opinion
Paul Bongiorno
ir August 13, 2022
Diplomatic, systematic, emblematic: Dutton’s ceased enlightening
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is putting extreme strain on Australia’s bipartisan foreign policy when it comes to dealing with our biggest trading partner, China. He continues to speak very loudly while Australia is carrying a stick he admits isn’t...
politics August 6, 2022
It still hasn’t dawned on the Liberal and National parties why they suffered such a stunning defeat at the May election. Maybe Labor’s slender majority masks the rejection of the Liberals in their heartland seats, which resulted in a near-record...
environment July 23, 2022
Glass half-empty (or 43 per cent full)
The full impact of the change of government nine weeks ago will be clear on Tuesday when the new parliament sits for the first time. It will be an acid test for the Albanese government . The test is one it has largely set for itself, in terms of...
indigenous affairs July 30, 2022
Putting a statement into action
More than any other figure in our democracy, a prime minister can influence the direction of the nation. Anthony Albanese knows it, and he is not allowing the most difficult economic and strategic circumstance in more than three decades to deter him...
politics July 16, 2022
What’s behind Tony Abbott’s return to the spotlight?
No one did more to shape the direction of Australian politics in the past decade than Tony Abbott. His ruthless and determined resistance to effective action on climate change was reprehensibly short-sighted but was the template for four election...
politics June 25, 2022
Thirty-four is the number and it has turned federal parliamentary politics on its head. After an agonising month of counting and distributing preferences for both houses of the parliament, the Australian Electoral Commission has tabulated the...
economy June 18, 2022
The week the energy crisis hit home
This week, the need for the new Albanese government to fix the mess it has inherited became personal for millions of Australians at the mercy of a failed energy market . The threat of blackouts and of freezing in their homes in the middle of one of...
politics June 11, 2022
Albanese finds his balance on a bamboo bike
Visual stunts – or picture opportunities, as they are called in the trade – are nothing new in contemporary politics. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is just as addicted as any of the practitioners. On Tuesday, he provided the visual metaphor of a...
politics June 4, 2022
Ghosts of prime ministers past
“We have just pissed up against the wall another two terms in government.” That was the angry response of a senior minister in the Rudd Labor government the day after Julia Gillard mounted her palace coup in 2010. Three months later, Gillard did...
ir May 28, 2022
There has been an earthquake in Australian parliamentary democracy, which has checked the dominance of the two major parties and demonstrated two-thirds of the country were hungry for change. The Liberal–National Coalition government was swept from...
politics May 21, 2022
Expectations of a Labor victory today have been trimmed dramatically. Far from the landslide many were increasingly confident of just a week ago, forming a minority government is now widely seen as the best they can expect. The possibility of Scott...
