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![]() Phillip CooreyFinancial Review |
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are both fighting precedent this election, but the hurdles the opposition leader faces are more formidable.
Labor went to the last election talking big on the environment, but political reality has got in the way.
It’s a lot harder to run a campaign promising to repeal an already legislated tax cut than oppose the other side’s idea.
With Anthony Albanese to call the election as early as Friday, this is a grim set of numbers that have been tarted up with a tax cut and some upbeat...
Affordability used to matter once but not so much in the post-COVID era, and the nation seems to have lost its fear of debt and deficit.
In the Coalition’s favour is the collapsing weight of expectation that was more a hindrance than a help.
The government is confident Peter Dutton has started to unravel as it prepares to hand down a budget it initially judged was not in its best interest.
Politicians of all stripes have cashed in on the extreme weather in the northern state, but the treasurer was the standout.
The state election result shows the Labor brand is still in good shape in the west. Anthony Albanese will be hoping some of the gloss shines his way.
Cyclone Alfred threatens to inject more uncertainty into a contest, the outcome of which is already impossible to predict.
The prime minister claims he’s not thinking about the election as the tropical cyclone threatens his best-laid plans.
Raising the share allegations is not to resolve them one way or another, but to throw mud on the cusp of an election in the hope people believe the...
In the current environment, no such proclamation would be complete without the counterfactual, otherwise known as Peter Dutton.
The new spending, alongside $600 million to boost the supply of nurses and general practice doctors, will be added to the nation’s burgeoning debt...
Those vowing to dismantle the laws in the event of a hung parliament should be careful what they wish for because the billionaire might just change...
Anthony Albanese may seek to capitalise on Tuesday’s rate cut with a March 29 election, but he could also decide that it is not enough to sway voters.
Forget the hung parliament, a Coalition government’s biggest obstacle will be the in the upper house.
There’s a reason Albanese won’t comment on every outburst of Donald Trump. He needs to keep his powder dry.
If the Werribee swing was replicated uniformly in Victoria at the federal election, Labor would lose about 11 seats.
The sentiment that the Coalition is a shoo-in to form the next government is in need of a reality check.
The opposition leader’s role in delivering marriage equality should be a reminder that he is not an arch-conservative, as a growing narrative by his...
A February rate cut could mean an April election. Otherwise, it’s the Hail Mary option of another budget and a May poll.
The PM tacitly conceded the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum had been a major blunder.
As campaigning starts earlier each election, politics becomes overtly tactical, the public service enters zombie mode and business watches on...
Peter Dutton has observed seven prime ministers in his 23-years in politics, but John Howard is clearly the greatest influence.
When the opposition leader has made a foray into policy detail, he’s found himself on the sticky paper.
We enter the Christmas break none the wiser whether the government will hand down another budget before going to the polls.
This week was not the first time the prime minister’s instincts have been called into question following an inability to get ahead of thorny issues.
If the Coalition’s plan for nuclear energy sounds too good to be true, it probably is, but it will be two and a half decades before we’ll know for...
In Victoria, Jews live in a climate of fear because next to nothing has been done to stop the attacks against them.
Allegra Spender’s push to change the definition of small business complicates the Coalition’s attempts to pigeonhole the independents as lefties.
After three years of putting little emphasis on the private sector, Labor is now spruiking the value of a business-led recovery.
Given the confirmation this week by Treasurer Jim Chalmers of a bigger budget deficit this financial year, it would make sense to call a federal...
It hasn’t hurt for the prime minister to witness first hand the changing global forces, more so as countries preposition for Trump’s second coming...
As each month passes without noticeable improvement in the cost of living, it’s all starting to appear rather fraught for the government.
If Albanese fails where Turnbull succeeded, and tariffs are imposed, it won’t just be Rudd who will be blamed, but the bloke who gave him the job.
The government might not deliver another budget before the election, even though it says it will. The reason? Deficits as far as the eye can see.
Amid all the fluff, bile and nonsense of the US election campaign, the seminal question was ‘are you better off than you were four years ago?’, and...
When it comes to inflation, we are at the point where spin is clashing with substance., writes Phillip Coorey.
Over the weekend we saw the emergence of a plan, or at least the latest plan, to try to shift the government out of its torpor.
In 2016 Donald Trump stormed into office on the back of a widespread voter cynicism and distrust. He is a coin toss away from doing so again.
Ultimately, it adds up to another lost week for a government already running out of time to sell its message.
Labor spent much of the night believing it did better than it ultimately did. Still, there are a few green shoots for Anthony Albanese in the most...
For a bloke who has been in parliament for 23 years, much about the Liberal opposition leader remains unknown to the broader electorate.
Labor has held power in the territory for 23 years. The Liberals hope that will prove to be enough in this weekend’s election.
The PM can hardly complain when the politics of envy rears its head, as it has after he was revealed as the buyer of a $4.3 million beach house.
This government is still in its first term yet is deploying end-of-days tactics – an observation not lost in an anxious backbench.
Feds beware: Miles has shamelessly thrown money at the cost of living and no-one has thanked him for it.
This week showed the government’s performance remains far from polished when events wander off script.
Like a farmer waiting for rain, Albanese will hold out for a pre-election rate cut that could do a lot more to shift the dial than anything he’s...