History shows us there is no guarantee of sweetness and light simply because the same party holds office in a state and in Canberra.
- Director, Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas (CoPI) and Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas, University of Canberra
It is true failed referendums do not usually destroy governments, but they do have the potential to undermine leaders and governments.
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.
2022 has been a transformational year in Australian politics, with three significant elections and a distinct erosion of support for the two major parties, and particularly the Liberals.
Journalist Niki Savva’s book on the downfall of the Morrison government is a sprawling insider’s account replete with damning details, writes Frank Bongiorno. The Liberal Party now lies in tatters.
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.
Oppositions have two key jobs: to hold the government to account and prepare to take office themselves. At the moment, Liberal oppositions are failing on both counts.
Australia’s economic state in 1983 was very different from today: Bob Hawke wanted to lower expectations of government; Anthony Albanese is trying to raise them, even just a little.
There is not a single historian, publisher or archivist on the review panels whose feedback will help shape Australia’s new cultural policy
People who claim the law was not broken by the scandal are missing the point. It’s about the conventions and accountability that is embedded in the Westminster system.
Australia’s utilitarian tradition of government – the greatest good for the greatest number – has a dark side: there are always those whose voices struggle to be heard and whose needs are overlooked.
Oversimplified versions of the past lead to bad political decisions.
Yes, Labor has won office with an historically low first preference vote- but focussing on this might be misreading the electoral mood.
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.
Since the advent of the two-party preferred system, there have been two examples of parties governing effectively in minority, and with the support of independents.
Scott Morrison’s pitch to voters that the election is about “you” is a potentially powerful one. But Labor has one available that is even better: it’s about “us”.
In 1922-23, Billy Hughes’ Nationalist Party brokered a deal with the Country Party to form government - but only on condition Hughes was no longer prime minister. It’s possible this could play out again.
There is still an election to be fought, of course, but looking back from today it is not clear what the government’s legacy is – or might become.
Whether it’s been the vaccine rollout, a federal ICAC, political scandals or the treatment of women, the Morrison government has had a shocking year. But will it pay for it in 2022?
A new Quarterly Essay explores the modern political exploitation of a long-standing Australian male image, that of the larrikin.
Great crises have historically given impetus to right-wing mobilisation, and the COVID pandemic is no exception. However, it’s not always to the right’s benefit.
The federal government has had a patchy pandemic, to say the least. But COVID has also highlighted remarkable social discipline in the Australian people.
After a string of disasters and scandals surrounding the Morrison government, Labor now has a chance to do what it has rarely done in modern Australian history: take government.
Times of crisis, like the COVID pandemic, can create opportunities for governments. But the Morrison government has instead created policy gridlock.
While some aspects of Australian public policy have taken inspiration from Trump - our relationship with China among them - in reality the former US president had little impact on our political life.
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