Malcolm Turnbull handled the Barnaby Joyce affair badly and his ban on ministers having sex with members of their staff is risible, according to ‘soft voters’ in focus groups.
Bill Shorten is the longest-serving Labor leader since Kim Beazley in his first stint in office.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Barnaby Joyce, the larger-than-life politician, has always been a distinctive brand. But then his personal flaws and indulgences cost him all he’d worked and schemed for.
Malcolm Turnbull announces changes to the Ministerial Code of Conduct in the wake of the Barnaby Joyce affair.
AAP/Lukas Coch
When he meets the US president this week, the prime minister will talk about the North Korean nuclear threat, the rise of China, and the rebranded Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Tim Fischer said the situation has to be resolved quickly.
Julian Smith/AAP
Media reporting of the Barnaby Joyce affair would have been so much better if journalists had established substantial public-interest justifications before breaking the story.
Barnaby Joyce made it clear on Friday morning he has no plans to resign.
Lukas Coch/AAP
As the crisis within the Coalition deepened, Barnaby Joyce held a news conference to respond to Malcolm Turnbull’s denunciation of his personal behaviour.
Banning relationships is likely to be ineffective and may result in disengagement, secrecy and resentment by employees of the encroachment of employment policies into genuinely private matters.
Malcolm Turnbull’s approach went from initially staying solid with Barnaby Joyce by saying as little as possible to letting him have it with both barrels.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The appointment of ministerial advisers is based on a party-political network of patronage, where the primary consideration is loyalty to the political party – not merit.
The targets relating to Year 12 attainment, preschool enrolment, and childhood mortality are on track to be closed, according to the 2018 Closing the Gap report.
AAP/Marianna Massey
Care needs to be taken in interpreting progress on closing the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and ascribing it to actual policy change.
Malcolm Turnbull makes a point in Question Time.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
While this Newspoll is Malcolm Turnbull’s 26th consecutive loss (four short of Tony Abbott’s streak), it is the Coalition’s best position since April 2017.