opinion
Paul Bongiorno
opinion April 10, 2021
No political jab to inoculate Morrison
The handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is rapidly becoming a political crisis for the federal government. It’s no longer the circuit-breaker that restored the Coalition’s fortunes after the Black Summer bushfires, it has morphed into an indictment of...
law & crime April 3, 2021
All governments have horror stretches; the Morrison government is certainly no exception, as the past six weeks attest. But it is how governments deal with these political crises that can seal or save their fate. The Americans have a colourful turn...
law & crime March 20, 2021
All of a sudden, the Morrison government is looking very vulnerable. And the prime minister knows it. Like all governments staggering towards the political abyss, it is not only events beyond their control at play but also, more importantly, their...
law & crime March 27, 2021
Government’s bailout scuppered
The Morrison government resembles a sinking ship in one of those pirate movies where practically everything, including the cannons, is thrown overboard in an attempt to stay afloat. And there has been a good deal of ballast unloaded in this sitting...
law & crime March 13, 2021
Key ministers in the political line of fire over the past two weeks will be missing in action when parliament resumes on Monday. The Morrison government, currently being held together by gum and string, is in full strategic retreat in the hope it...
politics December 12, 2020
PM’s year-end review masks ongoing woes
The prime minister was more the circuit preacher than “Scotty from marketing” as he addressed the final Coalition party room meeting of the year. His stirring words of self-congratulation were tempered with a gentle reminder they all needed to stay...
politics December 5, 2020
PM looks rattled as he feeds the trolls
Upon mature reflection, it is increasingly looking as though Scott Morrison’s angry reaction to a “truly repugnant” social media attack from a Chinese government official has only deepened the crisis in the relationship between the two nations. The...
politics November 28, 2020
Can Australia’s relationship with China be healed?
China’s “Wolf Warrior diplomacy” is proving more than a menacing howl for Australia, and what to do about it seems beyond the gumption of the Morrison government. It is one thing for the prime minister to dismiss a list of grievances from the...
politics November 21, 2020
Robo-debt: a government-sanctioned debt sentence
An inconvenient truth rocked the Morrison government this week when it was finally brought to some account over the long-running robo-debt scandal. The whole sorry saga demonstrates how far this cabinet and its leader have strayed from a...
politics November 14, 2020
Political climate changes with Biden win
Australia’s political leaders were among the first to declare their faith in America’s democracy when the Biden victory in the presidential election became clear. They realised that what was at stake was the credibility of a nation that for the past...
environment November 7, 2020
Palaszczuk’s one day, and also the next
You may not have noticed, and that was the whole idea. The moment it was clear Labor’s Annastacia Palaszczuk had won a thumping victory in the Queensland election, Scott Morrison disappeared from view. The prime minister, who had spent a week on the...
