New Politics: Australian Politics, News, Analysis & Commentary

January is usually a quiet time in politics but not this year: there are two big elections to be won (NSW and federal elections) and all sides of politics are vying for poll position. Every year is different but this year has been more different than most – it started off with an almost biblical fish kill in the Murray-Darling Basin; and there have been floods in the north and fires in the south....

Another wipeout for the Liberal Party in the southern state of Victoria means their federal counterparts need to watch out, with their election due by May 2019. Was Victoria a win of the good over the bad? No, it shows winning election campaigns can be run on a positive agenda and the big message is: say what you do, and do what you say. But are you listening, Scott Morrison? Leaders are being cha...

We had history in the making in the seat of Wentworth, a by-election thrashing of the Liberals following the resignation of Malcolm Turnbull, and we now have another independent on the crossbenches – come on down, Kerryn Phelps. The LNP has slipped into minority government territory and it's going to be difficult for them to hang on to office at the next general election. The LNP is floundering, a...

The Liberal Party is facing challenges in three big elections – Victoria, NSW and federal – with a few other challenges in the Wentworth by-election. But the biggest issue is money – they haven't got enough to run these elections and, with their biggest fundraisers now out of the spotlight (Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop), where will the money be coming from? The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison,...

It's been dubbed the week of madness in Canberra, but it was also a week of gross incompetence and a fine example of the poor political management that has encompassed the Liberal National Party since it formed government in 2013. Why turn up to a leadership spill without an abacus? Malcolm Turnbull is no longer the Prime Minister. It was the forces led by Tony Abbott and the extreme right wing of...

Super Saturday: it sounds so American, but we had it all in our own backyard – Perth, Fremantle, Mayo, Braddon and Longman. A campaign that started with all the pressure on Bill Shorten completely swung around and returned all the pressure onto Malcolm Turnbull. How did this happen? How did the media get it all wrong? They have form, and have constantly sided with the conservative forces in recent...

Five federal byelections, and we think the more things change, the more they will stay the same. We suggest there will be no change in the numbers on the floor, but politics is so unpredictable in this day and age, so who knows? The Institute of Public Affairs: an insidious influence on politics, or part of the broad church of parliament? No, we think it's insidious and ruining democracy in Austra...

The 2018 Budget was a classic ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ Budget. Who remembers any of the key points, aside from ‘personal tax cut’, and ‘surplus’? (** Read the fine print: tax cuts in seven years). Perhaps that was the main and only message. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, scores of Palestinians have been killed and injured by the Israeli army at the border of the Gaza Strip, and the...