Menzies created the Liberals from the rubble of its once successful but ultimately dysfunctional forebear, the UAP. It wasn’t the first time the centre-right reinvented itself. It could happen again.
Paul Keating’s recent savage criticism of the Albanese government over the AUKUS deal is a reminder that former leaders have not always publicly disparaged their own parties.
Bob Hawke and Anthony Albanese at the launch of the biography Albanese: Telling It Straight, Parliament House, Canberra, September 2016.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The partnership between the Liberal and National parties has a long and at times chequered history – but it has also had tremendous success in winning and holding government.
The climate emergency is in many ways the Vietnam of today’s young people. The 50th anniversary of the release of resisters to that conflict should give today’s decision-makers pause for thought.
The Yes/No case has long been flawed and the government is right to dispense with it. But it will need to replace it with something else to counter misinformation – and do so with great care.
The Whitlam government’s removal of the sales tax may seem small, but it increased access to the pill for many women and in doing so, changed their lives.
It is hard to say how big an influence the Nationals’ stance may have – but history shows us the Yes case in referendums is easily defeated.
A ‘drastic shift to the left’: Greens candidate Max Chandler-Mather celebrates his win in the Brisbane seat of Griffith in the May federal election.
Darren England/AAP
Australia has a long history of imaginative, even transformative, electoral politics – and a new book argues the 2022 federal election shows that spirit is still alive and well.
Ex-prime ministers have been a varied bunch - some committing themselves to public service; others firing shots from the sidelines. Scott Morrison appears to be taking an altogether different path.
Of 44 referendums put to the Australian people since federation, only eight have passed – but those championing a First Nations Voice to Parliament need not be deterred.
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.
Elections where a national security threat have been a major talking point have historically played well for incumbent governments. But this time is different.
The federal government rarely holds policy referendums. But research shows they are more common in the states and territories, and voters are more amenable to them than politicians might believe.