Understanding #Quexit

Progressive voices have lit up social media with memes blaming Queensland for Labor’s loss in the federal election, but condemning the state as regressive and redneck does nothing to understand voters’ motivations.

Fresh blood and new challenges for Labor and the Coalition

Should Labor jump to a generation when it chooses its new leader – and should Scott Morrison steal some Shorten policies to broaden his agenda in government?

Hail, the President of Parliament

Australia’s Prime Minister won re-election with a Presidential approach, but he will still have to negotiate a careful path in power given his razor thin margin of victory.

How Labor lost the people

After confidently predicting a Labor victory for the last three years, the pundits are now explaining the reasons why Labor lost. Central to the defeat was the party’s inability to convince enough people it would make their lives better in the future, rather than threaten their prosperity today.

What comes next for the ‘miracle man’?

Scott Morrison’s election victory shocked the pundits but his lack of a policy agenda for the new term is not the only question mark over the future of the Liberal Party.

Scott Morrison hails ‘miracle’ as Coalition snatches unexpected victory

As with Brexit and Donald Trump, a thousand confident polls and prognostications by the commentariat were proved completely wrong by the voting public. When it came to election day, Australians baulked at Labor’s long list of tax and spend promises and kept faith with the Coalition.

The 2019 federal election: the polls, Parliament and parties

After a lengthy campaign, which really started when Scott Morrison became Prime Minister in September last year, election day is finally here.

The last election where anyone cares?

Faith in democracy is plummeting among Australians, and the connection voters had with a leader like Bob Hawke now seems out of reach. Is this the last election where enough people really care?

Farewell to Bob Hawke

On the cusp of probable re-election of a Labor government, Labor’s greatest leader of recent times has passed away.

Whatever happened to the “populist surge”?

Australian populism is more a form of long-term grumble about the state of the world than a sharp reaction to the threat of cultural loss and has had little impact on the election.

Will Labor’s ‘drover’s dog’ have his day?

If the polls are right, Bill Shorten will become the next prime minister, so what kind of national leader would he be?

The telling silences of this election campaign

Political parties try to choose the ground on which they fight, but amid the hustle and bustle of the election campaign there are some tricky issues which neither party wants to face.