Federal election 2013

Analysis and Comment (30)

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If Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott continue to lead their parties at the upcoming federal election, we should see a focus on policy, not personality politics. AAP/Alan Porritt

Rudd, Gillard or Abbott … do leaders really matter in Australian election campaigns?

By Haydon Manning, Flinders University

Leadership speculation grips Canberra again. With opinion polls pointing to a landslide Coalition victory in September, there are reports that Labor MPs may look to oust prime minister Julia Gillard in…
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Your MP may accept climate change is a problem, but is he or she doing enough to fix it? AAP Image/Alan Porritt

Your MP won’t act on climate change? Ask the tough questions

By Brad Farrant, University of Western Australia and Mark G Edwards, University of Western Australia

Politicians are in the unique position of being able to enact climate policies that can prevent or minimise great harm to millions, if not billions, of people. They have an ethical responsibility to understand…
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Australians will vote on constitutional recognition for local government in September – but what are the reasons behind the referendum? AAP/Sophie Marr

Explainer: why are we having a referendum on local government?

By Shipra Chordia

The federal government has announced that Australians will be voting in a referendum on September 14 – federal election day – to decide whether local government should be recognised in the Australian Constitution…
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Both sides of politics need to take the carbon tax fight to the election. Flickr/Leonard John Matthews

Why Labor should fight the 2013 election on climate change

By Matt McDonald

If climate change features prominently in the federal election campaign, it will almost certainly be driven by the Coalition. Under Tony Abbott, the Coalition has long smelled blood in the water on climate…
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Despite a promised repeal of the carbon tax, the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan may miss the opportunity to drive energy innovation. AAP Image

Climate action under an Abbott government

By Stephen McGrail, Swinburne University of Technology

It looks likely that the next Federal Government will be a Tony Abbott-led Coalition Government. Mr Abbott promises, if elected, to repeal the carbon tax. Labor may block that repeal, but if they do Tony…
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Opposition leader Tony Abbott is under pressure to drop his signature paid parental leave scheme ahead of this year’s federal election. AAP/Dave Hunt

Are feminists opposing Abbott’s paid parental leave scheme on personality grounds only?

By Eva Cox, University of Technology, Sydney

There is an odd consensus emerging between conservative Liberals opposed to their own leader’s paid parental leave scheme and defenders of the Gillard government’s version of the same policy. Into the…
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The remaining A$3.5 billion needed to fully fund the NDIS will still need to be found from other sources. Image from shutterstock.com

Coalition support for levy just a step along the road to an NDIS

By Hal Swerissen, La Trobe University

The announcement that opposition leader Tony Abbott will support a 0.5% increase to the Medicare Levy to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) takes the politics out of about half the additional…
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Certainty of funding is important and that’s why an income tax levy or premium is the way to go. Image from shutterstock.com

Increasing income tax the right choice for a sustainable NDIS

By Elizabeth Manning, Deakin University

While an income tax increase may be hard to sell to some people in the community in the lead-up to a federal election, it’s the right choice for a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS…
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Labor has traditionally had a strong support among female voters, but this could be set to change in 2013. AAP/Lukas Coch

Male and female voters: will there be a ‘gender gap’ in 2013?

By Haydon Manning, Flinders University

A “gender dimension” now envelopes national politics unlike anything we have observed in the past. Julia Gillard’s popular but arguably unfair accusation that opposition leader Tony Abbott is a misogynist…
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Believing climate change isn’t happening won’t make it go away. Image from www.shutterstock.com

Your MP doesn’t ‘believe’ in climate change? Ask the tough questions

By Brad Farrant, University of Western Australia; Fiona Armstrong, La Trobe University; Karen Kiang, University of Melbourne, and Mark G Edwards, University of Western Australia

As we head into an election, you’d be justified in asking what your local member is basing their climate change decisions on. If your MP says “I don’t support policies to prevent dangerous climate change…
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Who has the voter’s eocnomic interests at heart plays the biggest role in determining voter allegiance. AAP/Theron Kirkman

Finding a compass on why voters vote the way they do

By Haydon Manning, Flinders University

Graham Richardson, the legendary Labor numbers man, pronounced last week that “if I was religious, I would pray that my long-held view that Labor will be slaughtered under Gillard’s leadership would be…
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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s may want an election now, but claiming that is for ‘democracy’ reasons is misleading. AAP/Lukas Coch

Political expediency, not democracy, behind Abbott’s election calls

By John Zerilli

Calls for general elections are often made by political parties when things are going well for them. That’s no secret. True to form, opposition leader Tony Abbott has made several appeals to prime minister…
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The political show must go on but Labor is running out of time and options if it is to have any hope of avoiding a devastating defeat in this year’s election. AAP/Matt Roberts

‘Moving forward’: where does Labor go now?

