In the Howard government, there was near-consensus in Cabinet that an ETS was eventually likely. A spike in asylum-seeker arrivals stimulated the hard "deterrent’ strategy" that would morph into the "Pacific Solution" in 2001.
Michelle Grattan discusses politics, and life after politics, with Christopher Pyne.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asked his department to probe whether Bridget McKenzie was in breach of ministerial standards in her handling of the sports grants program.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Our government has grappled for years to devise ethical standards for ministers and other officials. But codes are only part of the answer – MPs must also take responsibility for their own conduct.
John Howard called an election a fortnight after announcing the GST on August 13 1998, which he only narrowly won.
National Archives of Australia
Labor's new policy process shouldn't be rushed, but taking time inevitably leaves a vacuum, which Albanese will try to fill the space with a series of “vision statements”.
The perception of Jones’ power has led to him being courted by politicians, and so wielding actual power.
AAP/Joel Carrett
The 2001 federal election was a watershed moment for Australian national security that has set a policy agenda for almost two decades.
It is becoming harder to argue that neoliberal market solutions, from tax cuts to deregulation, will necessarily benefit and protect ordinary voters.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Whether they form the next government or not, the Liberals need to reconsider their reliance on neoliberal economics, which may no longer be serving the party – or the country.
John Howard’s Coalition won the November 2001 election, but the September 11 attacks had more impact on that outcome than the Tampa crisis.
AAP/Dean Lewins
It is often thought that the Tampa incident won John Howard the 2001 election, but an analysis of polling from the time shows the September 11 attacks had a far bigger impact on voting intentions.
The newly sworn-in Howard ministry in March 1996.
National Archives of Australia
The latest release from the National Archives reveals how the Howard government managed a budget deficit, and presents a striking contrast with the Abbott government's framing of the 2013 budget.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg have been forced to back down on plans to legislate emissions reductions for the electricity sector.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy.
The insults have becoming increasingly personal, but they don’t always work.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Australia has been having the same disagreement about what and how history should be taught. We need to move on and listen to the evidence so our children have the best history education possible.
Paul Keating is known as one of the most Indonesia-friendly Australian prime ministers.
AAP/NAA
It was Paul Keating himself who first raised the idea of a security agreement between Indonesia and Australia in June 1994 to Indonesian President Soeharto.
Kevin Rudd was swept into office at the 2007 federal election.
AAP/Tony Phillips
It is ten years since the 2007 election that swept Kevin Rudd into office. But if Kim Beazley had become PM instead, we might have avoided the constant instability and dysfunction we see today.
Anzac Day, a celebration of the Anzac soldiers, pictured, has become a contentious issue in the “history wars”.
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The most popular history courses taught in Australian universities are still broad courses focused on significant historical events and periods, contrary to the recent IPA report.
There was a time when Tony Abbott followed the prevailing wind on climate policy. No longer.
AAP Image/Jim Rice
Tony Abbott will deliver a speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Has the human weathervane stopped spinning? What does it mean for climate politics?
A client whose hair she had been cutting for 20 years came in as usual, and then, without any prompting or preamble, launched into a tirade against Muslims.
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