Chris Wallace

“It wasn’t so much the exuberance of the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures in Arnhem Land that set the tone of federal politics this week, as the troubling economic data on the evening news.”

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on how economic pain is hurting the Voice campaign and what Labor will do if the referendum is lost.

“The very low bar of not losing the Fadden byelection the previous week, and the evident polling success of the aggressive, colonial-tinged ‘No’ team in the Voice campaign, has buoyed Peter Dutton’s Coalition.”

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on the question that is turning up the heat on Anthony Albanese ahead of the budget.

“In any other context, the Albanese government could have expected to be wedged between national security and social security this week – with a debate on spending priorities and its willingness to do so much in one area and so little in another.”

Thirty years ago Paul Keating was photographed for an iconic cover of the Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine. Photojournalist Lorrie Graham and others present recall the shoot.

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on how giving communities a voice could force politicians to face complex challenges.

“The federal government response to crime rates in Alice Springs dominated federal politics this week. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a better-late-than-never visit. His sombre expression contemplating the conditions there was a reminder of just …”

“If there’s one thing Australians want in January, it’s not to be bothered. The Albanese government is doing its best to oblige.”

Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace on how Covid-19 made the wealthy richer and why we can’t be complacent about the virus.

“As surely as Rio Tinto blew up Juukan Gorge, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has blown up the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Dutton rose from the political dead this week, challenging the Albanese government to detail its Voice proposal so Australians …”

“There are so many issues in the ‘big and hard’ basket that Labor can’t afford to spend political capital on unforced fumbles like this week’s decision on inbound Chinese travellers.”

Is the ABC biased or merely a pawn in the culture wars? This week’s senate estimates highlights the broadcaster’s dilemma as senior journalists came under fire from the Coalition.

“The big uptick in one metric in Australia was obvious this week. Political productivity in Canberra is booming. So many issues were substantively pursued by the Albanese government, on so many fronts, it was hard to keep up.”

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on a new season for politics.

“The Albanese government spent the past week coming to grips with theory versus reality in government. The vast gap between the budget handed down by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the media’s reporting of it is still being processed by government MPs. Labor’s …”

A distressed global economy and rising electricity prices are leaving Labor open to Liberal accusations that they’ve broken an election promise to lower power prices.

Politics is once again dictating Covid-19 settings, as national cabinet dumps mandatory isolation and paid pandemic leave.

“National cabinet met virtually this week with the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, in attendance. Kelly was absent from the previous meeting, on August 31, which cut mandated Covid-19 isolation from seven to five days – a decision not supported by …”

Today, author and professor Chris Wallace on who the real burdens are on our economy.

The gender pay gap is alive and well and ‘tax bludgers’ are thriving in Australia, as the latest figures show scores of millionaires paid nothing on their income.

Columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on the end of Anthony Albanese’s honeymoon and the urgent work ahead for the new government.

“It was the drum that alerted them to the political event unfolding on the grass between the old and new parliament buildings early on Saturday afternoon. A ‘freedom movement’ rally was under way. A hundred people gathered around a flatbed …”

Chris Wallace on Albanese’s attempts at a reset.

“The de-ScoMofication of Australia on the world stage took a leap forward this week as the Albanese government consolidated its international relations edge over an enfeebled opposition in a series of high-level meetings in Europe.”

“The savage, reckless, wantonly negligent public health policy of the federal government that is supposed to protect us – and above all, make sure people in places like Kooyong and Higgins never face the horror of queues and half-empty supermarket shelves …”

“If you think a day is a long time in politics, try a week. This one started with Scott Morrison showing off his massive barramundi. It finished with Australia’s uncontrolled Omicron outbreak likely finishing off his government’s chance of …”

“This time next year Australia will be well into the Albanese government’s first term or the Morrison government’s third. If you had to bet your house on it now, which would you predict?”

As the major parties gear up for an impending federal election, which could be held this year, questions are being asked about whether Anthony Albanese is capable of securing Labor victory. Today, Chris Wallace on Labor’s election chances, and what they’ve learnt from the last two years.

“Against this alarming backdrop, one significant question is being asked about the Albanese opposition: Is it capable of winning the election that’s due some time in the next year? ”

For years Susan Ryan fought to get the Sex Discrimination Act passed. Three decades later, the battle continues with a push to bring politicians and judges under the law.

“Remember this quiet week. It is the origin moment of the biggest test of national character Australia has faced in 50 years. Some may have sensed it, others deduced it. But before 2020 arrives, anyone with contemporary historical perspective will know, …”

“This amount of ridicule this early in a prime ministership is unprecedented and probably irreversible. Even Billy McMahon fared better in his ill-fated 21-month-long prime ministership before falling to Labor’s Gough Whitlam. Has any prime minister …”

“Survey the score or more biographies of Murdoch and something becomes perceptible in his core that makes him at some elemental level weirdly like Trump’s psychological twin. This creeping realisation transforms one’s understanding of Murdoch’s Fox …”

“There is a moral case for moving Malcolm Turnbull on. If principles of right and wrong mean anything, using one standard to unseat a rival and another to hold on to the job you stole from him while failing to meet that standard yourself is hypocrisy on …”

It is 16 months since Turnbull became prime minister. In that time, he hasn’t achieved gravitas, has not built authority, and has so far failed to prosecute a substantial political or policy argument of any kind.

By masterminding a preference strategy favouring the Greens in five key seats, the Coalition aims to divide and rule the progressive side of politics.

“Lucy standing at Turnbull’s side now is the biggest bull point for the likely success of a prime ministership that is, as are they all, hostage to the temperament of the protagonist.”

“The conclusion has become inescapable that Hockey is either too thick for the job or too arrogant to get any perspective on his poor performance and fix it.”

“Taxpayers are being set up to pay, literally, for Abbott’s lack of skill or sophistication to manage anything beyond government by diktat. ”

“It is not hard to identify those who cross the line from journalist to polemicist in exchange for being put, as Paul Keating used to call it, on the story “drip”.”

“Sovereign risk from poor national government is on the verge of becoming the greatest risk Australia faces today ... Who wants to back a country that can’t run itself properly?”

“Honestly, does anyone see Loughnane bowling into the PMO and getting the staffer most accountable for the prime minister’s performance, namely his spouse, sacked?”

What led to the grim-faced stumbles of one of the government’s key leaders? An examination of the treasurer’s plunge in popularity.