“If you think electricity is costing you more under Labor, then you’re right. Under the Rudd/Gillard Labor government, electricity prices have gone up 94%. And don’t forget: the cost will go up even more…
How long does it take to get a mine approved in Australia?
APH
“Just to get the regulatory approvals [to start a mine] takes more than three years. Six years ago it took less than 12 months… Australian investors are fleeing this country to invest in more stable countries…
The Gonski reforms will mean different levels of funding for different schools according to a variety of factors.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
In an attempt to pressure state leaders on schools funding reform, prime minister Julia Gillard revealed new data showing the difference her package would make at the national and state level. The June…
Tony Abbott’s budget reply was a considered economic strategy amid fiscally challenging times for Australia.
In last night’s budget reply, Tony Abbott crowed he will “put the house back in order” and that the “budget will be in better hands under a Coalition government than under Labor”. It was a very measured…
Wayne Swan’s budget has been disappointing for Labor’s education legacy.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The last Labor budget has seen the top half of the Education Revolution fizzle. The ideals that powered the 2009 Gillard policies are in fragments. Demand-driven higher education will survive until the…
Treasurer Wayne Swan has unveiled an $19.4 billion deficit, but promises to be back in surplus by 2016-17.
AAP
How did the Australian economy, which boasts the best performance of the major advanced economies, end up with an estimated budget deficit of A$19 billion this year and an estimated debt of $178 billion…
Many of the measures in Wayne Swan’s budget had already been announced in advance.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Treasurer Wayne Swan has delivered a budget with a A$19.4 billion deficit this financial year, falling only to $18 billion in 2013-14. The government would aim to bring the budget back to “balance” – less…
The Gillard government’s Gonski reforms have a long way to go before reaching a school near you.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
Last week NSW signed up to the Gillard government’s proposed changes to school funding – a deal that would see a new funding model based on the Gonski review and an injection of A$5 billion into NSW schools…
Will the NBN be more “future-proof” under Labor or the Coalition?
Lukas Coch/AAP image
In yesterday’s Business Spectator, shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull defended the Coalition’s broadband plan, released on Tuesday, as a better alternative to Labor’s National Broadband Network…
Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan face a significant challenge if they plan to change superannuation.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Julia Gillard hardly had time for some deep breathing after the cyclone of last week, before her government was hit by fresh buffeting winds. A new round of speculation that the budget would hit superannuation…
Kevin Rudd resisted supporters’ pleas to run.
AAP/Lukas Coch
An extraordinary orgy of self-destruction has left Labor looking a shambles, with Julia Gillard now facing a reshuffle and an almost impossible task to get her government into fighting form for the September…
No blood was spilt today in parliament, but we still had a leadership spill.
Spill image from www.shutterstock.com
After a harrowing day in parliament, the Labor party saw a leadership spill and Prime Minister Gillard was returned as leader. The only thing was… no one contested the top spot and Julia Gillard’s name…
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s media reforms have been called an attack on freedom of speech, but is the criticism deserved?
AAP/Lukas Coch
The ongoing criticism in the major news media of Communication Minister Stephen Conroy’s very soft and watery proposed media reforms is predictable but still breathtaking. Conroy’s proposals go nowhere…
Former Victoria Premier Steve Bracks was one of Australia’s most successful and longest serving premiers.
Alan Porritt/AAP
Stephanie Brookes: We’re here for The Conversation, I’m from the University of Melbourne Media and Communications program and I’m here in Conversation with former Victoria premier Steve Bracks. Thanks…
Has Julia Gillard’s tour of western Sydney been the vote winner she hoped? The answer is yet to come.
Paul Miller/AAP
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…
Western Australians are heading to the polls this Saturday, but it looks likely Premier Colin Barnett will be in for a second term.
Alan Porritt/AAP
As Western Australian’s prepare to head to the polls this Saturday, where do the parties stand ahead of the state election? Opinion polls published since January have the Liberal and National alliance…
Labor leader Mark McGowan has been widely seen as the winner of last night’s debate ahead of the WA state election.
ABC News
Watching a political debate without the assistance of the worm can be difficult. Thankfully we have Twitter to provide us with indicators of the audience’s views. Even more useful is when party members…
Greens leader Christine Milne is focused on saving seats in the senate.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Labor caucus is still thinking about leadership, but Christine Milne and the Greens have given up spectacularly on Labor and Julia Gillard. In her shock tearing up of the Greens’ alliance with the…
Julia Gillard has called a September election, will we be able to tell the difference between governing and campaigning?
AAP/Alan Porrit
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…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says calling the election now will enable a focus on policies rather then “petty politics”.
AAP/Alan Porritt
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…