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Joe KellyNational Affairs editor

Joe Kelly is the National Affairs Editor. He joined The Australian in 2008 and since 2010 has worked in the parliamentary press gallery, most recently as Canberra Bureau chief.

@joekellyoz

Joe Kelly

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Trump V MuskWorld

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. Musk, who stormed into US politics as President Trump's chainsaw-brandishing sidekick, announced on May 28 that he is leaving his role in US government, intended to reduce federal spending, shortly after his first major break with the President over Trump's signature spending bill. (Photo by Allison ROBBERT / AFP)

‘Grotesque’: Republicans resist Big Beautiful Bill amid Musk onslaught

Donald Trump is trying to shore up support for his legislative centrepiece as Elon Musk continues to attack the bills.

Joe Kelly

excluisveDefence

Australia's US ambassador Kevin Rudd meets House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul.

‘Lift spending and send message to Beijing’

US Republican Michael McCaul says Australia would send Xi Jinping and China a powerful message if it increased defence spending.

Joe Kelly and Will Glasgow

COMMENTARYWorld

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Musk dishes up a vital wake-up call for the President

Elon Musk has turned on Donald Trump and threatens to become the leading critic of the President’s legislative agenda, but he is right to sound the alarm over the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Joe Kelly

big beautiful billWorld

Musk calls Trump’s spending bill a ‘disgusting abomination’

In an extraordinary attack on Donald Trump’s legislative centrepiece, Elon Musk warns it will contribute to an unsustainable debt crisis and urges voters to punish Republicans.

Joe Kelly

Rising pressureDefence

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - MAY 30: Defence Minister Richard Marles with United States Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth at the 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue. Picture: X

Hegseth tells Marles: lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP

The request made on the sidelines of the Shangri La dialogue in Singapore is a major increase on the current levels of defence spending.

Joe Kelly

’DOGEFATHER’World

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. Musk, who stormed into US politics as President Trump's chainsaw-brandishing sidekick, announced on May 28 that he is leaving his role in US government, intended to reduce federal spending, shortly after his first major break with the President over Trump's signature spending bill. (Photo by Allison ROBBERT / AFP)

Ketamine claims overshadow Musk’s Oval Office farewell

Donald Trump has said goodbye to Elon Musk, with the world’s richest man saying that cutting government spending was still not as hard as colonising Mars.

Joe Kelly

exclusivePolitics

‘Keep tariffs off for the sake of the world – and Australia’

The lawyer who ran the successful case against Donald Trump’s sweeping levies describes them as a ‘massive, illegal power grab’.

Joe Kelly and Matthew Cranston

Tariff crisisWorld

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Tariffs resume as White House unleashes fury on activist judges

Donald Trump’s tariffs have resumed – for now – but the White House has accused activist judges of trying to usurp the US President’s authority and called for the Supreme Court to intervene.

Joe Kelly

COMMENTARYWorld

(FILES) US President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled

Tariff setback to derail White House’s beautiful plans

Donald Trump will struggle to convince GOP fiscal hawks to pass his tax-cut and spending bill after his sweeping tariffs were found to be illegal by a federal court.

Joe Kelly

America-Australia tiesWorld

Rudd’s pitch to Trump: We can plug US critical minerals gap

Kevin Rudd says an Australian proposal will allow the US to become effectively self-reliant in critical minerals and improve its economic resilience against a rising China.

Joe Kelly

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/joe-kelly/page/2