Inside Politics

French President Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian and UK prime ministers Mark Carney and Keir Starmer have all called for Palestine to be recognised one way or another.  But Anthony Albanese remains cautious. So what is the Australian Prime Minister waiting for? This week on  Inside Politics,  European correspondent David Crowe, national security correspondent Matthew Knott and chief p...

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces tricky terrain with the government lifting a ban on US beef imports to Australia this week, leaving him open to suggestions he has capitulated to pressure from Donald Trump. We also witnessed a democratic festival in the form of the opening of the new parliament, with former foes Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack putting differences aside to attack the gover...

Well, here we are, a new term of parliament begins next week. There’ll be fresh faces and, hopefully, fresh ideas. So will the government use its massive majority to press ahead with major reforms in housing, or tax, and how will opposition leader Sussan Ley and her team rebuild their battered party? Before we get to that, the news this week has been dominated by Anthony Albanese’s tri...

What do the great war time Prime Minister John Curtin, and current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have in common?  Well, a little bit, according to Albanese.  On the weekend the PM delivered the John Curtin Oration and set tongues wagging with hints about his newly independent stance when it comes to our relationship with the United States.  But how will this land with the Trump ad...

The creation of a National Anti-Corruption Commission was a key Labor promise before it won Government in 2022. The Commission was duly created and this week it released the findings of its first ever investigation.  But was it a little anti-climactic? Can we hope for bigger and better corruption-busting in the future?  Plus, interest rate cuts and the confusing matter of the Trump tarif...

She is a former shearer, a pilot and a mother of three children. She has a dark past as a punk in Canberra. She has been one of the only women in the room in successive Liberal cabinets. She was the deputy to former opposition leader Peter Dutton, and following the last election, she took his job.  She is, of course, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Today, chief political commentator James Masso...

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to the G7 summit with high hopes of scoring a sidelines-meeting with US President Donald Trump. The PM wanted to discuss the AUKUS pact, and the tariffs that the US government has put on Australian aluminium and iron ore among other things.  But events overtook, and Trump left the summit to deal with the escalating conflict between Israel a...

This week the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a big speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, and used it to dangle the prospect of economic reform.  During its first term, the Albanese government was criticised for not being bold enough in its agenda. So is the PM signalling he will use his huge majority to institute major reform? What would a daring economic reform agenda look lik...

The dramatic shakeout from the general election continued this week, this time from the left wing of Australian politics, with WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox defecting to Labor.  It was a coup for a triumphant Prime Minister.  But will the PM live to regret his new recruit? What does Senator Cox’s defection mean for the much-depleted Greens party? And how does it fit with the PM&rsq...

Well, they fight, they break up, they kiss, they make up.  Never before have the lyrics of a Katy Perry song been more relevant to federal politics. After last week’s shock split, this week the Coalition got back together again. But at what cost? What compromises have been made on both sides? And will the Nats and the Libs be able to work constructively together after all the drama?&nbs...

It was high drama this week with the Nationals telling the Liberals they wanted a political divorce. But by Thursday, the separation – like a marriage on the rocks – was placed on hold while further conversations took place.   So what happened? And what’s going to be better for both parties, and the political health of the nation? Here to discuss the drama, we have our...

Newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins chief political correspondent David Crowe and federal political reporter Paul Sakkal for an exclusive interview on Inside Politics. They chat about the new Labor cabinet, Albanese's thumping mandate, plans for the term ahead and a new phrase the prime minister is trying out - progressive patriotism. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.s...

It will go down as one of the most resounding victories in Australian political history. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese out-performed the expectations of just about everyone last weekend, decimating the Liberal party to the extent where even its leader lost his own seat. So, what next for Labor? As the caucus gathers in Canberra on Friday, we look at the new faces in the team and discuss which ar...

Well, that was quick, about two and a half hours after the polls had closed, the election had already been called for the incumbent Labor government. But as the night went on, Anthony Albanese’s win was looking like a landslide, and Labor increased its majority in parliament. For the opposition, it was disastrous, its leader Peter Dutton has lost his seat in parliament and recriminations wil...

Today we bring you a special episode recorded in the south-west Victorian electorate of Wannon. The seat encompasses tourist towns from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road, to Warrnambool.  And who better to tell the evolving story of Wannon than our associate editor and special writer Tony Wright. He was born in Heywood, grew up on sheep and cattle properties in the Western District, went to sc...

Well, it’s finally here. Saturday is election day, and by Saturday night we will have some idea of who is going to govern Australia for the next three years, during this volatile and pivotal moment in global history.  Today, we talk about the seats to watch on election night, the ones that will determine the outcome of the poll.  And we will also zoom out to the bigger picture.&nbs...

Salmon farming is not something most voters consider when they go to the polls on election day. But for Tasmanian voters, it is a huge and often divisive issue. This debate about the environmental effects of salmon farming is playing out in an election where any other discussion of the environment is pretty much non-existent. Which is curious because energy policy goes hand-in-hand with the enviro...

This week we are doing a special podcast about our complicated relationship with political polls. As journalists, we like them because, maybe, they can tell us something about what voters are really thinking. But we are a bit wary of them too. Especially after the federal election in 2019, where the polls were wrong. That caused a massive rethink in how polling is done, and how we in the media rel...

The threat teal independents pose in this election - to the dominance of the two-party system, to the stability of our parliament and to the Liberal Party’s base - is very real. Today, we focus on two of these seats: Bradfield in Sydney and Kooyong in Melbourne where the teals and the Libs are neck and neck. City reporter for The Age Rachael Dexter and NSW political editor Alexandra Smith jo...

This week on the campaign saw the release of competing housing policies, and the appearance of Peter Dutton’s son Harry.  But in many ways the campaign continued to be overshadowed by Donald Trump. Labor is making increasingly explicit attacks trying to link Dutton to the US president. And Dutton’s cause wasn’t helped with one of his key frontbenchers aped a Trump slogan. Do...

This week our revered economics editor Ross Gittins wrote an essay for the Age and Sydney Morning Herald, in which he lamented the state of this election campaign in particular, and Australian politics in general.  The essay was titled “They treat us like mugs”, and Ross did not miss with his critique of the timidity and cynicism of the two major parties’ campaigns.  Gi...

No one fell off a stage this week, but we did see the two party leaders face off for their first debate, plus the Coalition released modelling of its gas policy. With energy prices so crucial in this election, we are going to take a closer look at the Coalition’s gas plan - is it credible or is it just a cover-up for a nuclear policy that may never come off?  Chief political corresponde...

US President Donald Trump has officially unleashed chaos on the world's financial markets. It's a strange time to be campaigning for election, but Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton must adjust and carry on. So how is the incredible international volatility impacting the election campaign? Will all this disruption be favourable for the incumbent PM? And do Australian voters really want a candidate...

Week one of the election campaign is done. Albanese has been hammering his Medicare message. Dutton has sought to broaden his image but is still playing to type, telling Sky News that he is ready to “fight” Donald Trump on Australia’s behalf, if necessary. So who won the week? And what is it like to be on the campaign trail with the leaders as a journalist, catching mystery fligh...

When Anthony Albanese couldn't name the cash rate, or the unemployment rate on day one of his last campaign, it was a moment that could have lost him the election. But, as The Age and Sydney Morning Herald ’s associate editor Tony Wright says, he was up against Scott Morrison who was "on the nose" across the nation. And that was before Morrison spear-tackled a child at a soccer match. Campai...