It’s still a game of bluff and counter-bluff, but with the new Senate just over two months away, Clive Palmer is constantly raising the stakes for the Abbott government. As one observer puts it, he’s starting…
- Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Bill Shorten is laying down a sweeping agenda for ALP internal reform that will test both the party and his own authority. The opposition leader wants the party’s rank and file to have greater say in House…
In the Treasurer office they’ve been studying former budgets. They’ve concluded that Peter Costello’s first, in 1996, was the toughest – and the most popular. As the budget work reaches its peak, in the…
Patients could be up for a co-payment of around $5 when they visit the doctor under a plan being prepared for next month’s budget. The co-payment would save the budget billions of dollars over the medium…
Barry O'Farrell had no option but to resign his premiership, given his emphatic denials of receiving a $3000 bottle of Grange from the chief of the company lobbying intensively for a water contract. Once…
New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell has rocked the Liberal Party by quitting over evidence contradicting his earlier denial to the Independent Commission Against Corruption that he was given a $3000…
The likely consolidation of traditional TV and radio ownership would lead to even less diversity of news and information sources in commercial mass media and more pooling of journalistic resources, the…
Prime minister Tony Abbott has said pensioners will be better off because they will lose the carbon tax while keeping the compensation for it, as expectations rise of budget changes to put the pension…
Brian Harradine, who has died aged 79, was one of the most powerful independents in the Senate’s history. A tough and driven operator over a long career outside and inside parliament, he profoundly influenced…
Treasurer Joe Hockey says we need to have a “sensible discussion about the sustainability of our entire quality of life”. Hockey’s absolutely right, but what we are getting is actually something between…
The government’s review of the efficiency of the ABC is believed to be finished, as speculation mounts about budget cuts to the national broadcaster. The review, which also covers SBS, was established…
Tony Abbott has returned from his North Asian trip to generally upbeat reviews. He had some achievements and didn’t make any gaffes. Domestically, the three-country tour will soon fade in people’s minds…
Labor voters in West Australia have been delivered a second slap in the face. After a cross factional union deal put right wing “shoppies” chief Joe Bullock number one on the Senate ticket, left wing dancing…
If he’d been willing to take more of a chance, Bob Carr might have got a crack at the prime ministership. In his Diary of a Foreign Minister, Carr recounts how NSW ALP secretary Mark Arbib urged him to…
Prime minister Tony Abbott has cast his visit to China as not just aimed at doing a deal but being a friend – while simultaneously stressing he is anxious to advance negotiations for the free trade agreement…
A defiant Bob Carr says he is proud to have resisted the bullying influence of the pro-Israel lobby on the Gillard government, after critics have accused him of bigotry and making claims just to sell his…
Australia and Japan have concluded a free trade agreement that will bring better access for local beef exporters and cheaper imported cars. The deal, finalised during Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s visit…
Clive Palmer describes the government as “stunned, like little rabbits”, after his PUP clinched a West Australian Senate seat to have an upper house bloc of four, including its ally Ricky Muir, of the…
Regardless of whether the Liberals’ Linda Reynolds or Labor’s Senator Louise Pratt wins the last West Australian Senate seat, the Abbott government will need the support of Clive Palmer’s PUP to pass any…
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will formally call on the Labor party to drop its rule making it compulsory for prospective members to join a union. He sees the change, though symbolic, as important in…
Clive Palmer has secured a seat in a West Australian senate result that saw large swings against both Coalition and Labor and the Greens dramatically increase their vote. On latest counting, the Liberals…
It’s a bit rich for Labor to be urging frustrated and disillusioned West Australians to get out and vote in this Senate re-run election. Its number 1 candidate Joe Bullock has surely given them plenty…
In this edition of The Week in Politics, University of Canberra Vice Chancellor Stephen Parker is in discussion with Michelle Grattan about Arthur Sinodinos, changes to the GST, and the Western Australian…
Regardless of what the Independent Commission against Corruption finally says about Arthur Sinodinos, his day of evidence has in itself raised fundamental questions about his suitability for the job of…
Australia faces medium-term challenges of paying for the things it wants to do as a society and finding enough workers as the population ages, Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens says. Stevens strongly…
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