Greens leader Richard Di Natale has copped a lot of flak on social media for his “black Wiggle” photoshoot, but he is simply broadening the idea of what it means to be Green.
A plebiscite on legalising same-sex marriage is bad policy that ought to be revisited.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Do fossil fuels need saving from efforts to combat climate change? The Australian government seems to think so, but that sort of thinking is out of date.
Leadership struggles are between ostensible allies.
AAP/Sam Mooy
In leadership contests in particular, the media’s role is often markedly different from the competition between parties.
Malcolm Turnbull’s relaxed and natural demeanour comes as a relief after Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, except they were once like that too.
AAP/David Moir
Australians have seen their recent prime ministers lose the very qualities as communicators that took them to the top. Malcolm Turnbull’s challenge is to avoid succumbing to the same fate.
Tony Abbott’s speech after losing the leadership differed from his recent predecessors’ efforts by making no mention of his successor.
AAP/Sam Mooy
A politician’s final statement as leader is their chance to have the last word. Tony Abbott’s speech was telling in both what he chose to say and not to say.
Abbott isn’t the first leader to be toppled amid questions over his approach to climate change.
AAP Mick Tsikas
From Hawke-Keating to Rudd-Gillard, climate policy has an uncanny ability to cost Australian political leaders their jobs. And it was a key element in the rivalry between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
Former prime minister Julia Gillard said she had been so concerned about the same-sex marriage plebiscite that she changed the topic of her speech.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
When Kevin Rudd came under attack from some of his ministers for the way he ran his cabinet, it turned out to be the beginning of the end. Now we are seeing Tony Abbott struggling to contain instability…
Kevin Rudd was portrayed as interfering, micro-managing and bullying in his first stint as prime minister – but some painted a different picture.
AAP/ABC
Whose “truth” best explains the implosion of the Rudd-Gillard Labor governments? Multiple “truths” are presented in the ABC’s The Killing Season as we continue to pick over that era’s debris.
Kevin Rudd admits he might have leaked to Laurie Oakes damaging details of the meeting he and Gillard had on the night of the 2010 coup against him.
Supplied/ABC
Kevin Rudd has said there was “no way in the world” he would have moved against Julia Gillard in June 2013 unless Bill Shorten and his group were with him.
The world is recognising that the issue of same-sex marriage is a matter of what state law, not religious doctrine, says, to the extent that Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (right) and Gauthier Destenay recently married.
EPA/Julien Warnand
Same-sex marriage is about state recognition of the union between two people and is a political issue. Religious belief can apply in a church and in individual decisions, but not to a secular state.
It was a novelty when Conservative leader David Cameron had to enlist Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s support to govern, but Britons may have to get used to minority government.
EPA/Andy Rain
The UK is poised for another minority government, this time possibly with a hung parliament. Australia’s long experience of such arrangements offers lessons in how to manage minority government.
Because their votes may be open to negotiation, crossbench senators often have the final say on the form, and passage, of legislation.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Instead of treating crossbenchers in parliament as a source of chaos and an aberration, we should recognise that they play a crucial role in shaping legislation as the constitution provides.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott confers with his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, during question time.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Peta Credlin is in the classic “double bind” of all women in power: if they take charge, they transgress the gendered expectations that “female qualities” are best suited to a supporting role.
Tony Abbott is offering logical evidence and emotional appeals, but the rhetorical problem is his own loss of credibility and authority.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
“Is it me?” That was the question John Howard reportedly asked his cabinet colleagues as his government remained stubbornly behind in the polls in 2007. One of those colleagues, Tony Abbott, now confronts…
With just eight MPs to back her campaign for government, Queensland ALP leader Annastacia Palaszczuk relied heavily on local community organising and decision-making.
AAP/Dan Peled
The “new politics” of 21st-century Australia is much clearer after the extraordinary result in the Queensland election on January 31. Australia’s new politics consists of three elements that they will…
‘No smoking gun’: Julia Gillard has been cleared of any wrongdoing over a union slush fund.
AAP/Paul Miller
The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption has recommended charges be considered against the two former Australian Workers Union (AWU) officials whom Julia Gillard assisted to set…
It’s not yet clear how the Coalition will weigh health issues against economic priorities.
jdwfoto/Shutterstock
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series…
Julia Gillard’s My Story is about defending her legacy, but she is not blind to the faults of the Labor Party nor to her own mistakes.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Julia Gillard’s autobiography, My Story, presents a comprehensive defence of her prime ministership. Gillard dives straight into the heart of her story, beginning on the day she was sworn in as prime minister…