Tony Abbott and Zali Steggall on Warringah votes
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The Sydney electorate of Warringah will be one of the most fascinating battlegrounds in the May election, with a high profile independent Zali Stegall challenging former prime minister Tony Abbott.
Tony Abbott’s electorate is getting so socially progressive, he may soon be left behind.
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Just as with Kevin07, formerly Coalition-friendly independents gave life-long centre-right voters a way to break ranks without feeling like they were being disloyal. Zali Steggall is doing the same.
The newly sworn-in Howard ministry in March 1996.
National Archives of Australia
The latest release from the National Archives reveals how the Howard government managed a budget deficit, and presents a striking contrast with the Abbott government’s framing of the 2013 budget.
Culture wars reignited between the government and the university sector in 2018.
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Tensions between the government and the university sector ran high in 2018, with the government cutting funding to student places and research and a big push back from universities.
Abbott’s previous policies on Indigenous issues were characterised by funding cuts, exclusions and silencing – all of which makes his role as envoy highly questionable to Indigenous communities.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The proposals Abbott has pushed as envoy - more police in Indigenous communities and learning in English - demonstrates his ignorance and unsuitability for the job.
Malcolm Turnbull was the latest prime minister to be ousted before the end of his term in August, 2018.
AAP/Sam Mooy
With John Howard in 2004-7 the last prime minister to serve a full term, it may seem Australia has sunk into a long rein of political instability. But that is not necessarily the case.
This week’s fallout from Turnbull’s Indonesian excursion has undermined Morrison on foreign policy – about which he gave his first major address on Thursday – and cast doubt on his personal credibility.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
For years Turnbull had to endure the sniping of Abbott, the man he brought down. Now Turnbull is the sniper at the window, though Morrison didn’t cause his fall (unless you buy the conspiracy
theory).
Malcolm Turnbull’s days were numbered as the Newspoll losses continued to mount.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Policymaking is no longer based solely on what a party stands for. Now, it also matters how a decision is going to play in the opinion polls – and that’s a problem for our political system.
The brouhaha over a nine-year-old girl refusing to stand for the national anthem appears to confirm that tolerance is on the wane and nationalist sentiment on the rise in Australia.
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The storm over a nine-year-old refusing to stand for the national anthem is an indication of how ugly, and misguided, some aspects of national debate have become.
It’s hard to read the recent felling of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as anything other than an act of revenge by Tony Abbott and his closest supporters.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The psychology of revenge and how shame and humiliation can cause chaos in Australian politics.
Tony Abbott is now the prime minister’s Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs, while Barnaby Joyce is Special Envoy for Drought Assistance and Recovery.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
While there is no evidence that Abbott and Joyce have accepted a salary for their special envoy roles, an offer of payment, if there was one, could cause them problems.
Most Australians did not want Malcolm Turnbull to be deposed as prime minister.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Australians have never liked sitting PMs being deposed by their own parties - but the outrage over Malcolm Turnbull’s destruction is the greatest in modern history.
Scott Morrison is sworn in as the 30th prime minister of Australia by Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
AAP/Lukas Coch
New prime minister Scott Morrison now faces the huge task of reuniting the party and devising policy positions that can satisfy the liberals and conservatives within.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg have been forced to back down on plans to legislate emissions reductions for the electricity sector.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy.
The government has shelved any move to implement the 26% reduction in emissions because it cannot get the numbers to pass legislation in the House of Representatives.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The Liberals once tried to build a big tent to include a range of political positions. Recent conflicts over energy, same-sex marriage and euthanasia show this is no longer sustainable.
With Victoria the main obstacle, Frydenberg said: ‘It’s time Daniel Andrews stopped walking both sides of the street and put the interests of Victorians first and the businesses of Victorians first.’
Lukas Coch/AAP
Tuesday’s party room mood reflected the sense most Coalition MPs have that to save marginal seats and give the government its best chance of survival, they need to unite behind Turnbull.
Both Abbott and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce have flagged they could cross the floor on the emissions reduction legislation.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The Coalition party room on Tuesday is set for a high stakes, quite personal battle between Abbott and Turnbull over the NEG, with former and current prime ministers shaping up on Monday.
