This Month
Chalmers, economists slam Coalition’s debt reduction fund
The government and economists argue a Coalition plan to establish a new investment fund to help pay down debt will have the opposite effect.
Four charts that show the Coalition (still) has a women problem
The Coalition has not added more women candidates despite knowing three years ago that they were key to winning back the female vote, according to a new study.
How the Liberals picked a fight with another type of woman
Scott Morrison’s government lost inner-city professional women to the teals. Now, Peter Dutton’s opposition is risking those in the outer suburbs.
Dutton’s woman problem was serious long before his WFH policy
The failure to anticipate the backlash is one thing, but it was made even worse by the fact Dutton was already on the nose with women.
‘We have listened’: Dutton dumps work from home crackdown
The opposition leader has abandoned his pledge to crack down on public servants working from home following backlash from women and the growing perception he was aping Donald Trump.
Work from home fiasco risks pleasing no one
Peter Dutton’s best hope is that voters give him points for admitting he overreached.
Labor targets Dutton’s WFH wind-back as ‘straight from DOGE playbook’
Labor will launch an attack on the Coalition’s return-to-the-office plans and public sector cuts by comparing them to Elon Musk’s cost-cutting outfit under Trump.
March
Labor’s pitch: deficit not as bad as pandemic times
The Albanese government is banking on voters looking past the budget plunging back into deficit for the next 10 years.
Stop the bloat: Coalition pushed to go harder on public service cuts
The Coalition should implement an immediate public service hiring freeze and launch a bureaucracy-wide audit to root out wasteful spending, according to a new plan.
Libs mull changes to emissions plan, promise more gas
The Coalition says more domestic gas is the solution to lower energy prices and is considering change the rules of Labor’s safeguard mechanism to cut industry emissions.
Budget surplus a distant dream amid cost-of-living auction
Jim Chalmers can’t say when he’ll next deliver a surplus budget while the Coalition is aiming for some time within the next decade.
Coalition targets Climate 200 candidates over Greens affiliations
Polls show neither major party will win enough seats to form a majority government, so focus is on independents who could hold the balance of power.
Dutton softens pledge to ban WFH after anti-woman criticism
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton now says he would like pre-COVID rates of remote work, after saying he wanted public servants back in the office five days a week.
Dutton rekindles threat to forcibly break-up insurers
The opposition leader has moved to clear up internal confusion, if not division.
Coalition’s Jane Hume was once a flexible work cheerleader
It’s not even three years since the senator was once citing flexible work as core to women’s economic security.
Top bureaucrats say work-from-home has gone too far
Former Treasury boss John Fraser and former NDIA head Martin Hoffman say public servants need to be in the office regularly to collaborate.
Coalition to force public servants to return to the office
Opposition frontbencher Jane Hume says working from home has become unsustainable, with a Dutton government to force public servants to the office five days per week.
February
Electoral commission probes four teal fundraising vehicles
Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume has accused four Climate 200-backed independent candidates of trying to avoid transparency.
How you’re paying for Facebook ads promoting Labor policies
Labor has ratcheted up taxpayer-funded advertising since the start of the year, including $100,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads in the past week.
‘Gross politicisation’: Liberals fire warning shot at public servants
Public service workers must be warned against inappropriate political activities in the lead-up to the election, the Coalition says.