After a harrowing day in parliament, the Labor party saw a leadership spill and Prime Minister Gillard was returned as leader. The only thing was… no one contested the top spot and Julia Gillard’s name…
Julia Gillard emerges triumphant after challenging Kevin Rudd for the leadership in 2010. She has survived two subsequent threats to her leadership since. Is this the new normal for Australian politics?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Julia Gillard lives to fight another day, having being reelected unopposed at this afternoon’s caucus meeting. While Rudd declared he would not nominate for the leadership this time, the destablisation…
Simon Crean has called for a spill of all leadership positions.
AAP
Julia Gillard has called a ballot for the leadership at 4:30pm. Gillard announced the ballot at the start of question time. “In the meantime, give it your best shot,” she told the house. Veteran Labor…
Julia Gillard’s tour of the western suburbs of Sydney is a shining example of politics and media merging into “stunt”.
AAP/Paul Miller
We live in an era of expanded media and accelerated news cycles, in which citizens have access to more information, and more opportunities to participate in the public sphere, than ever before in human…
Terry Mills has been ousted as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory by Adam Giles.
AAP
It’s a fact up north that our governments habitually overthrow their Chief Ministers. By my estimation, five of the nine (now 10) Chief Ministers have been ousted by their party colleagues rather than…
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s media reforms have been called an attack on freedom of speech, but is the criticism deserved?
AAP/Lukas Coch
The ongoing criticism in the major news media of Communication Minister Stephen Conroy’s very soft and watery proposed media reforms is predictable but still breathtaking. Conroy’s proposals go nowhere…
Former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu’s resignation could trigger a constitutional crisis for the state government.
Julian Smith/AAP
Dustin Halse, Swinburne University of Technology and Ben Rankin, Swinburne University of Technology
The dramatic resignation of Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu may have surprised many but cannot be considered altogether unexpected. A year that began poorly for the now ex-Premier yesterday completely overwhelmed…
Adam Bandt celebrating his 2010 election success as the federal member for Melbourne.
Julian Smith/AAP
Douglas Hilton, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Adam Bandt is the first Australian Greens MP to win a seat in the House of Representatives at a federal election. And while the seat of Melbourne, which takes in the inner suburbs and CBD of the nation’s…
Adam Bandt is the first Australian Greens MP to win a seat in the House of Representatives at a federal election.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Douglas Hilton, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Doug Hilton: I’m the director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and I have with me today Adam Bandt, the Greens’ member for Melbourne. Why don’t you start by outlining your background…
Julia Gillard should make her diary of appointments and visits public according to the Information Commissioner.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been encouraged to be more open and accountable to the Australian public by releasing her official meeting diary. Although Gillard is not legally required to, Freedom of…
Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne called for an end to the ALP and Greens alliance during a National Press Club speech.
Alan Porritt/AAP
The termination of the ALP/Green alliance has been characterised by some sections of the media and the commentariat as a “divorce”. The language is interesting because it implies that there was genuine…
Happier times: prime minister Julia Gillard and former Greens leader Bob Brown’s agreement has largely been upheld.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Greens leader Christine Milne’s announcement yesterday that the alliance between the Greens and Labor was over had more symbolic than practical implications for Australian politics. Senator Milne vowed…
Julia Gillard’s early announcement of the election date has sparked a debate on fixed terms.
AAP/Julian Smith
When prime minister Julia Gillard announced last month the nation would go to the polls on September 14, she made political history and caught the nation off guard. She also sparked renewed debate about…
Julia Gillard has called a September election, will we be able to tell the difference between governing and campaigning?
AAP/Alan Porrit
Last week, prime minister Julia Gillard told the Australian public they’d be able to tell the difference between campaigning and governing during this election year. Over the following days, which saw…
Western Australians are heading to the polls twice this year.
Jay-Oh
If the thought of one election campaign is your worst nightmare, then pity the West Australians. When Julia Gillard announced a September federal election it meant two campaigns being run simultaneously…
Nicola Roxon, Julia Gillard and Chris Evans leave the stage after the press conference announcing the departure of the two former senior ministers.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Much of the commentary surrounding the resignations of Nicola Roxon and Chris Evans has interpreted the departures as yet another episode in the neverending disaster that is the Rudd-Gillard government…
Australia is one of the only countries in the democratic world that doesn’t require political parties to report electoral expenditure.
Flickr/Mindful One
The release of political donation data from 2011—2012 has predictably generated headlines about who paid what to which Australian political parties over the past year. In line with the Commonwealth Electoral…
Former Higher Education Minister Chris Evans announces his resignation in Canberra.
AAP/Alan Porrit
The Gillard government has lost two important figures that contributed much to the Labor administration. Chris Evans, leader of the party in the Senate, and Attorney General, Nicola Roxon, both announced…
Tony Abbott is trying to send a positive message. Will it work?
AAP/Alan Porritt
One of the largest political graveyards is that occupied by former opposition leaders such as Mark Latham who promise in their first interviews to come out fighting. They excite their party base but alienate…
Julia Gillard has taken a punt on a long campaign.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Julia Gillard is an Australian political pioneer in many ways. She was the first female prime minister, she led the first minority government in the post-war period and recently moved to appoint the first…