By Carol Johnson

Labor starts this week still reeling from the “no show” leadership spill and its aftermath. Labor’s electorally disastrous polls are likely to get even worse following those events. Are there any ways…
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Often at the centre of electoral debate, what role do marginal seats have to play in this year’s election? AAP/Stefan Postles

From Western Sydney to Western Australia, how marginal is marginal?

By Jennifer Rayner

In an election year, perhaps the only thing more inevitable than the major parties’ verbal jousting is the media’s obsession with marginal seats – that handful of bellwether electorates that can supposedly…
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Has Julia Gillard’s tour of western Sydney been the vote winner she hoped? The answer is yet to come. Paul Miller/AAP

Julia Gillard’s western Sydney road show: the good, the bad and the ugly

By James Arvanitakis, University of Western Sydney

The announcement that Prime Minister Julia Gillard would spend a week in the western suburbs of Sydney was greeted with mild amusement by some, and became the base of jokes about “beige rooms” for others…
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Gillard should stop focusing on unions, and start explaining how to pay for progressive policy. AAP/Dave Hunt

Julia Gillard could win the election … by raising taxes

By Dennis Altman, La Trobe University

It is ironic that just as our politics become increasingly presidential, so too do the two contending party leaders become increasingly unpopular. Indeed, both parties increasingly campaign as if the choice…
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The Coalition’s proposed alternative to “the great big new tax” relies on storing carbon in trees and soil. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Will the Opposition’s Direct Action Plan work?

By Tim Lubcke, Monash University

The Coalition has promised that if it takes government in September, it will get rid of the price on carbon emissions established by the Australian Labor Party. In its place, the party will implement a…
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Until the Opposition releases its health policy, it’s impossible to know what will happen to the health reform agenda. Alejandro Polanco

Election places national health reform at a crossroads

By Jane Hall, University of Technology, Sydney

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the federal election will be held in mid-September. So, what will happen to the ambitious program of health reform that the Labor government is in the process…
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Key health policy issues that need to be addressed include co-payments, private health insurance and resource allocation. AAP/Alan Porritt

Clear thinking needed on election health priorities

By Ian McAuley, University of Canberra

There was a time when health policy involved intense ideological conflict along partisan lines. In the 1940s, the Chifley government fought all the way to a constitutional referendum to introduce subsidies…
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Julia Gillard has called a September election, will we be able to tell the difference between governing and campaigning? AAP/Alan Porrit

Governing in a campaign year: what next for policy in 2013?

By Nicholas Barry, La Trobe University

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…
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Now is the time to talk seriously about environment issues, but how likely is it to happen? AAP Image/Penny Bradfield

The environment issues we should be hearing about at this election

By Ian Lowe, Griffith University

The forthcoming Australian election will be a critical one for the environment. The most urgent issue is climate change. We are already seeing the social, economic and environmental impacts of about one…
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The prime minister has given the electorate seven and half months to tell her what they want. AAP/Alan Porrit

Community has seven months to put inequality back on the agenda

By Eva Cox, University of Technology, Sydney

We have 226 days until the election, and are hearing lots of pious statements about having time for some serious policy debate. But we should use this time to move the policy debates well beyond what…
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Tony Abbott at a press conference after the prime minister announced the election will be held on September 14. AAP/Alan Porritt

Coalition commitment to medical research funding is welcome

By Brendan Crabb, Burnet Institute

It was a big day in political circles yesterday, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard announcing an election date and launching her priorities for the nation. Among the hubbub that followed, an important…
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Direct enrolment could mean a longer queue at the ballot box. AAP/Dave Hunt

How will electoral reform shape the September election?

By Rob Hoffman, Swinburne University of Technology

Following the prime minister’s surprise announcement of a federal election for September 14, attention will inevitably fall on the role Labor’s key electoral reforms may play in the coming contest. Alongside…
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Now that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the date of the federal election, can the business community expect more certainty about policy directions? AAP

PM’s election call is hardly a boon for the business community

By Sinclair Davidson, RMIT University

Julia Gillard has now confirmed what everyone already knew: there will be an election sometime in August or September this year. We now know the precise date: September 14. That is also the Jewish Day…
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Julia Gillard has taken a punt on a long campaign. AAP/Alan Porritt

Election 2013: Julia Gillard’s September gamble

By Zareh Ghazarian, Monash University

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…
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Prime Minister Julia Gillard says calling the election now will enable a focus on policies rather then “petty politics”. AAP/Alan Porritt

PM surprises with September election announcement

By Charis Palmer, The Conversation

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the date of the 2013 election, with Australia to go to the ballot box on September 14. Ms Gillard today told the National Press Club the move would give certainty…

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