Scott Morrison dodged a bullet when the Nationals clung on to Michael McCormack. There was palpable relief when the news came through to the Liberals. “We still have a Coalition,” one MP was heard to say…
The Nationals’ meltdown has been triggered by the forced resignation of Bridget McKenzie, and while only a new deputy needed to be elected, Joyce has seized the opportunity to make his leadership run.
Speaking with The Conversation’s politics podcast, McCormack said in hindsight, it would have been better to have told Nationals who’d been agitating for the code that negotiations were underway.
Deputy PM Michael McCormack on the drought and restive Nationals
The Conversation, CC BY33.7 MB(download)
Following tensions in the Nationals party room over the bring-forward of the dairy code for Pauline Hanson, the Deputy PM admits that the party leadership mishandled the situation.
Following a deal with Hanson, some Queensland NSW Nationals were so furious that a leak canvassed mutterings about the possibility of a “spill” move against deputy leader Bridget McKenzie.
Tim Fischer leaves behind a political and personal legacy. He defied sceptics, managed his troops, and the support he provided to John Howard was crucial in achieving gun control.
Cyril Ramaphosa is in pole position to become president of South Africa’s ruling ANC, 20 years after he lost the position by Thabo Mbeki. But, it won’t be easy. Neither will rebuilding the party.
Once again South Africa is facing the challenge of a compromised relationship between the state and the church. Is Nelson Mandela inadvertently responsible?
Bizarre as it might seem George Christensen, the rebel MP who threatened to cross the floor unless the government changed the superannuation package, is the Nationals’ chief whip. After the election Nationals…
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne and the Nationals are winners in Malcolm Turnbull’s post-election reshuffle, which has promoted only one new conservative Liberal face to the frontbench.
University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Nicholas Klomp and Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics.
Professor of Public Theology in the Department of Beliefs and Practices, Faculty of Theology, at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University of Amsterdam), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam