Tag: politics

OPINION & ANALYSIS: With Australia-China relations at a low point – due to Australia’s foreign interference legislation, the banning of Huawei from 5G network and other issues – there’s no indication when an invitation might come. Not that the Prime Minister wants to seem anxious.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Trump isn’t the first deeply unpopular president Australia has seen and he won’t be the last.

Liberal MP Liu issued a statement following a politically disastrous interview with Sky on Tuesday night in which she repeatedly floundered when pressed on her connections to Chinese organisations.

The taskforce will have members from universities, national security agencies and the federal education department.

Dr Yang has been held in Beijing under harsh conditions, without access to lawyers or family for more than seven months before being formally arrested.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The operations of the Chinese Communist Party are generally opaque, especially to outsiders. But in recent years, the party’s reach and influence with the Chinese diaspora has become much more obvious, particularly in Australia.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Nigel Farage is due to make a return to Australia at this weekend’s CPAC event, alongside Tony Abbott, Raheem Kassam and other right-wing speakers.

“We are deeply concerned by the heightened tensions in the region and we strongly condemn the attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman." - Australia's Defence Minister Linda Reynolds

The citizenship provision of the Constitution’s section 44 has raised its head again.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: New UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will succeed or fail on the back of the single dominant issue that dominates British politics: Brexit.

As the debate over religious freedom heats up, the attorney-general has flagged that any proposed legislation would cover a situation like the Folau case.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: In his first major policy address, Ken Wyatt noted how previous governments have failed Indigenous Australians with a ‘top-down, command and control approach.’

The Reserve Bank made it clear it could cut further if necessary.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison laying out economic policies “to get Australians off the economic sidelines and on the field again”.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese says the ALP as an organisation had the right to determine who joined.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Mass pro-democracy demonstrations have underscored the fact that Hong Kong residents are fearful of creeping mainland control. From Australia’s standpoint, the disturbances come at an awkward moment.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The police raids on the ABC and a News Corp journalist have forced us to think again about the role of the media in a democracy.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: After last week obtaining a place in the shadow ministry and becoming Labor’s deputy Senate leader, with two men standing aside to make way for her, Keneally now takes on one of the toughest players in the Coalition.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Take a closer look at the members of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's newly revamped cabinet.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Scott Morrison has proved himself excellent at campaigning. We will find out this term how well he can govern.

SPECIAL FEATURE: While debates about policy are to be expected, young voters are ultimately willing to support leaders who are transparent, honest, and who will advance the national interest rather than the interests of their own faction or party.

SPECIAL FEATURE: If the polls are right, Bill Shorten will become the next prime minister. But what kind of prime minister would he be?

SPECIAL FEATURE: It’s possible to overthink Scott Morrison. A long-time associate and friend says “what you see is what you get”.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: This is certainly not the first time a Labor leader has had a bash at the Murdoch media in a recent campaign. But it was probably one of the more effective.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: A hearing on whether Julian Assange should be extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States was held on last week in London. Our writer Paul O'Hanlon, who is a supporter of Assange, was at the court.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Despite some tightening on two-party preferred measures, the polls have Labor on track for a win on May 18.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: A major step in the right direction and potentially a watershed moment for a more sustainable global future. Is it too much to hope Australia could follow next?

A Labor government would probably have to negotiate with the Greens to get its climate policy through the Senate.

The prime minister has announced that the number of migrants coming to Australia as refugees will be frozen at 18,750.

Labor says the situation needs to end where about four in five temporary skilled worker visas are given for occupations for which there aren’t local shortages.

President of ALP Abroad urges overseas Australians, particularly those in the UK, to make sure they are registered in time to vote in the upcoming federal election.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Australian voters really dislike politicians. This is not new – it was there even in colonial times – but it is potent and growing.

Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie said: “This decision is environmental vandalism at its most extreme, facilitated by the most useless environment minister the country’s ever seen”.

Bill Shorten lays out Labor's alternative budget plan as Parliament winds up and the nation waits for the election starting gun.

The Morrison government has delivered an election-launch budget with big personal income tax handouts to attract voters and a A$7.1 billion 2019-20 surplus to display its economic credibility. The budget – the first brought down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg – doubles the tax relief that average earners were due to ...

The Australian Conservation Foundation gave Labor’s policy a qualified tick, describing it as “a serious policy response to the existential threat of global warming that recognises pollution must be cut across all industry sectors.”

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The possibility of a general election is very real. If the third vote were lost, an election could offer a way of winning a new majority to implement May’s deal.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The brutal tactics of the gun lobby and the operations of One Nation need exposing. Journalism sometimes has to take on the unsavoury job of extracting the truth from those who do not want to share it.

View from The Hill: For the federal Liberals, the night was a vital morale booster, though the result had been determined mostly on state factors.

"I am not going to single out the comments of one person and ascribe it to a people, whether in Turkey or across Australia. I don’t think it does reflect the views of the Turkish people, or certainly of Turkish Australians,” says Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Scott Morrison took up Jacinda Ardern’s phrase when she said of Muslims “they are us”, and applied it to Australia.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: In the current impasse and unusual circumstances, unexpected and unusual things may still happen.

VIEW FROM THE HILL: Once again, raging energy and climate wars are burning out of control in government ranks.

SPECIAL FEATURE: If Bill Shorten becomes prime minister, will he drive the case for an Australian head of state forward? Can the feted republic even come to pass in the absence of muscular support from both hemispheres of politics?

The exit of Bishop – the best-known Liberal woman and highly popular with voters - underlines the Liberals’ “woman problem”.

SPECIAL FEATURE: In a time when fewer Australians identify with institutional religion than ever before, the church sign is emerging as an intriguing platform for creativity and commentary.

Although the authorities are pointing to a “state actor”, national cyber security adviser Alastair MacGibbon told a news conference: “We don’t know who is behind this, nor their intent.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Tony Abbott’s electorate is getting so socially progressive, he may soon be left behind.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Australia's immigration department doesn't keep a record of the number of people applying for asylum at airports. This means there is no oversight over the treatment of those seeking protection.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, releasing Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s three-volume report which excoriates the financial sector, said the government would be “taking action” on all 76 recommendations.