“That is all you need to know about election 2016. It is a battle of two battles. The Coalition needs voters to see it as a choice between stability and instability. The ALP needs the same voters to decide their vote based on fairness versus unfairness.”

“It is the worst type of cynicism to use the battle against Daesh as some kind of proxy for the fight between Liberal moderates and conservatives.”

“Abbott must now decide, firmly and without second-guessing himself, what it is he wants to achieve in politics. ”

“Both the public and the Liberal backbench get confusing signals about the government’s policy. That suggests either genuine tension between Abbott and Hockey, or a failure to get media strategies lined up. ”

“A complaint turns us all into comrades-in-outrage. They’re easy to agree with, even if you happen to like the person or party being complained about.”

“Many, myself included, thought that Abbott the tight-lipped automaton would become a convincing human once he had actually been elected. We were wrong.”

Scott Morrison’s abuse of language ties the asylum-seeker debate in Orwellian knots.

The budget reveals the government’s inability to put itself in the shoes of its electorate.