Bill Shorten, who seemed so impressive as a union leader and minister, is shaping up as the least inspiring opposition leader since Alexander Downer. In foreign affairs, Shorten’s fear of repeating Mark…
The first year of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership has been marred by too much tribalism.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Tony Abbott promised a government of no surprises but has delivered a year chock-full of them. A prime minister expected to lean to caution has thrown it to the winds. A leader without a cushion of popularity…
In the same week Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is to visit India, Indian PM Modi has visited Japan.
Toru Hanai/EPA/AAP
Despite recent slumps in economic growth (now at just over 5.4% compared to 10.3% in 2010), former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this year handed the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi a much more…
Today’s young Australians are the smiling symbols of the embrace of multicultural identity, the nation’s defining moment.
Flickr/DIBP Images, Faces of Australia
The culture wars that dominated the narrative during John Howard’s prime ministership have returned with the ascension of his self-described “political love child”, Tony Abbott. While Abbott is sometimes…
Former PM Paul Keating says the Liberal party has always opposed universal superannuation.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Paul Keating has launched a swingeing attack on the government’s deferral of 12% compulsory superannuation, accusing it of wilfully sabotaging Australia’s savings scheme out of prejudice. The former prime…
Tony Abbott’s visit to India will focus on the sale of uranium more so than a shared love of cricket.
AAP
Ashok Sharma, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott will visit India this week, his first trip to the country since Narendra Modi took office. On the agenda will be a range of issues important to India and Australia…
The Abbott government has appointed several people with business backgrounds, such as Tony Shepherd (left), to key inquiries in its first year in office.
AAP/Nikki Short
Since coming to office, the Abbott government has initiated a wide range of reviews into policy areas such as the national school curriculum and the Renewable Energy Target. Some commentators have argued…
Tony Abbott has the support of business leaders, but will it last?
Nikki Short/AAP
In his victory speech on election night last September, prime minister Tony Abbott declared Australia was “under new management and … once more open for business”. There were, of course, specific promises…
There is little doubt that Tony Abbott – the pugilist, rugby player and ironman – has sport in mind when he describes Australia as a team.
AAP/Julian Smith
Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott is uncommonly fond of sport metaphors, not least when addressing the domestic terror threat. His latest championing of “Team Australia” in trying to sell his government’s…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is a fan of big road projects.
Dan Peled/AAP
When Australian prime minister Tony Abbott came into office last year his aim was to be remembered as the “infrastructure prime minister”. In the Coalition’s September 2013 policy to “Deliver the Infrastructure…
When faced with an economic policy agenda, the public must be persuaded on two fronts: that it is justified both by evidence and morally.
AAP/Paul Miller
Maxine Montaigne, London School of Economics and Political Science
It is now more than three months since the Abbott government released its first budget. Amid the subsequent wrangling over controversial measures such as the A$7 GP co-payment and re-indexing the fuel…
Those around Tony Abbott will be heartened by aspects of the latest Newspoll and Essential. It’s a mixed picture and the bottom line is that Labor leads on a two-party basis in both. But the Coalition’s…
In his response to MH17, prime minister Tony Abbott acted according to some personal and cultural expectations of leadership.
AAP/Alan Porritt
It was the bloodshot eyes that conveyed to one journalist the strain and weariness weighing upon prime minister Tony Abbott as he dealt with the MH17 tragedy. Australians learned of the office naps between…
Many parties have a vested interest in shaping the way we remember the Great War ahead of its centenary, but some are more equal than others.
EPA/Thomas Bregardis
When prime minister Tony Abbott declared at Villers-Bretonneux that “no place on earth has been more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than these fields in France”, Australian attention focused again…
Polls out this week are showing Tony Abbott has got a lot of credit for his strong early response to the MH17 disaster. But he now faces the challenge of managing the expectations of what can be done…
Some unhappy state Liberals are pointing to an unpopular federal government and its budget as the source of their electoral woes.
AAP/Joe Castro
In today’s politics, few governments are ever safe. Even freshly minted administrations now age at an incredible speed. The most casual observer will know how much trouble the Abbott government finds itself…
Tony Abbott has been determined to meet the requirements as the leader of a country in mourning.
AAP/Alan Porritt
A week ago Tony Abbott caught the mood of the nation when he quickly adopted the toughest rhetoric in denouncing those responsible for downing MH17, with the loss of many Australian lives. A week later…
The government has manoeuvred itself into a position where its bluster has made it vulnerable to Clive Palmer’s bluster in the Senate.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Last week, television news presented grabs of former prime minister John Howard arriving in Canberra. It is unknown if Howard was there to share his wisdom with Coalition MPs on how to deal with minor…
Australia has led the international community in condemning the downing of flight MH17 and the handling of the victims’ bodies.
EPA/Robert Ghement
Following the shocking news of the destruction of flight MH17, foreign minister Julie Bishop wasted no time in boarding a plane for the United Nations in New York. Australian diplomats engaged in intense…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been dealt another blow in the polls.
AAP/ Britta Campion
The continuing bitter fight over the budget has seen Labor maintain a strong two-party lead and Tony Abbott regarded as trustworthy by only just over one third of voters, in the latest Nielsen poll in…