Parkinson (left) as Treasury secretary.
AAP/Saeed Khan
Debate, serious discussion and deliberation are valued highly in a democracy not just for their own sake, but because they are considered essential to testing the quality of ideas and arguments.