The critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum lives within a single federal electorate. Their local MP has a responsibility to be their voice.
Zoos Victoria
Bernardi’s defection from the Liberal Party this week is less important in itself than what it says about a wider trend towards a fracturing of Australian politics.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order implementing a federal government hiring freeze.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
The president manages more than 200 organizations that make up the federal government. A survey of 3,500 federal managers shows they struggle with recruiting and retaining skilled workers.
Chair of the parliamentary joint committee on human rights, WA Liberal Ian Goodenough.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Freedom of speech does not mean you can say anything to anyone, regardless of the damage it does – an important consideration in the debate over a same-sex marriage plebiscite.
The imperative for major reform of Australia’s political and policy processes is more real and urgent than ever.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Five months into his prime ministership, it is difficult to know what Malcolm Turnbull really stands for, and his government risks paralysis as a result.
Malcolm Turnbull may struggle to persuade Daniel Andrews and some other state leaders to back major tax change, though Mike Baird has been arguing for reform.
Sam Mooy/AAP
Despite all the media coverage, don’t expect any clear decisions on national tax reform on Friday. But we should see more progress on other issues, including domestic violence and violent extremism.
Malcolm Turnbull’s potentially most dangerous opposition has begun to emerge from inside his own party.
AAP/Lukas Coch
If Anthony Albanese becomes Labor leader, Australians will have the strongest ideological and stylistic contrast in major party leaders since Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke 33 years before.
Leadership struggles are between ostensible allies.
AAP/Sam Mooy
So far, Tony Abbott has failed to position himself as anything more than an opposition leader who has been given power and is unsure what to do with it.
Few other world leaders are as enthusiastic as Tony Abbott in endorsing coal as ‘good for humanity’.
AAP/Dan Peled
Australia’s failure to lead on climate action marks a stark shift in political priorities in the past decade. The government is all about immediate economic returns whatever the long-term costs.
Our democratic ship of state is in bad shape.
Filippo Menalli/flickr
The opposition has widened its two-party lead over the Coalition in Newspoll as MPs return for a new parliamentary session rocked by voters’ anger over parliamentary entitlements.
The scandal surrounding Bronwyn Bishop’s entitlements may not have ended with her resignation as Speaker.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Combined, the nature of the controversy, Bishop’s behaviour as Speaker, and the way she and her party dealt with the issue created the perfect storm for a damaging scandal.
Why me? Bronwyn Bishop’s ‘Choppergate’ scandal has taken off for two reasons: it created an image in the public mind and it feeds into an underlying perception.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
To last a long time, issues need to provide a vivid image. The image of a woman dressed up to the nines with a bouffant hairdo riding in a helicopter is a very vivid one.
Never before has Australia had a situation where the leaders of both major parties are so little liked.
AAP/James Alcock
Tony Abbott’s leadership ratings and his standing as preferred prime minister have improved, but only to the point where he is roughly at level pegging with Bill Shorten.
Bill Shorten’s support – and that of his party – is almost entirely a function of public perceptions of Tony Abbott’s performance.
AAP/Nikki Short
Bill Shorten has neither built the profile nor provided the performance that renders him prime minister-in-waiting rather than fragile whinger-in-chief.