The recent elections in Tasmania, South Australia and the byelection in Batman have left an impression that the advance of the minor parties has stalled. This is not necessarily the case.
Peter Dutton’s sympathy for white South Africans has long historical roots.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Peter Dutton’s call for ‘civilised nations’ to rescue white South African farmers draws explicitly on a long history of equating civilisation with a global white identity.
Bill Shorten is the longest-serving Labor leader since Kim Beazley in his first stint in office.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The appointment of ministerial advisers is based on a party-political network of patronage, where the primary consideration is loyalty to the political party – not merit.
Prime Minister Bob Hawke celebrates the final cabinet meeting in Old Parliament House, 1988.
National Archives of Australia
A new ABC documentary presents a nostalgic but compelling overview of one of Australia’s most successful prime ministers.
A reversion to imperial imbalance in the British-Australian relationship began with the Whitlam government’s election and ended with its dismissal.
AAP/NAA
The continued embargo on documents relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government point to the lingering imperial power that comes from an incomplete severance of colonial ties.
The Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast will set the scene for a year of challenges for this grouping of nations.
AAP
A new survey asking Australians to rank the most significant events in their lifetimes show that same-sex marriage, September 11 and the apology to the Stolen Generations matter most.
Australia’s Constitution vests executive power in the Queen and says that that power is exercised ‘on her behalf’ by the governor-general.
AAP/Alan Porritt
After 1993, Paul Keating became ever-more dominant in cabinet policy discussions to ensure a legacy for the Labor government.
Queen Elizabeth signs the visitors’ book at Parliament House, while Prime Minister Paul Keating and Parliament House officials look on in February 1992.
National Archives of Australia
Hangga Fathana, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) Yogyakarta
It was Paul Keating himself who first raised the idea of a security agreement between Indonesia and Australia in June 1994 to Indonesian President Soeharto.
It is ten years since the 2007 election that swept Kevin Rudd into office. But if Kim Beazley had become PM instead, we might have avoided the constant instability and dysfunction we see today.
Blaxland MP Jason Clare voted ‘yes’ to same-sex marriage in a strong ‘no’ electorate.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Some people may think it’s the duty of their MP to vote in the way they do. But political theory shows this doesn’t work.
A client whose hair she had been cutting for 20 years came in as usual, and then, without any prompting or preamble, launched into a tirade against Muslims.
Shutterstock