After the tumult of the Rudd-Gillard years, Bill Shorten has steered his party back to traditional Labor policy ground and made it an unlikely serious contender in this election.
Natalie Mast speaks with 'Poll Bludger' William Bowe in the final week of the election campaign to break down how the major parties have faired and which seats could decide the election.
No matter who wins power, a large part of federal budget repair will fall on the states.
AAP/Mick Tsikas, Lukas Coch
The path back to surplus inevitably winds through state finances. And it’s a potholed road.
Both Labor and the Coalition should be looking to upscale small and medium enterprises to compete globally, if they are serious about innovation.
CSL Limited
Apart from the main game, watch for the drawcard contests on Saturday night. Among them will be the performance of the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), the battles in the Nationals’ seats of New England and Cowper…
Historically, the CFA was a voluntary organisation. But with increasing urbanisation, there are pressures to increase the number of career firefighters.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Malcolm Turnbull is using Victoria’s long-running enterprise bargaining dispute between the CFA and firefighters’ union to highlight the Liberals’ credentials to challenge union militancy.
Labor wants negative gearing allowed on new housing only.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The Henry Review argued changes to negative gearing would need to be offset by increasing housing supply, but this aspect is missing from the Labor proposal.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale will be hoping to snatch seats from the major parties in Saturday’s election.
AAP/Julian Smith
With this election likely to produce a high number of non-major-party primary votes, the Greens have emerged as a strong third option and a headache for both Labor and the Coalition.
Visiting universities while in high school helps to demystify higher education.
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Fron Jackson-Webb, The Conversation; Michael Courts, The Conversation e Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
Before Australians go to vote on Saturday, The Conversation’s editors have assembled a guide to 11 key policy areas that could swing the vote.
A lack of differences in major policy areas such as agriculture and trade means local project funding – for roads, boat ramps and the like – reinforces the adage ‘all politics is local’.
AAP/Alan Porritt
On the big national policies affecting non-metropolitan Australia, such as agriculture and trade, the major party differences are minor. That’s why the election focus turns to local projects.
The uncertainty in financial markets from Brexit throws a spanner in the works of the election campaign in its final week.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
A $2 billion welfare crackdown is the main contributor to new savings announced by the government to improve the budget by $1.1 billion across the forward estimates.
In announcing the costings the Coalition has sought the mantle of better economic managers.
AAP/Adrian Muscat
Bill Shorten has linked Brexit back to inequality and people being marginalised, in a counter to Malcolm Turnbull’s call for stability in the wake of the British vote.
Was the Liberal Party right about Medicare funding?
AAP/Peter Boyle
Has the Coalition invested an average of $5 billion per year more than Labor into Medicare?
With voters increasingly disillusioned with the two major parties, microparties such as those led by Jacqui Lambie and Nick Xenophon will play a bigger role.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
What’s ‘the ethnic vote’ going to do in the top-ten ethnic federal election marginal seats? What are the issues? And will specific groups vote as a bloc?