“The truth about the Pacific Solution is that 70%, thereabouts, of those people sent by Mr Howard to Nauru and elsewhere as part of the Pacific Solution, used it as a [way] station and within a couple…
How does Australia’s economy stack up when compared globally?
“We have among the lowest of budget deficits and debt to GDP of any other major economies in the developed world… If it’s so bad, Mr Abbott, why have we been given by the three ratings agencies a AAA credit…
All about me: but how does the level of personality in Australian politics stack up globally?
AAP/Lukas Coch
Up until Sunday’s debate, we heard grumbles that this election is too personality-focused. The beef was that the last few months in political news had been consumed by conflict and drama. “MPs” are “Media…
The first televised leaders’ debate between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott of the election campaign focused predominantly on economic issues.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Prime minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Tony Abbott have faced off in the first televised leaders’ debate of the 2013 election campaign. In a debate largely framed by the economic issues, Rudd…
It’s not hard to see that caging people indefinitely behind razor wire does considerable harm.
AAP
Linda Briskman, Swinburne University of Technology and Scott Poynting, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
It was a foolish moment when prime minister Bob Hawke promised that by 1990 no child in Australia would be living in poverty. After all, what are the solutions to child poverty, to crime, to educational…
The election campaign for Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott has begun. Tune into our weekly podcasts for the best analysis of the week’s events.
Welcome to the first of The Conversation’s Election 2013 podcasts. Each week The Conversation will be sitting down with Australia’s top political minds to discuss all things election as we gear up for…
Former Queenland Premier and new Labor candidate for Forde Peter Beattie and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (right) arrive for a press conference, 8 August 2013.
(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
The shock entry of former Queensland premier Peter Beattie into the federal election campaign as the Labor candidate for Forde was kept a tightly guarded secret - and with good reason. It sends two clear…
We take a closer look at the claim the prime minister has made on the Murdoch press in Australia.
“Mr Murdoch is entitled to his own view… he owns 70% of the newspapers in this country.” – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, press conference, 6 August. One of the more spirited discussions of the first week…
Kevin Rudd may be king of the kids, but how does his Better Schools policy compare with the original Gonski review of schools funding?
AAP/James Elby
It’s been a very long road for those wanting school funding reform. But it looks as though now the government version of the Gonski review is here to stay. Five states and territories are now on board…
The ALP’s re-election chances hinge on the results in a number of marginal seats across Australia.
AAP/Dave Hunt
If the polls are accurate and Labor is almost at level pegging with the Coalition, it would seem we are in for a repeat of the very close election of 2010. But for various reasons this is not necessarily…
Kevin Rudd has recruited three strategists from the US to help his election chances, continuing a trend of the ‘internationalisation’ of campaign craft.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Kevin Rudd has imported three members of US president Barack Obama’s successful 2012 campaign team to advise on Labor’s September 7 re-election efforts. This announcement has already achieved one of the…
Kevin Rudd is fighting another election. Just like the other elections, this is the most important since the last one.
AAP/Alan Porritt
It’s an exquisitely portentous cliché, the one that is always trotted out at each Australian election: this is the most important election in a generation, or since World War Two, or the advent of television…
Kevin Rudd continues to be coy about the election date.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Kevin Rudd has raised new uncertainty over the election timetable by saying his intention is to be in St Petersburg for the G20 and declaring that he has not settled on an election date. The PM had been…
Relations between Australia and Indonesia may become strained as allegations of spying and failure to follow protocol on the Australian side are released.
EPA/Mark Irham
Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd’s so-called “PNG solution” to the asylum seeker issue has attracted much comment from within both Australia and Papua New Guinea. It has also stirred the pot in Indonesia…
Prime minister Kevin Rudd has already expressed his disgust at ICAC’s findings, but will its stench affect the upcoming federal campaign?
AAP/Dean Lewins
“ICAC, SHMY-CAC. My name is Kevin, I’m from Queensland and I’m here to help.” I know it’s not quite what the prime minister would say: I have taken a little licence with his words from 2007. But I think…
Opposition leader Tony Abbott and immigration spokesman Scott Morrison hope Australian voters prefer their policy.
AAP/Dan Peled
Just when you thought being “tough on borders” couldn’t get any more serious, along comes the Coalition’s Operation Sovereign Borders. It’s got all the right elements of a plan: it’s an operation (with…
Chris Bowen and Kevin Rudd are facing the challenge of paying for their new policies while minimising political “nasties”.
AAP/Lori Neilsen-Carr
Now Kevin Rudd has ticked off emissions trading and unveiled his PNG solution on boat arrivals, he’s turning his full attention to trying to neutralise the “debt and deficit” issue. In other words, he’s…
Prime minister Kevin Rudd’s attempts to reconstruct the ALP may fall flat if Victorian preselection battles in Hotham and Lalor are any guide.
AAP/Tara Ravens
The old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is particularly appropriate when describing the Australian Labor Party at the moment. Upon being returned to the federal parliamentary…
The deal between Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill (centre) and Kevin Rudd delivers a a package of much-needed assistance to the poor country.
OIN BLACKWELL/AAP
At first glance, the deal between prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Peter O’Neill transferring all Australian-bound asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea appears to deliver many benefits to that small poor country…
Kevin Rudd has been working hard to neutralise key policy issues - such as asylum seekers - before announcing the date for the federal election.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
It has been almost one month since Kevin Rudd returned to The Lodge. Rudd was charged with the responsibility of making Labor competitive in the upcoming election. But what do his actions since taking…