Just over two months ago Tony Abbott led the Coalition to victory and became Australia’s 28th prime minister. When the new parliament begins today, his side will sit on the government benches for the first…
There is no better example of the debasement of Australian political discourse and process than that which has surrounded action on climate change.
AAP/Alan Porritt
We live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, in which the major influences have been secularism, materialism, utilitarianism, urbanisation, remoteness from nature, institutional failure (especially in…
The business community may try to get as much out of Tony Abbott as possible, but do they recognise the clear differences between a CEO and a prime minister?
AAP/Bianca De Marchi
The recent demands of business leaders for prime minister Tony Abbott to immediately reform the industrial relations system, rather than wait three years, should serve as yet another reminder of why corporate…
What do we know so far of the policy positions of new opposition leader Bill Shorten?
AAP/Lukas Coch
In his pitch to Labor’s rank and file for the right to lead the federal parliamentary party, Bill Shorten declared that his aim - should he become prime minister - would be to serve on behalf of: … the…
All about me: but how does the level of personality in Australian politics stack up globally?
AAP/Lukas Coch
Up until Sunday’s debate, we heard grumbles that this election is too personality-focused. The beef was that the last few months in political news had been consumed by conflict and drama. “MPs” are “Media…
The last few years in Australian politics have seen the rise of a new definition of ‘lying’.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Lie (v.) (1) To make a politically unpopular statement; (2) [retrospectively applied] To make a statement which appears inconsistent with a more recent statement, indicating that its maker has changed…
Prime minister Kevin Rudd has already expressed his disgust at ICAC’s findings, but will its stench affect the upcoming federal campaign?
AAP/Dean Lewins
“ICAC, SHMY-CAC. My name is Kevin, I’m from Queensland and I’m here to help.” I know it’s not quite what the prime minister would say: I have taken a little licence with his words from 2007. But I think…
Caricatures of today’s politicians can be found anywhere from rallies to mainstream newspapers.
AAP/Miles Godfrey
In the current vicious political climate, caricatures in our daily press have become more savage. Perhaps no politician has experienced this more in recent times than former prime minister Julia Gillard…
Kevin Rudd has been working hard to neutralise key policy issues - such as asylum seekers - before announcing the date for the federal election.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
It has been almost one month since Kevin Rudd returned to The Lodge. Rudd was charged with the responsibility of making Labor competitive in the upcoming election. But what do his actions since taking…
Treasurer Chris Bowen needs voters to put a 1 next to his party on the ballot in the upcoming election. Will his new book help win the political argument?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Treasurer Chris Bowen’s new blueprint for Labor party reform Hearts and Minds gives us the easy listening version of Paul Keating, just as Tony Abbott offers us the same for John Howard. The book provides…
The Democratic Labor Party may have had its heyday decades ago, but Senator John Madigan may soon hold the balance of power and have enormous influence over Australian life.
AAP/Julian Smith
When the Democratic Labor Party’s John Madigan won the sixth Victorian Senate seat at the 2010 election, it appeared a tear in the time space continuum had somehow briefly transported politics back to…
DLP senator John Madigan believes we need to have a ‘public interest test’ when determining levels of foreign investment in Australia.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Geoffrey Robinson: John, you’re the first DLP [Democratic Labor Party] senator elected for a long time from Victoria. In your first speech you talked about being elected to parliament as surreal. Three…
What is life like inside the office of MPs who hold the balance of power, such as retiring independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor?
AAP/Alan Porritt
With the end of each parliament there inevitably comes a series of announcements that particular parliamentarians will not be contesting the next election. Usually, these decisions are justified by the…
This election is a serious choice about the type of society we want to become.
AAP
In a recent lecture, Ross Garnaut argued that after decades of prosperity, Australians must now choose between two radically different approaches to our problems. The choice is between a “business as usual…
Is the decision to re-install Kevin Rudd as leader of the ALP and of the country an affront to Australian democracy?
AAP/Alan Porritt
The decision by the Labor caucus to minimise the electoral damage in September and return Kevin Rudd to the party leadership was short-sighted and ultimately self-destructive. More importantly, it operated…
Ultimately, it was Julia Gillard’s failure to find a ‘narrative’ to weave her policies together that cost her the Labor leadership to a more opportunistic Kevin Rudd.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The morning Julia Gillard was deposed as Australia’s prime minister many of the British newspapers carried a picture of her knitting a present for the future heir to the British (and presumably) Australian…
Now that he’s deposed Julia Gillard, what lies ahead for Kevin Rudd in the election campaign?
Alan Porritt / AAP
The federal Labor caucus has decided to put aside its disdain for former leader Kevin Rudd and return him to the Labor leadership. The reason for this is simple: with Julia Gillard as leader, Labor was…
Kevin Rudd returns to be Prime Minister, but where did the Gillard government go wrong?
Lukas Coch / AAP
Kevin Rudd has made a Lazarus-like return to the prime ministership after winning a party room ballot this evening by a vote of 57-45. Rudd, who led the party to success at the 2007 election, replaces…
Will history judge Julia Gillard favourably on her legislative record as prime minister?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Julia Gillard has been a reasonably effective politician, but the political paradigm within which she has worked is approaching the end of its life. She has been aware of this but has struggled to develop…
In the three years since she took office, has Julia Gillard been able to reconcile her gender and position as prime minister?
AAP/Mick Tsikas
On June 24, 2010, Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, was sworn into office by Australia’s first female governor-general, Quentin Bryce. The iconic photographs of that day spoke of…