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Canberra Observed

This Month

Peter Dutton stumbled while promoting his nuclear energy plan.

Dutton not match fit after dodging the pack, or so Labor hopes

When the opposition leader has made a foray into policy detail, he’s found himself on the sticky paper.

  • Phillip Coorey
Anthony Albanese holds a press conference at Sydney’s Jewish Museum.

Albanese looked like he was playing catch-up because he was

This week was not the first time the prime minister’s instincts have been called into question following an inability to get ahead of thorny issues.

  • Phillip Coorey
Allegra Spender, with Ken Henry next to her, launches a green paper on tax.

Teals aren’t letting the Liberals whitewash them as Greens

Allegra Spender’s push to change the definition of small business complicates the Coalition’s attempts to pigeonhole the independents as lefties.

  • Phillip Coorey

November

“Leave nothing on the field”: Anthony Albanese delivered the same message to Labor MPs.

Like Morrison, Albanese’s hoping for a summer of love

Given the confirmation this week by Treasurer Jim Chalmers of a bigger budget deficit this financial year, it would make sense to call a federal election for April 12.

  • Phillip Coorey
In terms of sinister, Rio had a similar feel to the G20 in Argentina in 2018.

Albanese weighed down abroad by parlous state of world

It hasn’t hurt for the prime minister to witness first hand the changing global forces, more so as countries preposition for Trump’s second coming.

  • Phillip Coorey
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Rudd’s language on multiple occasions on social media, be it about Trump or other prime ministers, has been unbecoming for someone who once held the highest office.

Playing flick the ambassador is an old diplomatic game

If Albanese fails where Turnbull succeeded, and tariffs are imposed, it won’t just be Rudd who will be blamed, but the bloke who gave him the job.

  • Phillip Coorey
“Not easy reading for incumbents,” a minister texted this column as the outcome became apparent.

Inflation kills incumbents. Not that Labor needed a reminder

Amid all the fluff, bile and nonsense of the US election campaign, the seminal question was ‘are you better off than you were four years ago?’, and the answer was an emphatic no.

  • Updated
  • Phillip Coorey

October

Second coming: people wonder why

Without trust, our institutions lose authority. Just ask Trump

In 2016 Donald Trump stormed into office on the back of a widespread voter cynicism and distrust. He is a coin toss away from doing so again.

  • Phillip Coorey
Peter Dutton is betting on nuclear enegy.

Dutton has tales to tell, but no log cabin story

For a bloke who has been in parliament for 23 years, much about the Liberal opposition leader remains unknown to the broader electorate.

  • Phillip Coorey
ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee gives the finger to a journalist after a Canberra press conference.

In a sea of volatility, the ACT is Labor’s ‘forever government’

Labor has held power in the territory for 23 years. The Liberals hope that will prove to be enough in this weekend’s election.

  • Phillip Coorey
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during Question Time on Wednesday. Labor’s ‘wedglsation’ is rattling the troops.

Desperate Labor resorts to the ‘wedgislation’ it used to mock

This government is still in its first term yet is deploying end-of-days tactics – an observation not lost in an anxious backbench.

  • Phillip Coorey
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut.

Middle ground on the Middle East is bleeding Labor

A fast end to hostilities in the Middle East would suit the Albanese government as it tries to focus on cost of living.

  • Andrew Tillett

September

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is questioned over negative gearing in Launceston.

Resorting to riddles on negative gearing treats voters as mugs

This week showed the government’s performance remains far from polished when events wander off script.

  • Phillip Coorey

‘Airbus Albo’ grounded as domestic struggles take over

Like a farmer waiting for rain, Albanese will hold out for a pre-election rate cut that could do a lot more to shift the dial than anything he’s tried so far.

  • Phillip Coorey
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Dutton’s strategic reset targets treasurer and the teals

The latest moves are emblematic of a broader offensive buoyed by polls that suggest a very slim possibility of winning enough seats to negotiate minority government.

  • Phillip Coorey
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The public would have the PM in no doubt that prices are the top issue they face.

Just maybe, the worm has started to turn on the cost of living

The short-lived census row has sharply reminded the government that it cannot take its eye off the economic ball now.

  • Phillip Coorey

August

Adam Bandt at the National Press Club of Australia on Wednesday.

Labor should invest in demonising Bandt as well as Dutton

The government wants us to believe Peter Dutton is dangerous and divisive. It might need to focus on the leader of the Greens as well.

  • Phillip Coorey
With the Greens engaged in their usual grandstanding, Shorten could not have secured his breakthrough without the support of the Coalition.

This week showed politics can still work in the national interest

The NDIS breakthrough, the CFMEU deal, and in-principle agreement on aged care reform shows it’s not all about the antics of crossbench issue poseurs or the confected conflict of question time.

  • Phillip Coorey
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock.

Treasurer might have created a monster with RBA reforms

Allowing the straight-talking Michele Bullock a press conference after every rates meeting has diluted the government’s power to control the economic message.

  • Phillip Coorey
Anthony Albanese’s announcement of a 15 per cent wage rise for childcare workers came before the current wage hearing before the Fair Work Commission was finalised.

Short-term politics won’t leave sustainable childcare legacy

Five years ago, Labor promised to subsidise childcare wages and was howled down. Now, it hardly moves the dial.

  • Phillip Coorey

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/canberra-observed-1myt