Latest
- Opinion
- Opinion
Victoria’s byelection shows we need two-party system more than ever
Minor parties and independents lack the experience and ability to govern when it comes to serious policy issues facing Australia.
- Georgina Downer
- Opinion
- Opinion
Liberal Party is yet to heed the message sent in Werribee
State and federal oppositions will draw encouragement from the byelection result. But neither has shown voters a coherent and credible budget and economic strategy.
- Updated
- Saul Eslake
- Analysis
- Federal election
Labor’s worst fears confirmed, Greens get another reality check
If the Werribee swing was replicated uniformly in Victoria at the federal election, Labor would lose about 11 seats.
- Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Opinion
Victoria byelection results could be terminal for Albanese
If state Labor and the Greens can’t hold state seats such as Werribee and Prahran in Victoria, things are looking terminal for the Albanese government.
- John Black
Victoria’s byelections pave Dutton’s path to The Lodge
Former Victorian leader Jeff Kennett says if Labor loses the safe seat of Werribee in Melbourne’s west, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s leadership is at risk.
- Patrick Durkin
This Month
- Exclusive
- Energy
Victoria on blackout alert amid south-east heatwave
A three-day heatwave across south-east Australia is expected to push Victoria’s energy grid to the limit with experts urging the government to secure gas supplies.
- Patrick Durkin
January
- Opinion
- Jacinta Allan
All of a sudden, Allan is running out of time in Victoria
New polling that reveals a record slump in support for Victorian Labor will have Prime Minister Anthony Albanese worried too.
- Patrick Durkin
- Opinion
- Opinion
Three lessons for Liberals to win in Victoria
New state party leader Brad Battin must offer a clear alternative to Labor’s high-tax, high-debt governance.
- Georgina Downer
December 2024
Former cop Brad Battin to challenge for Victorian Liberal leadership
A spill vote against embattled Opposition Leader John Pesutto is slated for Friday, but a ballot will first decide if absent MPs can vote remotely.
- Hannah Wootton
‘Jacinta’s Christmas present’: Liberal anger as Vic chaos rolls on
The party remains in turmoil after a meeting to reinstate ousted MP Moira Deeming was split 14-all, ensuring the internal row continues into next year.
- Gus McCubbing
‘Darn sensible’ Labor states outcompete Victoria, says top Liberal
Shadow treasurer Brad Rowswell has been in Britain looking at how the state might get in on the AUKUS action, and ruing the salesmanship of rivals NSW and SA.
- Hans van Leeuwen
October 2024
- Exclusive
- Energy
AGL, EnergyAustralia coal power deals with Victoria kept secret
The Victorian Labor government has been slammed for keeping secret the cost of deals to underwrite the state’s two coal-fired power plants.
- Patrick Durkin
- Exclusive
- Energy
The secret plan to bring a floating LNG terminal to Melbourne
The Victorian government is examining a floating liquefied natural gas terminal in the southwest of Port Phillip Bay.
- Patrick Durkin
September 2024
Neo-Nazis boasted of protecting rally Deeming helped plan, court told
Social media posts made by a neo-Nazi leader have been read out to a court during MP Moira Deeming’s defamation trial against Liberal leader John Pesutto.
- Gus McCubbing and Patrick Durkin
‘Grab the popcorn’: Vic Liberal civil war goes prime time
In one sense, ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s defamation case against John Pesutto is about free speech. But it threatens to engulf Peter Dutton’s federal opposition.
- Patrick Durkin
August 2024
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Auditors warned against Vic government’s $37m space balloon bet
Auditors expressed “substantial doubt” about the financial viability of a space exploration start-up, a year before Breakthrough Victoria placed a huge bet on the US company.
- Patrick Durkin and Gus McCubbing
October 2023
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Virtual Labor-CFMEU partnership shows up on Victoria’s bottom line
Victorians deserve better than to be governed by a ruthless political machine in partnership with a renegade union at great cost to the state’s public finances.
- The AFR View
August 2023
Liberals retain Warrandyte in Victorian byelection
Nicole Werner is on track to secure 60 per cent of the primary vote in the state seat, a result Opposition Leader John Pesutto says is warning to Daniel Andrews.
- Callum Godde, Tara Cosoleto and Rachael Ward
June 2023
- Exclusive
- Political leadership
Business lobby groups captured by Andrews: insider
Former Victorian Property Council head Danni Hunter says groups like the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry are “compromised” by their reliance on grants.
- Patrick Durkin
Andrews’ inner circle urges him to stay on
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is being urged to stay on by his inner circle, amid growing speculation he may be preparing to hand over to a successor.
- Patrick Durkin
May 2023
- Exclusive
- Political leadership
Labor Right to challenge Daniel Andrews’ succession plan
Victorian Labor MP Ben Carroll has been canvassing support in case Premier Daniel Andrews makes an early exit, amid a shake-up of the Labor factions.
- Patrick Durkin and Gus McCubbing
April 2023
- Opinion
- Victorian budget
Victoria’s crippled finances are all Daniel Andrews’ fault
Having resisted any appeals from the federal government for moderation in 2020 and 2021, it is a bit rich for the Victorian premier to look to Canberra now for help in fixing his budget black hole.
- Robert Carling
Liberals bank on homeownership to fix ‘broken’ party
Liberal MP Keith Wolahan says boosting home ownership is the pathway back to government, as it is traditionally tied to a conservative vote.
- Gus McCubbing
March 2023
Deeming not kicked out of party, as Pesutto blinks
Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been suspended, but not expelled, from the party after attending an anti-trans rights rally that was gate-crashed by neo-Nazis.
- Gus McCubbing
January 2023
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Letters: Legislate Indigenous Voice, delay vote
Indigenous Voice and referendum; stamp duty bracket creep; Labor’s climate politics; submarines: nuclear or not?; Iran and Afghanistan; Victorian Liberals.