While the budget appealed to the Coalition’s perceived strength on overall economic management, wage growth and climate change are likely to be important during the election campaign.
Marginal seat, major transport announcement: it must be election time.
James Ross/AAP
The Coalition’s infrastructure budgets over this term of government have been around the midpoint of government investment over the past decade. But how projects are chosen leaves a lot to be desired.
Forget the low hanging fruit, for the Coalition tax reform might have well been forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden.
Lukas Coch/AAP/Shutterstock
Robert Breunig, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University dan Kristen Sobeck, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Six years of Coalition government has had little impact on the tax system. It’s not clear whether a Labor government would be any different.
Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten and Prime Minister Scott Morrison attending an ovarian cancer event at Parliament House in February.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Knowledge is important to produce informed policy, but an understanding of people is also vital in a democracy. And that requires listening – to all sectors of society, not only elites and lobbyists.
Three words, so much mileage: Tony Abbott’s anti-carbon tax refrain has been a fixture on the policy landscape for years.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
We’ve been here before. In fact we’ve been going round in circles on climate policy for decades, while the temperature (of the debate, as well as the planet) climbs ever higher.
The Coalition made some major promises in the 2016 election. Has it delivered?
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The Coalition has had longer than a three year cycle to make some changes to education. But since the 2016 election, what has it actually done? And what is Labor proposing?
It is unlikely the Turnbull-Morrison Coalition government will be remembered for any significant reforms.
Lukas Coch/AAP
As Morrison readies to call the election, with speculation he will announce next weekend for May 18, he has also increased his lead over Shorten as better prime minister in Newspoll.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten now needs to commit funding for prevention, to reduce rates of cancer.
AAP/Lucas Koch
Labor’s cancer care package is bound to be popular. But with around one-third of cancers preventable, both sides of politics need to invest in reducing cancer in the first place.
Much of what’s been promised would have had to happen anyway.
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The budget – the first brought down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg – doubles the tax relief that average earners were due to receive within weeks, from $530 in last year’s budget to $1,080.
Frydenberg’s tax cuts are retrospective, but no-one will be complaining.
Shutterstock/Mick Tsikas/AAP
Labor has ditched its reliance on a single economy-wide climate policy, in favour of a range of different measures that will all help drive down emissions. But some crucial issues remain unaddressed.
WeChat is the preferred social networking platform in China, as well as among the Chinese-speaking diaspora in Australia.
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According to a new study, Mandarin-speaking voters look to their friends and key social media influencers to inform how they should vote in Australian elections.
Pauline Hanson claims the Al Jazeera undercover “sting”, which has grabbed international headlines, was a media “stitch-up”.
AAP/Dan Peled
One Nation, particularly in Queensland, has attracted voters who feel “left out” of mainstream politics. But the Coalition’s intermittent courting of the party may end with this week’s revelations.
The Senate voting system is complicated, as demonstrated by Fraser Anning being elected on just 19 votes.
AAP/Dan Peled
Scott Morrison has announced the Liberals will preference One Nation below Labor at the federal election. But that is unlikely to make a substantial difference to the make-up of the parliament.
WeChat is the most popular social networking platform among Mandarin speakers in Australia.
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It’s your money they’re spending in this election-eve budget. Here’s how we’re covering the story.
The Conversation5,73 MB(download)
The Conversation's editors and experts are off to Canberra for budget lockup at parliament house next Tuesday. They'll have early access to what the government plans to do with our money this year.
After the overthrow of Turnbull, Laundy said he did not want to be considered for the ministry in the Morrison reshuffle.
Jeremy Ng/AAP
Senior Lecturer in Political Science: Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute; Research Associate for Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland, James Cook University