Michelle Grattan
Dan Andrews’ red carpet walk in Beijing puts Albanese on the spot
Despite he and his government being in an overwhelmingly dominant position politically, Anthony Albanese sounded quite tetchy at times this week. He...
Mike Burgess, the spycatcher who gives ASIO a very public face
If the intelligence community had its Logies, ASIO chief Mike Burgess would be chasing gold this week. The director-general of security, who...
Laundry basket of reform leaves a lot of washing to be done
As Jim Chalmers was navigating his economic reform roundtable, his colleague Mark Butler on Wednesday took a dive from the 10-metre board...
Albanese naive to think Hamas wouldn’t welcome Palestinian recognition
If Anthony Albanese thought the government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state would be a relatively smooth operation in terms of politics,...
Anthony Albanese marches cautiously towards Palestinian recognition
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been putting it succinctly, declaring it’s a question of when, not if, Australia recognises Palestine as a state....
Aggrieved Liberals stamp their feet, testing Sussan Ley’s authority
As any leader of a political party knows, when you demote people they can become difficult, or worse. Among Opposition Leader Sussan...
Net zero battle has net zero positives for Sussan Ley
There’s no other way of looking at it: Sussan Ley faces a diabolical situation with the debate over whether the Coalition should...
New parliament presents traps for both Albanese and Ley
Anthony Albanese hasn’t been in any rush to convene the new Parliament, which Governor-General Sam Mostyn will open on Tuesday. It’s only...
Childcare is a ‘canary in mine’ warning for wider problems in policy delivery
It’s such a familiar pattern. When a big scandal breaks publicly, governments jump into action, ministers rush out to say they’ll “do...
How two once hot-button issues this week barely sparked media and political interest
Political and news cycles often work in a certain and predictable way. Issues flare like bushfires, then rage for weeks or even...