Bill Shorten can’t win the test he faces on the government’s legislation to repeal the carbon tax - it is a matter of what will do Labor least damage. Tony Abbott is trying to psyche the opposition into…
- Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
We used to wait 100 days to draw up an initial report card on a government but now we’re down to 50 days. Today is that milepost (since the election) and Tony Abbott made something of it at the weekend…
The government’s forcing Barrie Cassidy out of the position of chairman of the Old Parliament House Advisory Council seems a particularly partisan and graceless act. Cassidy, a senior and respected journalist…
With this week’s announcement of the government’s Audit Commission members and terms of reference, Tony Abbott is starting to get his Rudd-like list of inquiries and reviews on the go. The beginning is…
Winners write the history. Well, sort of. In politics there are always history wars. In his post-election narrative today, Liberal federal director Brian Loughnane, reporting on the fourth national campaign…
Former foreign minister Bob Carr has delivered a strong critique of the former Labor government, in announcing his much-anticipated departure from the Senate after only 18 months. Carr, whose criticisms…
Tony Abbott’s gay sister hailed it as an “historic day”, after jubilation broke out in the ACT Assembly at the passage of Australia’s first marriage equality legislation. Meanwhile an Essential Poll published…
The government’s Commission of Audit will look at extending “user pays” and encouraging individuals to provide for themselves, in an inquiry directed to achieving a sustainable surplus within a decade…
An eminent business figure will head the government’s five-member Commission of Audit, announced tomorrow, which will comb through government programs for savings and efficiencies. Cabinet will tick off…
Immigration minister Scott Morrison has embraced secrecy with indecent relish, and it is starting to get him into trouble. His policy of announcing boat arrivals once a week, when they are transferred…
The more things change… Labor is making a new start with Bill Shorten but the old ways are alarmingly entrenched in the form of ALP factional power. One small episode tells the wider story. Right wing…
Opposition leader Bill Shorten will take specific responsibility for science and small business and Stephen Conroy becomes spokesman for defence in Labor’s new frontbench lineup. Announcing his allocation…
Tony Abbott is no doubt enjoying former minister Nicola Roxon’s blast against her old political boss Kevin Rudd. It has brought the attention back to Labor in an uncomfortable way for the opposition. Abbott…
As Labor’s recent period of extraordinary internal harmony shatters, former cabinet minister Nicola Roxon has excoriated Kevin Rudd, forensically detailing his bad behaviour and declaring he should leave…
As Nationals fear an Australia-China free trade agreement might water down proposed tougher foreign investment scrutiny of land and agribusiness takeovers, new Liberal MP Angus Taylor has dismissed as…
The government has declared that it won’t extend the carbon tax beyond June 30, even if the Senate does not pass the repeal legislation by then. The draft legislative package was released late today, and…
Bill Shorten, the Labor party’s right faction’s poster boy, won the party leadership by having a number of left-wing caucus members vote for him. Now he has the task of persuading back to vote for the…
Labor has returned the right to choose frontbenchers to the caucus but today’s results show that whether it rests with the leader or parliamentary party, the party’s factions remain at the heart of the…
Bill Shorten’s becoming opposition leader gives Tony Abbott greater reason for concern than an Anthony Albanese victory would have done. The ALP has opted for the man seen as more likely to take Labor…
Bill Shorten has become opposition leader, with a strong win among Labor MPs comfortably overcoming his defeat in the party’s rank and file vote. After a month long process in which nearly three-quarters…
Treasurer Joe Hockey has refused to confirm the Coalition will insist on a new $15 million threshold for scrutiny of foreign investment bids for land in its negotiations with the Chinese for a free trade…
Labor is about to end its post-election hiatus, when the party has been high on a drug called democracy. The job of the new leader announced on Sunday - Bill Shorten or Anthony Albanese - will be to preserve…
The political rise and rise of Clive Palmer has a long way to play out. Tony Abbott is no doubt rejoicing that from July the Senate will lean more to the right - he should be okay to get the carbon and…
Changes to the GST should be part of the mix in improving Australia’s budgetary position, the Grattan Institute’s CEO John Daley has said. But spending reform needed to come first, and the “acid test…
Before the election, I asked Tony Abbott how he saw the prime role of higher education – as a contributor to boosting Australia’s productivity, or as education for its own sake? I had rather expected him…
Contact Michelle for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
- Location: Canberra
- Website
- X (formerly Twitter): @michellegrattan
- Article Feed
-
- Joined
