The Greens backed Labor’s moderate emissions cuts to avoid being seen as unwilling to compromise. But it’s only the start of a new wrestle over climate ambition.
If you’re outside staring in, you’d probably say the Albanese government is looking good. If you’re inside gazing out, you’d likely think its challenges appear little short of dire. Next week the new parliament…
Premier Mark McGowan (left) with Anthony Albanese at Labor’s federal campaign launch in Perth last month.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The success of independents at the Australian election is a sign the political culture has shifted in Canberra, with potential benefits for expat New Zealanders and trans-Tasman relations in general.
Now that Labor has won and the Liberal Party has been severely wounded, its enemies will be baying for blood, so a first order of business will be to make Australian voters glad they elected them.
He is only the fifth Labor leader to win government from opposition since the first world war, and there’s every indication he will be a consensus prime minister.
Intellectual and a talented communicator, Chalmers may turn out to be a far more innovative politician than his current cautious election rhetoric suggests.
Scott Morrison’s pitch to voters that the election is about “you” is a potentially powerful one. But Labor has one available that is even better: it’s about “us”.
There are many factors at play including outdated preselection processes at local levels and a lack of targeted efforts by major parties beyond tokenism.
Scott Morrison has had his integrity questioned in a recent interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell when he was asked whether he had “ever told a lie in public life?”