The inaugural week of the new parliament reinforced the point that Bill Shorten plans to do everything possible to harass Malcolm Turnbull.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
As any good farmer will tell you, always shut the gate. On Thursday a number of government MPs, including several ministers, rushed away from parliament, leaving the gate wide open, and the opposition…
Malcolm Turnbull explicitly chose to assume the mantle of his predecessor Tony Abbott as ‘prime minister for Indigenous affairs’.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The rules of engagement for Australian forces fighting Islamic State will be widened, with a proposed change in the law giving them legal power to target all parts of the armed organisation.
Anthony Albanese has expressed concern about supporting the scrapping of the clean energy supplement for new welfare recipients.
Joel Carrett/AAP
Federal MPs reassemble in Canberra on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s opening of parliament, with the government talking up what the Coalition used to call a budget emergency and Labor keeping maximum pressure…
The government and Labor have offered up competing packages of budget savings. The question of whether they can meet halfway will be a test for both sides.
In many ways Bill Shorten is in a box seat as parliament begins, with Malcolm Turnbull beset by difficult issues and politics.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Bill Shorten has proposed specific changes to the budget’s controversial superannuation reforms, which have been under attack from the conservatives in the Coalition ranks.
Political reporter Karen Middleton is releasing a book about the life and career of Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese. At its heart is a deeply personal story of Albanese's absent father.
Bill Shorten will say in a speech that his package would save more than $80 billion over a decade.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Bill Shorten is continuing to pressure for a banking royal commission by highlighting rising bank profits and escalating consumer complaints in recent years.
Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to bring bank executives before a parliamentary committee at least annually has been seen as little more than token.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull’s resistance to a royal commission into banks is flouting public opinion and will test his own backbenchers, who have their fingers on the electoral pulse on this hot-button issue. An…
Tony Abbott has called for reform to the way the NSW branch of the Liberal Party preselects election candidates.
AAP/Lukas Coch
As the changing nature of political participation presents increasing challenges for parties, we are likely to see more experimentation with new forms of participation, not less.
Bill Shorten announces his frontbench with deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.
AAP/Andrew Taylor
Bill Shorten has made some very sound decisions in his far-reaching frontbench overhaul, but the exercise contained some shockers as well. Moving deputy leader Tanya Plibersek from shadow foreign minister…
Bill Shorten has expanded his shadow ministry to keep a place for Kim Carr.
AAP/David Crosling
Bill Shorten has found a way to keep Kim Carr in Labor’s shadow ministry by expanding his frontbench – to the fury of the left, which had withdrawn support for the Victorian senator.
Just as there were winners and losers in Malcolm Turnbull’s ministerial reshuffle at the beginning of the week, there will be frontbench promotions and demotions in the Labor Party in the coming days.
Labor’s ‘Mediscare’ campaign played to an existing belief about the Coalition’s health policies.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The problem confronting political parties is that the people in leadership positions are intellectually and emotionally ill-equipped to grasp the complex transformation in human affairs now under way.
Malcolm Turnbull speaks to the secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson.
Lukas Coch/AAP
There is much talk, after the close election and the substantial vote for the bit players, that the message voters are sending politicians is that they want them to work together for the national good…
Although Malcolm Turnbull has been returned to office, he faces considerable challenges.
David Moir/AAP
Labor and Bill Shorten are right to be pleased with the number of seats they picked up, but it was still not enough for them to form government – and that is the serious task ahead.
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University