A budget for voters, not the common good
Unless we act seriously to preserve our threatened planet, all the budget's nuances will be meaningless.
Going for gold in the backflip olympics
The budget seems to have elevated hypocrisy and backtracking to new heights of shamelessness.
Coalition gives up responsible budgets ... until crisis hits
Spending will stay at or near record highs while revenue rapidly climbs to match.
Stand by for another Snowy rip-off
NSW and Victoria have effectively stolen money and power from the rest of Australia for 60 years.
If Bill Shorten is under new pressure, he did a good job of hiding it
Labor has been stung by the Coalition's appropriation of the middle ground.
Shorten budget reply a guide to 2017's political battlelines
In politics as in life, you don't get a second chance to make a good first impression.
Abbott's misunderstanding of voters
Australia has long had its share of minor party and independent voters, informal voters and non-voters.
There's something in the air in Canberra - they should test for it
You'd be hard-pressed to judge who had the worst job in the nation's capital on Wednesday.
At last they're governing, but ducking hard decisions
Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have got back into the business of governing.
A big spending, big taxing, big borrowing budget
Of the government's four goes so far, this is its best budget. For a budget aimed squarely at improving Malcolm Turnbull's ailing political fortunes, its economics is much better.
The four ages of Malcolm
The Prime Minister has given a few hints he might actually take up his last chance to survive.
Debt changes are good ... if we're not buying pork
The Coalition needs to undo John Howard's damage and tackle the government's tax shortfall.
Gonski ingredients need a recipe
A little more money, yes, but don't expect schools to improve. That's a much harder problem.
Media should realise their power to damage is great
It's easy to whip up fear but we should be doing better.
Gonski 2.0 leaves Abbott's legacy a smoking ruin
Tony Abbott's term in office is now a smoking ruin.
The minister for Queensland
State of origin still matters a great deal in federal politics, which isn't entirely a party v party contest.
The West's high culture is the best antidote to discrimination
There has rarely been such a gulf between insiders and outsiders; between what most politicians and what most people think that politics is about, writes Tony Abbott.
So, Turnbull gives a Gonski after all
The PM has pulled off a surprising pirouette, wrong-footing his critics, and charting a course to middle-Australian households.
David Gonski is backski
If the politics of education funding were a poker game, a David Gonski unveiling would be a royal flush.
How to get students howling back to the barricades
Last week I sauntered to the sandstone loveliness of the University of Melbourne to talk about the coming federal budget.
More public service cuts will harm the government itself
Rein in the tax avoidance rorts, and cap government spending on contractors and consultants.
Uni reforms show PM does not want a repeat of Tony Abbott's 2014 horror show
There is good and bad in the Turnbull government's measured university changes .
'Good' guys, 'bad' guys: Morrison's frightening kite
Ordinary people benefit from this 'bad debt'.
It seems we imagined the robo-debt fiasco
Centrelink insists 'clients' are to blame for 'misunderstanding'.
Westpac's anti-coal stance exposes a Coalition out of touch
Obviously Westpac's public 'un-friending' of new coal is a body blow for the Adani Carmichael project.
How Dutton made things worse on Manus
The Immigration Minister effectively put three refugees, and the entire population of detainees, in the dock.
Questions must be asked over ABC's decision to cut music radio programs
How many farmers on their tractors listen to Double J via their TV? How many of us take out our TV when we're gardening?
Fix fund-raising and let charities spend their time filling hearts, not filling forms
It makes no sense to force non-profit organisations to register in every state if they want to fund-raise online.
Left and right hooked on deficits
The budget is unbalanced because of the steady abdication of personal responsibility to the state.
Adani makes Turnbull's Australia-first slogan look like hypocritical jingoism
There is a strong undercurrent of: "I am no tree-hugging greenie, but my small business is under threat for no good reason."
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Campaign highlights - and lowlights
The hurly-burly of the 2016 election campaign, as seen through the eyes of Fairfax reporters and photographers.