Political Opinion Analysis & Commentary Australia

Allies: Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull in New York earlier this month.

Trump troubles extend to allies

ANALYSIS

Imagine if you read this news story: Malcolm Turnbull has sacked the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police for continuing investigations into past links between Mr Turnbull's office and a foreign government. The extraordinary move coincides with explosive new revelations of impromptu intelligence sharing with that same government, by the Prime Minister himself. This fictional rendering conveys the gravity of events now swirling around Donald J Trump's idiosyncratic administration by posing the question: what would happen if an Australian PM leant on the AFP to forget past links with a foreign government; free lanced on sensitiv

The 2017 budget's inconvenient truth

COMMENT

Adjusted for tricks, there's no chance of a surplus for a long time.

WA Liberals want more troops stationed in the state to ward off China.

WA Liberals turn their fear and loathing to the deep blue sea

Being perched on the edge of the world is apparently so oppressive it turns some citizens quite batty.

Malcolm Turnbull insists the Coalition's drug test policy for welfare recipients is motivated by "love".

'Policy based on love' at odds with reality

COMMENT

Plan to test dole applicants seems like the budget's wackiest measure, writes Judith Ireland.

Australian Bankers' Association chief executive Anna Bligh.

Banks may yet win this tax war

COMMENT

The industry may be unpopular but it has vast political power at its disposal.

The initiatives in the budget offer Malcolm Turnbull some hope of a way forward.

Budget fails to propel Turnbull, but it may yet pay off

COMMENT

The absence of a poll bounce may render the budget an expensive failure, but there is hope for the PM.

Greens education spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young.

What should the Greens do with Gonski 2.0?

COMMENT

With Labor implacably opposed, the Greens must play a positive role in the Senate.

George Christensen has disavowed his connection with The Dingoes racist podcast.

Christensen chose to spend his time with bigots

The Queensland conservative is trying too late to distance himself from racist anti-Semites.

Scott Morrison says banks should absorb the cost of the new levy, not pass it on.

Illusion of action in the absence of thoughtful policy

COMMENT

Scott Morrison's hit on banks shows his preference for stunts over meaningful policy development.

Treasurer Scott Morrison has argued the ACCC will keep the banks in check.

An unpopular politician has found a way to be popular

ANALYSIS

Scott Morrison is not one of Australia's more popular politicians and only 2 or 3 per cent of voters generally prefer him as Liberal leader.

Malcolm Turnbull: "If we don't sell [coal] to [India], someone else will.''

Budget gives Coalition something to build on

ANALYSIS

Labor-lite the budget strategy may be, but the PM's calculus is that most voters live in the middle ground.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Don't pop the champagne just yet, Malcolm

ANALYSIS

The Fairfax Ipsos post-budget poll shows a boost for the Prime Minister, but it is also hardly a disaster for Bill Shorten and Labor.

We have something for everyone! .... except those who need it.

A budget for voters, not the common good

COMMENT

Unless we act seriously to preserve our threatened planet, all the budget's nuances will be meaningless.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday.

Going for gold in the backflip olympics

ANALYSIS

The budget seems to have elevated hypocrisy and backtracking to new heights of shamelessness.

Coalition gives up responsible budgets ... until crisis hits

COMMENT

Spending will stay at or near record highs while revenue rapidly climbs to match.

The Commonwealth may buy out Victoria and NSW's share of Snowy Hydro scheme.

Stand by for another Snowy rip-off

COMMENT

NSW and Victoria have effectively stolen money and power from the rest of Australia for 60 years.

Trump's presidency is likely to test Australians support for the US alliance.

The US alliance mutes our influence

COMMENT

Why do politicians wait until they retire before they query our relationship with the US?

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten delivers his budget reply speech on Thursday night.

If Bill Shorten is under new pressure, he did a good job of hiding it

ANALYSIS

Labor has been stung by the Coalition's appropriation of the middle ground.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten departs Parliament House for a run around Lake Burley Griffin, in Canberra on Thursday 11 ...

Shorten budget reply a guide to 2017's political battlelines

ANALYSIS

In politics as in life, you don't get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has taken aim at political leaders.

Abbott's misunderstanding of voters

COMMENT

Australia has long had its share of minor party and independent voters, informal voters and non-voters.

Minister for Social Services Christian Porter before Treasurer Scott Morrison delivers his post-budget address on Wednesday.

There's something in the air in Canberra - they should test for it

COMMENT

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

COMMENT

Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have got back into the business of governing.

Treasurer Scott Morrison delivers the 2017-18 federal budget.

A big spending, big taxing, big borrowing budget

COMMENT

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 new Malcolm? The Prime Minister announces his school funding plan last week.

The four ages of Malcolm

COMMENT

The Prime Minister has given a few hints he might actually take up his last chance to survive.

Paying for infrastucture like an inland rail has productivity benefits that last generations.

Debt changes are good ... if we're not buying pork

COMMENT

The Coalition needs to undo John Howard's damage and tackle the government's tax shortfall.

Malcolm Turnbull offers a lesson in policy flexibility.

Gonski ingredients need a recipe

COMMENT

A little more money, yes, but don't expect schools to improve. That's a much harder problem.

Leaders from the South Sudanese community patrolled the Moomba Festival in March to help prevent the youth violence of ...

Media should realise their power to damage is great

It's easy to whip up fear but we should be doing better.

David Gonski, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham.

Gonski 2.0 leaves Abbott's legacy a smoking ruin

Tony Abbott's term in office is now a smoking ruin.

Matt Canavan, who represents northern Queensland voters.

The minister for Queensland

COMMENT

State of origin still matters a great deal in federal politics, which isn't entirely a party v party contest.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is 'the most talked about person in Australia over the past week'.

The West's high culture is the best antidote to discrimination

COMMENT

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.

Campaign highlights - and lowlights

Election 2016

The hurly-burly of the 2016 election campaign, as seen through the eyes of Fairfax reporters and photographers.

Federal Politics