Anthony Albanese on Labor’s hard times
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Anthony Albanese defends Labor's vote for the government's $158 billion tax package, supports an increase in Newstart, and strongly argues the need to take the superannuation guarantee to 12%.
“Yet to arrive at a final position,” Senator Jacqui Lambie presses the federal government to forgive Tasmania’s housing debt in exchange for support of the government’s tax cuts.
Labor needs to better tune into middle suburbia, yet it can’t afford to turn its back on the issues that concern its more progressive supporters. It will be a tricky balancing act.
The outcome is completely opposite to the polls, which all had Labor ahead going into the election, albeit narrowly and with some tightening during the campaign.
What if Bob Hawke, hailed as a leader who actually ‘got’ environmental issues, had never been rolled by Paul Keating? Perhaps the climate policy wars would have turned out differently.
Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology; Daniel Angus, Queensland University of Technology et Timothy Graham, Queensland University of Technology
Analysis of tweets from the election campaign reveal two key trends: independents are organising, and embattled Liberal candidates are having to take the fight to their rivals.
Recent polling suggests the race is tightening. Then again, opinion polling suggested the recent Victorian state election would also be a close affair and it turned out to be a Labor landslide.
From doted-on child to Rhodes Scholar, ACTU president and ultimately prime minister, Robert James Lee Hawke had a significant impact on Australian life.
It remains to be seen whether the Liberals’ campaign woes in Lyons will have any impact on the neighbouring battleground seats of Bass or Braddon, which recent polls suggest the Liberals could regain.
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University