This Month
Memo to Nats: You can’t abolish net zero if you can’t form government
Sussan Ley had a process to manage the Coalition’s climate policy. The mad rush by Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack to abandon it undoes all that.
Labor delight as Coalition reopens climate wars
Sussan Ley’s problems with managing the opposition’s energy policy just got much worse.
Ley holds the line on climate as Nationals go rogue – again
Barnaby Joyce and other MPs overshadowed the start of parliament with a fresh revolt over climate change policy.
May
Jacinta Price at risk of relegation in new shadow ministry
Her decision to defect to the Liberal Party could come at a cost as she faces being relegated to the shadow outer ministry on the new Coalition frontbench.
Joyce, McCormack face exile on the backbench
Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack are set to be excluded from the shadow ministry.
Coalition to rejoin forces but knives out for Littleproud
The Liberal Party and Nationals will reform the Coalition, but a cloud hangs over David Littleproud’s leadership.
‘I don’t think John Howard has met these Nats’
This week’s stunning split in the Coalition has been building for a decade and insiders blame the Nationals, who have become a party of protest.
Harvard ban hits Aussies; Bonds may upend markets; End of the iPhone?
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
It took five days for the Coalition to fall apart
Negotiations between the two parties fell at the first hurdle. When parliament resumes, the Liberals will hold all 30 shadow ministries and the Nationals will be on the crossbench.
The longer the split, the harder it will be to reconcile
Sussan Ley, who used to hold her own in shearing sheds, is playing hard ball.
February
Rural electorates to benefit from Labor renewables fund
Seats held by National Party MPs are among the big winners of Labor’s $50 million community energy grants program.
August 2024
Sydney Uni enters hiring crackdown amid foreign student cap fallout
Sydney University head Mark Scott has flagged that vacant roles may not be filled in light of the migration reforms targeting international students.
November 2023
Peter V’Landys haunts AHA lunch
The powerful lobby group entertained a room bustling with Labor types. And a few Nationals too.
September 2023
Why claims Australia’s aviation market is competitive don’t fly
The idea that Australia is the world’s most competitive aviation market doesn’t stack up when viewed against arguments used to justify the Qatar decision.
December 2022
McCormack hospitalised after drinking entire bowl of kava
Former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has opened up about being hospitalised after drinking a full bowl of kava during the government’s trip to the Pacific.
Penny Wong takes political foes on Pacific trip
Foreign Minister Penny Wong will lead a bipartisan sweep through the Pacific this week.
May 2022
Pitt supports Joyce as leadership contenders grow
Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud is talking to colleagues about a possible bid to replace Barnaby Joyce, as a possible party room fight looms.
‘After 17 wasted years Australia still has no energy plan’
The nation could have resolved its energy transition by now had it put a price on carbon in 2005, says Origin Energy director and former APA boss Mick McCormack.
October 2021
Politics is often counterintuitive, and climate action is no different
Barnaby Joyce looks every bit the man who knows he has to deliver something that every sinew of his body disagrees with.
September 2021
For farmers, climate change is both headache and a motivator
Unlike coal, there is no easy substitute for meat or dairy produced by belching livestock. But farmers do have other options in their own hands.