Malcolm Turnbull’s immediate blaming of Labor’s ‘Mediscare’ campaign for the Coalition’s poor performance at the polls goes in fact to his real problem: he’s not a very talented politician.
Malcolm Turnbull addresses party members at the Liberal Party election night event.
Dean Lewins/AAP
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.
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.
Bill Shorten was confident a Labor government could keep its promises.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
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
Labor has unveiled its costings, showing it would have a deficit of around $16 billion higher across the forward estimates than that shown in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
It started with Labor, but both major parties now emphasise unity on most policy matters.
AAP/Sam Mooy
The ‘party discipline’ that has its roots in the Labor Party’s precursor of the 1890s has stifled real political debate, making even the smartest politicians sound like hacks and act like sheep.
Malcolm Turnbull is facing many of the same obstacles as James Scullin but in a less extreme form.
AAP/Lukas Coch
James Scullin’s prime ministership was ultimately cut short because, in the face of a great economic crisis, he did not appear to have a coherent plan.
In his speech, Bill Shorten tapped into community hopes and fears, positives and negatives.
David Moir/AAP
With the polls remaining close and confusing but a general feeling that Malcolm Turnbull has the edge in this election, Bill Shorten has made a spirited appeal to Labor’s faithful to put their shoulders…
Bill Shorten rallied his party for a big effort in the final fortnight of the campaign.
AAP/David Moir
Bill Shorten has pledged Labor would reverse the government’s cuts to pathology and give a modest tax break to small businesses to get people back into the workforce.
As election day edges closer, the Labor Party finds itself without much of a tailwind. At Labor’s official campaign launch on Sunday, Bill Shorten will need to bring together the party’s story.
Bill Shorten visiting Townsville Hospital on Sunday.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Labor’s weakest flank in this election is economic credibility and it knows it. A combination of the past, including memories of Wayne Swan’s ever-elusive surplus, and the present, with the perception…
Chris Bowen stressed that Labor’s fiscal program, when fully released, would ‘see us return to budget balance in exactly the same time frame as the government’.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The opposition will attempt to strengthen its economic credentials by announcing on Friday a package of savings to help pay for its policies and improve the budget bottom line.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten with daughter Clementine.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
History suggests Labor should be more concerned than it currently appears to be about the effects of its populist rhetoric in mobilising opposition from business.