After the leadership spill a difficult task lies ahead for Tony Abbott

Prime Minister Tony Abbott narrowly avoided a leadership spill on Monday. Associate professor in political science Dominic O’Sullivan analyses the main political problems the Prime Minister is facing now.

Political achievements and challenges

Last year, the Abbott Government struggled with the transition from campaigning on shallow slogans to convincing the electorate of the good of its policy agenda. Dominic O’Sullivan sets the political scene for the 20 months that remain until the 2016 election.

Budget 2014 and the politics of ‘class warfare’

The national budget presented this week has been met with resistance and has become a serious electoral gamble. Dominic O’Sulllivan says that some of the budget’s more far reaching measures won’t pass the Senate.

WA Senate re-elections – what does it mean for voters?

The Senate re-election in Western Australia has come and gone almost unnoticed by a seemingly disengaged public. Dominic O’Sullivan argues that to enhance the democratic credentials of our system we need to make sure that the act of voting is sufficiently clear for a vote to mean what the voter intends it to mean.

The political outlook for 2014

The Government and the Opposition are preparing for the year ahead. Dominic O’Sullivan predicts that the budget is going to be a major talking point in 2014.

Integrity and Transparency of the Ballot crucial in WA Senate Elections

The Australian Electoral Commission was forced to apologise after they lost ballot papers in the West Australian Senate recount. Associate professor in political science Dominic O’Sullivan considers the prospects of new elections.

Abbott’s mandate for change

On Saturday 7 September the Coalition Government led by Tony Abbott was victorious in the 2013 Federal Election. Charles Sturt University's Dominic O'Sullivan looks at the outcome and what it means for Australia.

Kevin Rudd’s challenge to sustain public goodwill

Kevin Rudd’s reinstallment as Prime Minister after a dramatic victory over Julia Gillard has exposed profound operational problems within the Labor Party. Dominic O'Sullivan, associate professor in political science at Charles Sturt University, says one lesson to learn is that trust is important in politics.

Harmony or discord? Thatcher’s heritage

Since her death last week, Margaret Thatcher's legacy has been discussed on all sides of the political spectrum. As in her lifetime she remains a polarising figure. Dominic O'Sullivan, associate professor at Charles Sturt University, examines her controversial heritage.

Don’t dismiss regional universities

Associate professor, Dominic O’Sullivan, unpicks contemporary higher education policy and discusses the distinctive roles regional universities play in the national system.

The Australian higher education system is on the precipice of significant and rapid change. Projected roll growth that meets the national target – that by 2025, 40 per cent of 25-40 year olds will hold at least a Bachelor’s degree – means we’ll need bigger and better degree-granting institutions. In a comprehensive policy speech in 2011, the Liberal party’s higher education spokesperson, Christopher Pyne, proposed that these institutions need not be universities, but something akin to the former Colleges of Advanced Education.

Will Gillard’s election gamble pay off?

In the wake of Australia’s longest-ever federal election campaign, Dr Dominic O’Sullivan examines whether the long haul battle between Labor and Liberal will make for informed voting choices at the polls.

The Prime Minister’s risk in naming the election date six and a half months earlier than constitutionally necessary has, so far, not paid off. For many of her colleagues and political commentators it was always just another example of poor Prime Ministerial judgement and, for some, yet another reason to recall Kevin Rudd to the Labor party leadership.