Tag: politics

OPINION & ANALYSIS: If Malcolm Turnbull is to draw any comfort from a self-inflicted wound, he might consider the history of leaders who have endured bad polling and prevailed.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Russians had to leave within a week “for actions inconsistent with their status”.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: In light of the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data harvesting scandal, how should your social media data be accessed and used by researchers?

Super Saturday had positive spin-offs for both federal leaders, but substantially more for Bill Shorten than Malcolm Turnbull.

The South African government and its relationship with Australia may have taken a bad turn, denying its farmers face persecution as claimed by Peter Dutton.

Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has directed his department to explore whether South African farmers can be accepted into Australia through refugee, humanitarian or other visas.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The term “gun lobby” seems to be applied to anything from large industry groups through to an individual writing a letter to the editor. Nevertheless, it instantly evokes frightening imagery of America’s National Rifle Association (NRA).

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The “frustration” the Coalition feels is less because of any Labor moralising and more because the government is killing itself with its own mistakes.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Today the Commonwealth exists as an organisation in search of a rationale. When this coalition of whimsy meets a hard policy issue, its solidarity falls victim to its diversity, while its breadth of membership can’t deliver real weight and gravitas in the present day.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Malcolm Turnbull will be relieved to have some time away from the Barnaby Joyce affair while he is in Washington.

With deputy PM Barnaby Joyce on leave, dug in and defiant, feedback coming from the party’s grassroots is that he should step down as Nationals leader, while support is eroding in the officialdom of the party.

The plunge in relations between the two leaders following the revelation of Joyce's affair with a former staffer is now threatening Coalition unity, with uncertainty about how the situation will play out.

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce is said to be very aware of the hurt in the party and the fact that he has to work to mend the political damage caused as a result of his affair with former staffer Vikki Campion, who is expecting his child.

Lamb, who holds the marginal Queensland seat of Longman, took steps to renounce her British citizenship but the UK authorities required her parents’ marriage certificate, which she did not produce.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Despite the added complication of Brexit negotiations and the nostalgic attachment to past glory, the prospect of Commonwealth becoming Empire 2.0 remains, as The Economist suggested, “cobblers”.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: High Commissioner Downer has a list of priors, says TESS LAWRENCE who has been studying his form for decades. In the first part of this series, she pulls no punches.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: This is the message to take into 2018: whatever side one might be on the Brexit divide, let’s all admit the complexities, and demand that politicians do the same.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Based at Faslane are Britain’s nuclear armed Trident submarines while at nearby Coulport a mind boggling 220 nuclear weapons are stored inside a mountain. Protesters have been keeping watch for 35 years and counting.

Ambassador to the US contacted the FBI about George Papadopoulos's alleged comments to Australia's High Commissioner in the UK, revealing links to Russia.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: 2017 has been a year of deep uncertainty in much of the world, while in Australian politics it has been one in which policy progress has been swamped by other distractions.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: I am sick of the sick the body politic and the contempt shown towards 'we, the people', writes Tess Lawrence.

Senator George Brandis set to become Australia’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom following a ministerial reshuffle by Malcolm Turnbull.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, has let its displeasure over questions of influence in Australian politics be known.

There was ecstatic scenes in a packed public gallery, with people draped in rainbow flags singing “I am, you are, we are Australian”, and some MPs joining in from the chamber floor.

Evidence cannot be found that Victorian MP David Feeney has renounced his British citizenship. Labor would be at high risk of losing his Melbourne seat of Batman to the Greens if he were found to be ineligible.

The Australian parliamentary week will be dominated by same-sex marriage and MPs’ citizenship. The government will also introduce a suite of legislation targeting foreign interference and espionage, all while welcoming back Barnaby Joyce.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: As former British PM David Cameron said, he supported same-sex marriage because he is a conservative. Unfortunately, his Australian counterparts have a less generous vision of conservatism.

The Queensland state election result makes the byelection in Bennelong on December 16 even more important.

A tearful senator said she was “heartbroken” and would ask that her case be referred to the High Court.

ALP Abroad president urges registered Queensland voters to have their say in high stakes state poll, warning of One Nation influence.

LGBTQI community celebrates as the results of the postal survey show Australians are in favour of marriage equality 62% to 38%, paving the way for legislation.

Kristina Keneally, a former premier of NSW, announces high profile candidacy for seat vacated over citizenship crisis, threatening the Coalition's majority.

Tasmanian independent senator Jacqui Lambie steps down after discovering she is a British citizen.

Labor claimed it got all it wanted in the deal; the government claimed the ALP wished to include further clauses designed to clear MPs on the basis that they had taken “reasonable steps” to renounce dual citizenship.

Malcolm Turnbull stressed this would not be an audit – for which there have been widespread calls. Meanwhile, Liberal backbencher John Alexander "believes" his father renounced British citizenship.

Bill Shorten says Labor would support a ‘universal disclosure to the parliament’ on citizenship, as crisis continues to unfold.

Acting Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said it was “extraordinary that the president of the Senate – who oversaw several High Court referrals – did not reflect on his own eligibility until just days ago”.

Barnaby Joyce heard the news while he was in his electorate. He goes into the byelection virtually certain to be returned – especially after the former independent MP for the seat, Tony Windsor, announced he would not stand.

Michaelia Cash under fire, telling a Senate estimates hearing the tip-off by her staffer of a Federal Police raid on AWU offices was made without her knowledge.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Australia’s campaign for a seat on the Human Rights Council opened it to further scrutiny of its record on such issues.

Malcolm Turnbull’s government is now more than two-thirds of the way to the 30 losing Newspolls which Turnbull used in challenging Tony Abbott for leadership.

ABS estimates it has now received 10 million ballots. Anglican diocese reveals it gave $1 million to 'no' campaign while 'yes' campaign urges those who have not yet voted, including people overseas, to do so.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Speaking in London this week to a climate sceptics group, Tony Abbott gestured to what seems to be happening in government policy – but then set the bar higher.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: As Tony Abbott accepts another pat on the back from a roomful of climate deniers in London, we may wonder how long business interests in Australia will tolerate his wrecking, undermining and sniping.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: In the short term, this further evasion of the Brexit issues means the ship of state can sail on, with May at the helm. But we should all be concerned about such weak leadership and its potential consequences.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: The enlightened global citizen understands that there doesn’t have to be a tension between a nationalistic sense of duty and a moral obligations to the rest of the world.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Research shows young people are passionate about issues like marriage equality, but many do not understand how governments are formed and prime ministers elected.

The Australian government is providing minimal detail of those who have so far passed the Americans’ “extreme vetting” and been approved to go, saying it is up to the US to do that.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: Without an adequate counter from the Yes campaign – especially one offering more emotionally compelling messages – the advantages of the No campaign are likely to narrow the polling gap significantly.

OPINION & ANALYSIS: For many people, the only reference point for what war with North Korea looks like is the ever-popular 70s television series M*A*S*H.